Doug White wrote:

Joe wrote in
:

Funny you mentioned that - the last time I sold any, the dealer was a
gypsy (he used the term "Roma"). I'm sure I got taken, but I did get
$5.25/lb. Probably about 5 years ago.

Did you use his scale?

i
*He* used his scale. His results were pretty much the same as what I
read off of my ancient Fairbanks scale.

He, like the other dealer before him, used a hand-held device to
determine the content of the scrap. I'm wanting to say it used X-ray
diffraction spectroscopy, but I don't think that is quite right. I do
remember looking up one of those devices, and the cost was about 30
grand. Not for the casual tinkerer.

I saw a demo of this at Eastec a year or two ago. I think it was ~ $5k
to $10k:

http://www.alloyid.net/

Very slick device.

Doug White

Just got IMTS related ad for a Thermo Scientific version of those
handheld analyzers (booth E-5242), no price of course. I believe they
use a cap-discharge arc to burn a spot and do the spectrophotometry
thing. Something I'd love to have if they ever get down to ~$500 or so.