"Dave Hinz" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 20 Oct 2007 20:33:14 -0500, Jon Elson
wrote:
Dave Hinz wrote:

GE really does a remarkable job of salvage operations on returned parts
and so on.

I have a friend who used to work on CAT scanners, now he is in
the MRI division at GE medical.

I probably know him - can you email me his name? I've spent most of the
last 18 years at GE Medical.

But, dental X ray machines are essentially just furniture to a
dentist. I doubt much of that gear is ever repaired, they just
aren't very expensive. I'm sure the hospital-grade xray suites
and certainly CAT scanner hardware is handled in an entirely
different manner.

Yup. My dentist has an ANCIENT GE xray machine in the exam room, for
doing bite wings and that sort of thing. Has that 1950's green paint on
it, and a red GE meatball. But, it has a current calibration sticker on
it (yeah, I notice these things) so, fair enough.

Most or all current MRI, CT, Pet, Nuc, etc scanners out there probably
have a service contract. GE is happy to sell support for brands that
they didn't make, so some of the parts they get back to salvage are
broken stuff from other brands entirely. Interesting how similar and
yet how different the brands are.

Anyway, enough ramble...the real question is - what does that guy want
the W for in the first place, and, how is he going to machine the stuff?

Good question!

I want it as a paperweight/conversation piece. Maybe to help some kids get
more interested in metallurgy and/or chemistry as well. I have a bag of
small tungsten disks that awes some people when they pick it up being that
it's about the size of a box of cigarettes and weighs three pounds--but the
effect of a solid piece would be even greater. So I won't need to machine
it. And that's why I want pure tungsten rather than the less-dense carbide.