Kids Today

[HTRN]

Back in the good ole days, when Aluminum was 25 cents a pound for scrap, the really clever way of setting up "metal inventory" for a home workshop was to go around to the various machine shop auctions and bid on the remaining inventory - invariablly your bidding against scrap dealers, so they have a "hard limit" on what their willing to bid to. I remember one place, that the entire stockroom went for $1300 - the place had that much in scrap value in copper alone. Enough Aluminum, Brass, Copper(everything from 110 to BeCu), Inconel, Monel, Stainless.. It was a prototype/support shop for a company devoted to chemical processing.


HTRN

[mekender]

perhaps im just totally clueless...


but other than selling it for scrap, what the hell do you do with alloys like that?

[HTRN]

What would I do with it?


I have no idea.


HTRN

[esa5444]

perhaps im just totally clueless...


but other than selling it for scrap, what the hell do you do with alloys like that?

Well Titanium alloys are some of the strongest alloys there are, especially at temperatures within the range of operating temperatures of humans, so there is not a hell of a lot you can't make with them. Titanium can replace a lot of the parts that are today made of steel or aluminum; the limiting factor has been that Ti is both expensive to obtain, and expensive (ie relatively difficult) to machine, so it's use has been limited. It's use, though, is increasing a lot. I have two sets of glasses frames, for example, one is half Ti (and half Ni) and the other is pure Ti. They weigh almost nothing, so if you wear them all day, it's a noticeable difference from steel frames.

[mekender]

Oh i know what Ti is and what it is used for, i have a Ti wedding ring and a set of glasses too...

but me, as a regular joe, what the hell would i do with a sizable amount of the alloy?

i mean i could make some chest plates for the ultimate mall ninja gear... but besides that ???

[DougWojtowicz]

Eugene and HTRN are engineers with access to nifty machinery (as seen by the device he's standing next to).

I'll be watching the skies for HTRN in a black Iron Man armor with a cowboy hat and crossbones insignia...

[esa5444]

Actually, I can't do a whole lot with this Ti, myself. I have access to a machine shop, yes, but none of the machines are CNC and we are set up as a Mech Capstone Project lab, so the materials cut are aluminum and plastics and the selection of tools reflects this. Very rarely someone will cut steel, but you try to avoid it as much as possible because it takes a lot more time. Ti is relatively hard to machine, so I don't have the time to do anything with it.

However, the material I have takes up very little space, and at the price I paid for it, it was a hard deal to resist.

[Lokidude]

Careful, he might've just been wearing it to be ironic.

I guess "Ironic" means "wants to get hit with a tire iron" then hunh?


HTRN

I have a shiny new pick-axe, an E-tool, 125 pounds of titanium plate, a Mag-Lite, a huge, roughly 15 pound, horizontal milling machine cutter, an old school steel case rotary phone, and some really heavy text books all within 15 feet of me. It would be quite the wall to wall counseling session that would require me to get a tire-iron.

Though I guess if I hit someone with the titanium, it would be titanic, not ironic.

Remind me to never play against Eugene in the Wal-Mart game.

[George guy]

Sometimes I wish we could start a fashion trend of having apparel with some other revolutionary figure on it, like maybe that one guy who's on all the one dollar bills and quarters, seeing that this is America.

[HTRN]

I'll be watching the skies for HTRN in a black Iron Man armor with a cowboy hat and crossbones insignia...

Eff that noise. If you gonna go, GO BIG.


HTRN