Machinable Liquid Metal?

8 comments

Rate

camstar Active Contributor Join Date: Dec 2006 Posts: 12	Machinable Liquid Metal? 02/25/2008 11:10 AM
	20 odd years ago, while serving my apprenticeship, the company i worked for used a liquifiable metal ( i think it was aluminum ) which we used for pouring into machined cavities to enable the machining of the outer shell of a given part (also aluminum - 6061 ), then after machining the outer profile, we would boil it in water, i believe, to re-liquify it and simply pour it back out, to be used over & over again. For years i remembered the name of this material, but i have since forgotten it. I need to be able to locate a supplier of this product. Once it was poured into the cavity, after a given amount of time, it cured and became machinable itself. Anyone know what i'm talking about? Thanks in advance
	Register to Reply

Interested in this topic? By joining CR4 you can "subscribe" to
this discussion and receive notification when new comments are added.

Check out these comments that don't yet have enough votes to be "official" good answers and, if you agree with them, vote them!

pantaz Guru Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Van Nuys, CA Posts: 563 Good Answers: 33	#1 Re: LIQUID METAL 02/25/2008 11:33 AM
	Cerro Metal Products offers several low-melt-point alloys, from 117°F on up. http://www.cerrometal.com/lowmelt.html
	Register to Reply Score 1 for Good Answer

ozzb Guru Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Rosedale, Maryland USA Posts: 5197 Good Answers: 266	#2 Re: Machinable Liquid Metal? 02/25/2008 3:44 PM
	I believe this is what you are looking for. http://catalogs.shoplocal.com/mscdirect/?pagename=shopmain&storeid=1040626&pagenumber=1783&deptid=&brandid=&title=&keyword=&circularid=11264 __________________ Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving in a pretty, pristine body but rather to come sliding in sideways, all used up and exclaiming, "Wow, what a ride!"
	Register to Reply

camstar Active Contributor Join Date: Dec 2006 Posts: 12	#3 In reply to #2 Re: Machinable Liquid Metal? 02/25/2008 6:11 PM
	right you are ozzb!! thanks alot...you are the guru!!
	Register to Reply

bobguz Commentator Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 91 Good Answers: 2	#4 Re: Machinable Liquid Metal? 02/26/2008 7:02 AM
	Search, "low fusing alloys". Bobguz __________________ "If we all worked on the assumption that what is accepted as true is really true, there would be little hope of advance." -- Orville Wright
	Register to Reply

PWSlack Guru Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: In the bothy, 7 chains down the line from Dodman's Lane level crossing, in the nation formerly known as Great Britain. Kettle's on. Posts: 32175 Good Answers: 839	#5 Re: Machinable Liquid Metal? 02/26/2008 7:21 AM
	It is unlikely to have been aluminium, as the melting point of the pure metal is too high for it to be liquefied in contact with hot water at ambient pressures. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_elements_by_melting_point There are several low-melt alloys that have varying quantities of bismuth in the composition; some are commercially available as solders. http://www.gwneale.co.uk/lowmelt.html (other suppliers are available). __________________ "Did you get my e-mail?" - "The biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place" - George Bernard Shaw, 1856
	Register to Reply

yesyen Guru Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: India-Chennai. Posts: 722 Good Answers: 30	#6 In reply to #5 Re: Machinable Liquid Metal? 02/26/2008 9:18 AM
	Hope these low melt alloys do not contain Lead? __________________ A picture worth thousand words: needless to say if it is animated.
	Register to Reply

NiCrMoNoMore Power-User Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 303 Good Answers: 5	#7 Re: Machinable Liquid Metal? 02/26/2008 9:45 AM
	Tin......Baaaaabit...be careful some of the earlier low melts contained lead. Which is OK, as long as you keep your fingers out of your mouth. __________________ "I had not anticipated that the work would present any great difficulites" SHACKLETON
	Register to Reply

Milo Guru Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: "Dancing over the abyss." Posts: 4884 Good Answers: 243	#8 In reply to #7 Re: Machinable Liquid Metal? 02/26/2008 11:08 AM
	BAck in the day when kids were encouraged to learn by doing, Wood's metal was the material you described. Now that everything has terrifying public health impact, Wood's metal is no longer cast into spoons by wise a$$ fraternity boys. Fields metal is the lead free alternative. here's a link:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Field%27s_metal Gunsmithiong catalogs also carry the cerro alloys, for use in making chamer or bore casts. milo __________________ People say between two opposed opinions the truth lies in the middle. Not at all! Between them lies the problem, what is unseeable,eternally active life, contemplated in repose. Goethe
	Register to Reply

Check out these comments that don't yet have enough votes to be "official" good answers and, if you agree with them, vote them!

Copy to Clipboard

bobguz (1); camstar (1); Milo (1); NiCrMoNoMore (1); ozzb (1); pantaz (1); PWSlack (1); yesyen (1)

	Got Something to Say?
	Ask a Question Start a Discussion

	Aerospace
	BioMech & BioMed
	Chemical & Material Science
	Civil Engineering
	Communications & Electronics
	Education and Engineering Careers
	Electrical Engineering
	General Discussion
	Instrumentation
	Manufacturing
	Mechanical Engineering
	New Technologies & Research
	Software & Programming
	Sustainable Engineering
	Transportation

	Site Directories
	Forum Directory Blog Directory User Group Directory RSS Feeds CR4 Rules of Conduct CR4 FAQ Site Glossary Who's Online (63 right now) Show Members