I'm looking for something even denser than lead. Ideally I'd like to
fill up a small can, about pint-size, with scrap metal and get a
weight close to 10kg (22 pounds). I might not make 22 pounds but if I
could just get most of the way there it'd be good.

Lead is of course much more available but only about 65% as dense. It
takes me almost a quart of lead to get that much weight.

Tungsten and uranium fall in this category. Anyone know of a good
souce of these, or other heavy metals, as scrap metal? I suspect they
show up in some aerospace junkyards... I've heard as depleted uranium
being used as counterweights in aircraft. And both probably show up in
armor-piercing weapons. I'm not fundamentally opposed to cutting or
machining either of these to make the scrap fit into a can densely but
I suspect they are not the best things to have floating around the
shop as dust. Lead I can melt, but I don't think I can use a propane
torch to melt tungsten or uranium, can I? I think Uranium filings
would probably just burn...!!!

Tim.

Have a look here
http://www.simetric.co.uk/si_metals.htm
Mercury might do and it's easy to melt but not so easy to machine!
White metal might be your best bet.

John

On Wed, 23 Apr 2008 09:15:37 -0500, Nick Leone wrote:

Tungsten has a *really* high melting point (6192?F), and uranium is
pretty high as well (2070F). In anything, you'd need a chunk large
enough to machine down to size. What's your price range on this
project? Neither of these metals will be cheap, and I'm not sure if you
can even get Uranium. At least in the US, I'd expect the NRC and FBI to
take a sudden interest in your hobbies if you went about trying to get
Uranium, although I don't know the exact legal status of it.

-Nick


"Tim Shoppa" wrote in message
news:a45718f9-
...
I'm looking for something even denser than lead. Ideally I'd like to
fill up a small can, about pint-size, with scrap metal and get a weight
close to 10kg (22 pounds). I might not make 22 pounds but if I could
just get most of the way there it'd be good.

Lead is of course much more available but only about 65% as dense. It
takes me almost a quart of lead to get that much weight.

Tungsten and uranium fall in this category. Anyone know of a good souce
of these, or other heavy metals, as scrap metal? I suspect they show up
in some aerospace junkyards... I've heard as depleted uranium being
used as counterweights in aircraft. And both probably show up in
armor-piercing weapons. I'm not fundamentally opposed to cutting or
machining either of these to make the scrap fit into a can densely but
I suspect they are not the best things to have floating around the shop
as dust. Lead I can melt, but I don't think I can use a propane torch
to melt tungsten or uranium, can I? I think Uranium filings would
probably just burn...!!!

Tim.

Depleted uranium isn't that radioactive, and it _is_ used in civil
aviation as a dense counterweight material.

AFAIK uranium is very toxic, chemically, totally aside from any
radioactive effects. It is recognized as toxic to the point where those
aircraft counterweights are coated and given a warning color, where lead
is not. I'd get my hands on an MSDS before I even began to think of
handling it, so I knew whether it was a rubber-gloves sort of thing or a
full body suit sort of thing.

Tungsten is much more benign, although it's very hard so it'll be very
difficult to machine.

--
Tim Wescott
Control systems and communications consulting
http://www.wescottdesign.com

Need to learn how to apply control theory in your embedded system?
"Applied Control Theory for Embedded Systems" by Tim Wescott
Elsevier/Newnes, http://www.wescottdesign.com/actfes/actfes.html

mmm, mercury

"John" wrote in message
...
Have a look here
http://www.simetric.co.uk/si_metals.htm
Mercury might do and it's easy to melt but not so easy to machine!
White metal might be your best bet.

John

On Apr 23, 10:28*am, John wrote:
Have a look herehttp://www.simetric.co.uk/si_metals.htm
Mercury might do and it's easy to melt but not so easy to machine!

Mercury is cool, a little denser than lead but not much. In my town,
though, if you drop a thermometer you get a hazmat squadron showing
up.

White metal might be your best bet.

"White metal" I think will always be less dense than lead. It might
have lead but it has other less dense metals too, right?

In previous jobs I got to play with not just lead but also tungsten
bricks.

Tim.

On Apr 23, 10:15*am, "Nick Leone" wrote:
Tungsten has a *really* high melting point (6192?°F), and uranium is pretty
high as well (2070°F). *In anything, you'd need a chunk large enough to
machine down to size.

Again, I was hoping to get some random scrap that could go into a can
or bucket pretty densely.

*What's your price range on this project?

Don't want to pay too much more than lead, but I'll pay a little more.
Lead scrap sold for fishing weights at the junkyard seems to be $2 a
pound, and I'd pay more for denser metals than lead, so max price I'd
like to pay for 20 pounds of denser stuff would be circa very low
hundreds of $.

Like I said, I am looking for scrap, not machining down from billet!
With scrap I could contemplate trying to pack it all into a little
pint-size can, without having to melt it down or do too much cutting.

Tim.

On Wed, 23 Apr 2008 06:49:03 -0700 (PDT), Tim Shoppa
wrote:

I'm looking for something even denser than lead. Ideally I'd like to
fill up a small can, about pint-size, with scrap metal and get a
weight close to 10kg (22 pounds). I might not make 22 pounds but if I
could just get most of the way there it'd be good.

http://www.eaglealloys.com/t-tungs_alloysheavy.aspx

circa 8 kg per pint, not quite the desired 10.

Iridium and osmium would meet the spec of 10 kg/pint but they're a
bit pricey -- around $400/troy oz. 10kg is 321 troy oz, about
$128,400 worth. Still, it's heavier than gold at less than half the
price, heckuva deal!

On Wed, 23 Apr 2008 08:23:23 -0700 (PDT), the renowned Tim Shoppa
wrote:

On Apr 23, 10:15*am, "Nick Leone" wrote:
Tungsten has a *really* high melting point (6192?°F), and uranium is pretty
high as well (2070°F). *In anything, you'd need a chunk large enough to
machine down to size.

Again, I was hoping to get some random scrap that could go into a can
or bucket pretty densely.

*What's your price range on this project?

Don't want to pay too much more than lead, but I'll pay a little more.
Lead scrap sold for fishing weights at the junkyard seems to be $2 a
pound, and I'd pay more for denser metals than lead, so max price I'd
like to pay for 20 pounds of denser stuff would be circa very low
hundreds of $.

Like I said, I am looking for scrap, not machining down from billet!
With scrap I could contemplate trying to pack it all into a little
pint-size can, without having to melt it down or do too much cutting.

Tim.

Maybe some junk tungsten carbide bits cast into a Pb matrix?

15.6 g/cm^3 for tunsten carbide
11.3 g/cm^3 for lead


Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany
--
"it's the network..." "The Journey is the reward"
Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com
Embedded software/hardware/analog Info for designers: http://www.speff.com

On Apr 23, 12:05*pm, Spehro Pefhany
wrote:
On Wed, 23 Apr 2008 08:23:23 -0700 (PDT), the renowned Tim Shoppa





wrote:
On Apr 23, 10:15*am, "Nick Leone" wrote:
Tungsten has a *really* high melting point (6192?°F), and uranium is pretty
high as well (2070°F). *In anything, you'd need a chunk large enough to
machine down to size.

Again, I was hoping to get some random scrap that could go into a can
or bucket pretty densely.

*What's your price range on this project?

Don't want to pay too much more than lead, but I'll pay a little more.
Lead scrap sold for fishing weights at the junkyard seems to be $2 a
pound, and I'd pay more for denser metals than lead, so max price I'd
like to pay for 20 pounds of denser stuff would be circa very low
hundreds of $.

Like I said, I am looking for scrap, not machining down from billet!
With scrap I could contemplate trying to pack it all into a little
pint-size can, without having to melt it down or do too much cutting.

Tim.

Maybe some junk tungsten carbide bits cast into a Pb matrix?

15.6 g/cm^3 for tunsten carbide
11.3 g/cm^3 for lead

Ahah, that starts to sound like a good possibility!

Where could I find 15 or 20 pounds worth of junk tungsten carbide bits
for cheap?

Tim.

On Wed, 23 Apr 2008 12:05:58 -0400, Spehro Pefhany
wrote:

On Wed, 23 Apr 2008 08:23:23 -0700 (PDT), the renowned Tim Shoppa
wrote:

On Apr 23, 10:15*am, "Nick Leone" wrote:
Tungsten has a *really* high melting point (6192?°F), and uranium is pretty
high as well (2070°F). *In anything, you'd need a chunk large enough to
machine down to size.

Again, I was hoping to get some random scrap that could go into a can
or bucket pretty densely.

*What's your price range on this project?

Don't want to pay too much more than lead, but I'll pay a little more.
Lead scrap sold for fishing weights at the junkyard seems to be $2 a
pound, and I'd pay more for denser metals than lead, so max price I'd
like to pay for 20 pounds of denser stuff would be circa very low
hundreds of $.

Like I said, I am looking for scrap, not machining down from billet!
With scrap I could contemplate trying to pack it all into a little
pint-size can, without having to melt it down or do too much cutting.

Tim.

Maybe some junk tungsten carbide bits cast into a Pb matrix?

15.6 g/cm^3 for tunsten carbide
11.3 g/cm^3 for lead

Spehro Pefhany

Clever!

Spehro Pefhany wrote:


Maybe some junk tungsten carbide bits cast into a Pb matrix?

15.6 g/cm^3 for tunsten carbide
11.3 g/cm^3 for lead

Throw in a few Tungsten TIG electrodes for the small spaces. Pure
tungsten electrodes have fallen from favour, so you might find some cheap.

Pete

--
Pete Snell
Department of Physics
Royal Military College

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V8013-R


"Tim Shoppa" wrote in message
...
I'm looking for something even denser than lead. Ideally I'd like to
fill up a small can, about pint-size, with scrap metal and get a
weight close to 10kg (22 pounds). I might not make 22 pounds but if I
could just get most of the way there it'd be good.

Lead is of course much more available but only about 65% as dense. It
takes me almost a quart of lead to get that much weight.

Tungsten and uranium fall in this category. Anyone know of a good
souce of these, or other heavy metals, as scrap metal? I suspect they
show up in some aerospace junkyards... I've heard as depleted uranium
being used as counterweights in aircraft. And both probably show up in
armor-piercing weapons. I'm not fundamentally opposed to cutting or
machining either of these to make the scrap fit into a can densely but
I suspect they are not the best things to have floating around the
shop as dust. Lead I can melt, but I don't think I can use a propane
torch to melt tungsten or uranium, can I? I think Uranium filings
would probably just burn...!!!

Tim.

On Wed, 23 Apr 2008 10:13:07 -0700 (PDT), Tim Shoppa
wrote:


Where could I find 15 or 20 pounds worth of junk tungsten carbide bits
for cheap?

I don't think you will. I was offered $11/lb for tungsten carbide
scrap last week. I'd expect tungsten metal scrap would sell for at
least twice that.

(This week I've been designing a heat treat fixture that'll be made of
tungsten.)

--
Ned Simmons

Tim:

http://skylighter.com/mall/chemicals.asp

Tungsten. Not scrap, but fine powder. Not cheap, either: $11/lb for
10 lb or more

Best -- Terry

On Wed, 23 Apr 2008 06:49:03 -0700 (PDT), Tim Shoppa
wrote:

I'm looking for something even denser than lead. Ideally I'd like to
fill up a small can, about pint-size, with scrap metal and get a
weight close to 10kg (22 pounds). I might not make 22 pounds but if I
could just get most of the way there it'd be good.

Lead is of course much more available but only about 65% as dense. It
takes me almost a quart of lead to get that much weight.

Tungsten and uranium fall in this category. Anyone know of a good
souce of these, or other heavy metals, as scrap metal? I suspect they
show up in some aerospace junkyards... I've heard as depleted uranium
being used as counterweights in aircraft. And both probably show up in
armor-piercing weapons. I'm not fundamentally opposed to cutting or
machining either of these to make the scrap fit into a can densely but
I suspect they are not the best things to have floating around the
shop as dust. Lead I can melt, but I don't think I can use a propane
torch to melt tungsten or uranium, can I? I think Uranium filings
would probably just burn...!!!

Tim.

"Tim Shoppa" wrote: Like I said, I am looking for scrap, not machining down
from billet!
With scrap I could contemplate trying to pack it all into a little
pint-size can, without having to melt it down or do too much cutting.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
The reason people are suggesting a solid billet is that no matter how you
try, you will not get the spaces out from between the pieces of scrap. You
lose average density due to the little spaces between the pieces. You
probably won't come out ahead of solid lead pured into the can.

Maybe you could fill the can as full as possible with scrap tungsten or
uranium, and then pour molten lead into the spaces.

On Wed, 23 Apr 2008 16:50:47 -0500, Terry
wrote:

Tim:

http://skylighter.com/mall/chemicals.asp

Tungsten. Not scrap, but fine powder. Not cheap, either: $11/lb for
10 lb or more


Cheap enough that it must be a mistake. Maybe that's the price per
ounce? Here are prices from 3 years ago, approaching $20/lb in ton
quantities. (you need to pay to get current data).
http://www.metalprices.com/FreeSite/metals/w/w.asp

W has been climbing steeply since. I know tungsten carbide scrap has
more than doubled since 2005.

--
Ned Simmons

On Apr 23, 3:50*pm, Terry wrote:
Tim:

http://skylighter.com/mall/chemicals.asp

Tungsten. *Not scrap, but fine powder. *Not cheap, either: *$11/lb for
10 lb or more

Best -- Terry

So get some of that, a bunch of epoxy and mix up some heavy composite
and cast the item. Heavy on the tungsten powder and light on the
epoxy.

Stan

On Apr 23, 1:13*pm, Tim Shoppa wrote:
Where could I find 15 or 20 pounds worth of junk tungsten carbide bits
for cheap?
Tim

I see you are also looking for large ceramic insulators. What are you
making?

You could just take a bag of dirt to a political rally. Basic alchemy

On Wed, 23 Apr 2008 06:49:03 -0700 (PDT), Tim Shoppa
wrote:

I'm looking for something even denser than lead. Ideally I'd like to
fill up a small can, about pint-size, with scrap metal and get a
weight close to 10kg (22 pounds). I might not make 22 pounds but if I
could just get most of the way there it'd be good.

Lead is of course much more available but only about 65% as dense. It
takes me almost a quart of lead to get that much weight.

Tungsten and uranium fall in this category. Anyone know of a good
souce of these, or other heavy metals, as scrap metal? I suspect they
show up in some aerospace junkyards... I've heard as depleted uranium
being used as counterweights in aircraft. And both probably show up in
armor-piercing weapons. I'm not fundamentally opposed to cutting or
machining either of these to make the scrap fit into a can densely but
I suspect they are not the best things to have floating around the
shop as dust. Lead I can melt, but I don't think I can use a propane
torch to melt tungsten or uranium, can I? I think Uranium filings
would probably just burn...!!!

Tim.

How about mallory metal, it's used to balance engines.

http://www.mallory.com/english/engmats.htm

Thank You,
Randy

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