MWJ Posted April 17, 2014 Posted April 17, 2014 Hi everyone, I can get some machine turnings and was wonder if it would be possible to clean the cutting oil off and grind it all down to usable firework compound? I can get, Aluminum, cast iron, steel and what ever else he has. He said he has mostly Aluminum. Probably large chips or turnings. Any thoughts would be great, thanks!
mikeee Posted April 18, 2014 Posted April 18, 2014 MWJ, If you can get clean turnings not a mixture would be a start.You could get the aluminum turnings and make magnalium which is in high demand in the pyro world.Making the magnalium would require melting the aluminum and adding magnesium. After you make the magnelium you need an efficient way to process it into mesh powders. Magnalium is somewhat brittle after it is cast but still requires a fair amount of work to grind it to smaller mesh sizes.If you decide to process the metal turnings you will need the dedicated equipment to process & grind the turnings to usable mesh sizes.
FlaMtnBkr Posted April 18, 2014 Posted April 18, 2014 I have lots of turning and haven't been able to find much to do with them. Most are long, thin 'curly Qs' that are almost impossible to break up further without some dedicated machinery. If any are small chips and more of a granular powder than it can work well. The only type I have found like that are steel and do work well. I have not tried but have been told by a few people that chips don't melt down well and there is a lot of oxidation if it does. I would imagine if there is a pool of molten metal first that chips would melt into it and work better.
Arthur Posted April 18, 2014 Posted April 18, 2014 Among the first firework effects were steel chippings and the spark colour was affected by the carbon content.
taiwanluthiers Posted April 18, 2014 Posted April 18, 2014 Ti chips could be useful... they make beautiful sparks. Problem is finding them could be problematic since Ti isn't the easierst material to machine, so not many machine shops deal with them.
Arthur Posted April 18, 2014 Posted April 18, 2014 Ti is often machined by spark erosion so the swarf is tiny (400 - 600 mesh) so it's hard to find a use for it. ALSO Apparently alloy Ti contains berylium which isn't user friendly. 1
MWJ Posted April 20, 2014 Author Posted April 20, 2014 Maybe I'll get a small sample from each alloy and experiment a bit with it. I can post photos of how course they are. Thanks for your comments.
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