biggest drawback to hoarding steel
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North Idaho Wolfman
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I just moved a very small out of my stock, and that took a 20 foot trailer and all day to do.
If I had to move all of it, it would be a semi and several days.
Runs With Scissors
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PHPaul
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You guys suck. Sadly, I could move my stash in a morning. In a pickup. A half-ton...
I know from experience that you are going to discover things that you forgot you had!
Hello, My name is Dan and I've been hording steel for 40 years.... It all started when I bought a welder... (you know the rest of the story)
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Why would you move something out of your stock?
In my humble opinion this is the wrong direction.
Old Machinist
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Another caveat is hierarchy.
My former supervisor at work decided we needed to move our stock down the hall to another room 20 years ago. We had a 6 tier rack that measured 10x20 and was full of metal. Fortunately most of it was aluminum. After we moved it all somebody above his pay grade decided they wanted the room we moved it to so we had to move it all back.
My former supervisor at work decided we needed to move our stock down the hall to another room 20 years ago. We had a 6 tier rack that measured 10x20 and was full of metal. Fortunately most of it was aluminum. After we moved it all somebody above his pay grade decided they wanted the room we moved it to so we had to move it all back.
I had the golden opportunity to hoard all kinds of metal where I worked. A lot of the other guys in the maintenance department with me did. Glad I didn't. I did however get a lot of fasteners like nuts, bolts washers, and misc. machine screws that were thrown away in the shop steel dumpster. I metal detect so the only thing I "hoard" is lost coins brass fittings and spent military brass casings.
Lil Foot
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I feel your pain.
My stash includes (in almost every possible form) steel, aluminum, threaded rod, brass, copper, bronze, 20-30 different plastics, machinable ceramics, gear stock, rubber, and probably more stuff I can't remember this early in the morning.
Plus a larger stash of hardware than my local hardware store. (or so my neighbors tell me)
My stash includes (in almost every possible form) steel, aluminum, threaded rod, brass, copper, bronze, 20-30 different plastics, machinable ceramics, gear stock, rubber, and probably more stuff I can't remember this early in the morning.
Plus a larger stash of hardware than my local hardware store. (or so my neighbors tell me)
When we moved 20 years ago metal was the least of my worries because it all fit in 1 dump trailer load. The machines, some weighing over 2000 pounds were the problem. I moved the 4 post car lift first and used that to unload everything in the new barn. Bought a presto lift for loading end. A harbor freight pallet jack became priceless as I strapped everything to pallets. Took me a year to move everything with 1 round trip a week. Luckily only 300 miles each way.
Machinable ceramics sounds very interesting, I never heard of this. How does it look like and what would be an application you used it in? What tooling do you use for machining? Would you have a trade name for this?
Questions over questions ...
P.s.: I do not have this in my stash and it sounds as if it may be a useful addition
Does 200lbs of stainless scrap on the floor in front of my shear considered hording. Or since needs to be cleaned up and hauled to the scrap yard id call it lazy i guess.
Lil Foot
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There are several manufacturers, here are a couple I have used, Cotronics extensively:
www.aremco.com
Use sharp carbide tooling with a lot of clearance, it is somewhat brittle, as you would expect.
Most of these ceramics eat HSS for lunch.
But it produces good finishes & tight tolerances with a little care.
Cover machine ways & use a vacuum pickup while machining; don't need alumina ceramic dust grinding up your machines.
I have used it extensively to make electrical isolator bushings in high vac deposition systems.
(and electrical isolator bushings in home projects)
It is great for high heat applications, where a plastic bushing would melt or burn up.
Made a bushing to isolate the output post on an alternator 20+ years ago, & it is still in service.
There is another brand name that you have to machine 15-17% larger, then fire it in a kiln, to produce custom parts that look like glass when finished. (a real PITA)
Can't for the life of me remember the name for that one. Probably a good thing.
Pictured below are a couple of chunks from the stash, I have more, but it was buried & 115F outside where the shed is.
The rest are old parts that have been rattling around in a junk drawer for years.
The pointy parts were made to eliminate heat sinking from a fixture to the base plate of a vacuum system.
Fixture stood on the points of three of these.
As you can imagine, not much heat transfer from the fixture. thru the points, and into the base.
These are Macor, the best machinable ceramic I found.
The others were prototypes for a case/mount for a sensor chip, that was direct contact bonded to the center glass tube, micro wires welded from the chip to the pins, then a cover direct contact bonded to the case/mount.
Not a material you need often, but when you do.....
Easily Machinable Ceramic Materials | Cotronics
With our machinable ceramic materials you can easily machine on standard and conventional shop equipment. Available as Alumina Silicate and Glass Ceramics.
www.cotronics.com
Machinable Ceramics - Alumina, Boron Nitride - Aremco
Aremco's extensive line of machinable ceramics is designed to be easily cut, shaped, & finished using conventional machining techniques.
www.aremco.com
Most of these ceramics eat HSS for lunch.
But it produces good finishes & tight tolerances with a little care.
Cover machine ways & use a vacuum pickup while machining; don't need alumina ceramic dust grinding up your machines.
I have used it extensively to make electrical isolator bushings in high vac deposition systems.
(and electrical isolator bushings in home projects)
It is great for high heat applications, where a plastic bushing would melt or burn up.
Made a bushing to isolate the output post on an alternator 20+ years ago, & it is still in service.
There is another brand name that you have to machine 15-17% larger, then fire it in a kiln, to produce custom parts that look like glass when finished. (a real PITA)
Can't for the life of me remember the name for that one. Probably a good thing.
Pictured below are a couple of chunks from the stash, I have more, but it was buried & 115F outside where the shed is.
The rest are old parts that have been rattling around in a junk drawer for years.
The pointy parts were made to eliminate heat sinking from a fixture to the base plate of a vacuum system.
Fixture stood on the points of three of these.
As you can imagine, not much heat transfer from the fixture. thru the points, and into the base.
These are Macor, the best machinable ceramic I found.
The others were prototypes for a case/mount for a sensor chip, that was direct contact bonded to the center glass tube, micro wires welded from the chip to the pins, then a cover direct contact bonded to the case/mount.
Not a material you need often, but when you do.....
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Lil Foot
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