New Materials

robotland · Post by **robotland** » Wed Apr 15, 2009 5:43 am

...I love 'em. Last night I discovered (via CRAFT podcast) that there's such an animal as....conductive Velcro!

It's my goal to play with as many materials as possible. I've spent the past ten years exploring aluminum in great depth, and while I'm not bored with it I want to keep stretching my boundaries and discovering new things. As in The Graduate , my current watchword is...."plastics".

What do you like to play with?

Sheesh...not asking for it at all, am I? Okay, lemme have it.

Â¡Niers! · Post by **Â¡Niers!** » Wed Apr 15, 2009 11:16 am

Myself

phil · Post by **phil** » Wed Apr 15, 2009 11:21 am

Flaming Bacon Lance of Death to your aluminum:

[youtube][/youtube]

Toolmaker · Post by **Toolmaker** » Wed Apr 15, 2009 8:45 pm

I like to machine Stainless, Titanium, Inconel, Hastalloy, Magnesium, and Kovar.

I especially like working with fast work hardening materials like Kovar and such since its so challenging.

I have worked with all sorts of Aluminum, Copper, Brass, Silver and other soft alloys but aside from Silver there isn't much of a challenge unless there is a tight tolerance or its a small part.

When turning large Inconel rings for jet engines make sure to werar those ear plus since that shit will sing like a mofo all through the shop.

The material I have worked with that I like the least is whats used in wave solder pallets.. combo of aluminum and fiberglass sweetness that kills carbide tooling and makes this wonderful dust that itches for days when it gets into your skin. It will also make whoever shares your bed hate you and make you get a job somewhere else.

Ceramics and Glass are cool too in a bad way.. too much clampage and that shit will crack with the quickness making scrap and angry bosses.

Bounce530 · Post by **Bounce530** » Wed Apr 15, 2009 9:45 pm

Hey Toolmaker, you wouldn't happen to have any chunks of Ti laying around that you want to donate to a 'good cause' would ya?

robotland · Post by **robotland** » Thu Apr 16, 2009 5:23 am

phil wrote:Flaming Bacon Lance of Death to your aluminum:

[youtube][/youtube]

Blasphemy!
Duct tape in conjunction with bacon should ONLY be used to keep the bacon from falling out of your mouth. Bacon is a TREAT...NOT a tool! (Michigan becomes hip-deep in cukes in the summertime, and I DO appreciate the effort to find something to do with THEM.)

*harumph*

Hey Toolmaker! Every played with Cerabend? (Nasty Cadmium/Lead/Bismuth/Tin alloy used in automotive prototyping and radiation shielding)
....I'm curious as to why you find Silver challenging after having worked with about every other metal on the planet....

Toolmaker · Post by **Toolmaker** » Fri Apr 17, 2009 3:15 am

Bounce530 wrote:Hey Toolmaker, you wouldn't happen to have any chunks of Ti laying around that you want to donate to a 'good cause' would ya?

Whats the cause? What kinda chunk do ya need?

I'll look around and see whats about. My first piece is almost always a good piece and the parts I've made sitting here at home I kinda want to keep. Anything neato that I make from bike parts to partially machined carbs and chessboards gets a place at home.

I "might" be able to "liberate" a small piece of stock with an interception at the saw. I have to check the upcoming jobs and make sure I won't come up short on a job, these days we order just enough to fill a work order.

If I can't come across anything you may want to check Ebay, there is a section somewhere where folks unload small end pieces and short lengths.

Bounce530 · Post by **Bounce530** » Fri Apr 17, 2009 8:42 am

Thats why I put good cause in quotes, cause here comes the part where you roll your eyes at me, lol.
I am looking for some small blocks, say 2x2x2 or so, to mount under my lowrider. So when I hit the switch and drop it, instead of making sparks while dragging with my frame, I shoot nice brite white sparks with the Ti.

Toolmaker · Post by **Toolmaker** » Sat Apr 18, 2009 7:58 am

Bounce530 wrote:Thats why I put good cause in quotes, cause here comes the part where you roll your eyes at me, lol.
I am looking for some small blocks, say 2x2x2 or so, to mount under my lowrider. So when I hit the switch and drop it, instead of making sparks while dragging with my frame, I shoot nice brite white sparks with the Ti.

HAHAHA Good cause. After checking the job tracker this morning I found that there are NO jobs coming up with Ti.. sadly this also showed me that there will likely be more layoffs in the coming weeks. On the plus side I will be the LAST to go seeing as I do the programming.

Try Ebay.. seriously.. you might be surprised at how cheap you can find small end pieces.

Have you considered adding some flame effects to yer exhaust? Thats always a crowd pleaser and not nearly as annying to the coppers. There are a few ready made "addons" that are really nice.

robotland wrote: Hey Toolmaker! Every played with Cerabend? (Nasty Cadmium/Lead/Bismuth/Tin alloy used in automotive prototyping and radiation shielding)
....I'm curious as to why you find Silver challenging after having worked with about every other metal on the planet....

Never got to play with Cerabend.. maybe someday if manufacturing ever comes back to the US.

Silver is soo darn soft its a real bitch to turn, especially tight tolerance threads and knurls that are supposed to look nice. I've only had to make small parts out of silver.. under 1/4 diameter and less than 1 inch long. Try making a screw with a 0-80 thread.. you'll quickly see the challenge. The darn stuff pushes out of the way and you get bent screws before you even get to thread. Than once you get that sorted ya gotta figure out how to keep the stuff from gumming up your tooling when turning the thread. Same goes for the knurl tool, the stuffs so soft in a pure state that it will load up onto the knurl. Knurling is usually gravy but with silver the knurl tool will actually cut and scrape the material and load up. I've NEVER had a problem knurling other materials. The other pain in the ass is having to pick all the chips out of the machine since the chips and scrap are so valuable. The boss weighs the stuff and gives hell if too many grams are missing per piece. I was lucky to sneak a few "setup" pieces home for my personal collection. I posted one of them in the thread RabbiRick started about photography, they would be the blackish looking parts with a 6-40 thread. I posted a few part pics in there.

http://eplaya.burningman.org/viewtopic.php?t=27748