Obtaining Magnesiun Blocks

[Guest Mark_the_pyro]

I have looked around for magnesium blocks for a while, and I couldnt find any. The closest thing I found was magnesium anodes, except these things were molded for parts for boats, so im sure that knocks up the price considerably since these parts are made to whatever precision to fit- you see my point. Anyways, any source where i can just get a relatively pure plain Mg block would be very nice.

thanks,

Mark

[Mephistos Minion]

Try looking for places that make Mg alloys. They will have tons of solid Mg. Car rims, dentist tools, car parts, lots of things have Mg in them, so the yellow pages are a good place to start.

[styropyro]

I found this one on ebay. It looks like he ships worldwide. Every once in a while another guy on eBay lists 3 pound lots of magnesium printing plates which are pretty pure for about $10 a lot. I've also heard that the old NeXT computers had a case that was made from solid magnesium so if you would happen to know of a busted one you may be able to use that.

[saluterocket]

i have seen some auctions on ebay for Mg bars and such, your best bet with ebay would be to search for, "magnesium metal", hope this helps

 

 

edit-heh looks like someone beat me to it with the ebay advice

[Rogue Chemist]

Whatever happened to magnesiumsales.com? They used to sell Mg blocks by the pound at extremly good prices. Either I am forgetting the correct web address, or they no longer exist. Anyone know?

[Mephistos Minion]

I havn't been in contact with creepinghorseman (the guy who ran it) in quite a while. I think it just went down and didn't come back. If anyone has an email or AIM for him perhaps they could contact him in regards to this?

[Mumbles]

I had heard he was still doing it, but the site went down, but that what a while ago. I sold him some chems before. I can give his e-mail address if anyone wants to contact him. Talk to me via PM and I will give it to you. I don't really want to post it publicly.

[psymon]

Look through the yellow pages and find car scrap yards. Ask if they have an old Magnesium alloy wheel. Maybe a car that was involved in a pretty bad smash so all the will ask for it is scrap value. My uncle owns a tyre business and sometimes gets Magnesium wheels in. They will ask only around £5 for a damaged wheel and then you will have a couple of kilos of it.

[asilentbob]

MeicoCosmos - Pyro : Magnesium Fires

[creepinghorseman]

Hey guys, sorry to inform you that I am indeed out of the magnesium business. There is another source that sells pure (99.7%) magnesium with a minimum order of "only" 70lbs. The price was around $3.00 per pound a couple of years ago, but I don't know what it is now. I think a few people all ready know of it and I let anyone who calls me know, but I'd prefer to keep it off message boards so it doesn't get ruined. PM me and I will give you the address.

[imgnarly]

you can buy mg elements for water heaters at home hardware they are about 3 feet long and about an inch in diameter

[Mephistos Minion]

The will also have an iron rod in the middle of them. For making MgAl this isnt a problem, as you can cut them into ~2" pieces then punch the rod out with a hammer and nail. If you are grinding them to a powder it is a bit annoying, as cutting them into little pieces makes them hard to grind, so one must leave them as a rod, and therefor be careful not to grind the iron too.

 

I have never seen the rods in a hardware store, mbut then again I have never really looked for them. How much are they?

[XenoN]

After grinding the bar down to insure that there is no iron in it simply run a magnet across the powder. This will pull any iron out.

[Mephistos Minion]

I was more reffering to using a power grinder hitting the Fe = Sparks in you fine Mg powder But yes a magnet does the job well. When I hand ground some Mg with a file, the Fe made a cool effect in salutes, making long spark trails shooting out from the explosion.

[imgnarly]

In mine there isnt any iron it isnt magnetic at all and it costs $15 a rod and I still havent even gotten halfway through mine after almost a year

[Pwnany]

You can also just get the magnesium fire starters with the flints on them.

 

Also what is you method of grinding it down because it takes me sooo long to grind down my magnesium... Should I buy a cheap angle grinder maybe?

[GlowinPontiac]

magnesiums pretty soft.

 

perhaps a decent hand file or even better if you could fit a file in place of the blade on a reciprocating sawzall.

[rocket]

The only problem with filing down Mg is that because its so soft it clogs up the file. If you use a course file you wont have this problem but the Mg is no good for things like flash where it calls for fine mesh Mg.

[Canadian_Pyro]

I use an angle grinder to grind down my Mg, which is usually taken from broken water heaters at the town dump as sacrificial anodes. It takes about half an hour to make 200 grams of powder. The grinder tends to tear it off in strips which cling together like wool. This clinging action reduces the density of the particles substantially, providing air space between them. Flash powder made with this Mg is faster than flash made with store bought 325 mesh Mg powder.

[imgnarly]

I use a grinding drum attached to a drill with a rig so that it is caught in a ziplock baggy and as previously stated it comes out as a spongy string which is unbeatable for flash even if its course