Berillium copper ??

If it is, be very careful of the swarf, don't cut yourself, don't get little shards prick you, don't inhale hot vapours from turnings (I was told).

Bob

Edited By Speedy Builder5 on 19/06/2022 06:44:33

And beryllium copper is age hardening, so most likely that is what you have from the description.

Could well be BeCu or Colisbro. I have used both in my working life as an injection mould toolmaker, BeCu was precipitate (age) hardened when required.

Interesting subject! I have also often wonder what this hard copper colored material could be…I work for an aircraft maintenance company and one task is the inspection of the pylon to wing attachment spigot. The spigot is protected by a sleeve which looks like red copper but it's extremely hard wearing compared to normal copper. I had found the material spec but could not find any hits online, I'll look it up again and post it.

It is Beryllium oxide (and probably other salts) that is a health hazard, not so much the alloy.

Could it be aluminium bronze that is also a pig to machine I believe?

If it looks like copper, it could be almost anything, with copper in it ! Noel.

There are a lot of BeCu alloys about. When cut they don't really look like copper. After it has aged and depending on the air, it will darken a bit like copper does, but will often go to a darker brown over time to almost black, but not the same black you see on old house copper piping. Ali bronze I have seen, is more brass looking in colour. It can be tested with someone with a spectrometer, some of the jewellers ones can detect Be some can't, just depends on the units that they have.

The sheer number of different alloys about these days is off the scale. At least 40 different cast-irons, 30 different brasses and the same number of different bronzes, and a multitude of different Aluminiums. Thousands of different steels, before we get to exotics like Magnesium, Titanium, Nickel, Tungsten and Silver. And the properties of alloys often vary with heat and mechanical treatment as well.

Though many of these metals and alloys have existed for donkey's years, they don't seem to have got into the home workshops of yesteryear much. Model Engineers mostly worked with mild-steel, common cast-iron, a few ordinary brasses, and a couple of Bronzes. Aluminium was probably most likely to vary because it can be soft and sticky, nice to machine, or a bit nasty. Life was simple. Less so today because products make much wider use of different metals each chosen without reference to Model Engineering needs, making it more likely scrap metal will be unsuitable or difficult for our purposes.

I always advise beginners to learn with metal bought specifically because it's machinable, and to avoid scrap in case it's horrible. Once experienced with metal that behaves, it's much easier to spot difficult metal and compensate or abandon it. Based on my early experience, I suspect lots of workshop bother is caused by unsuitable materials. (Unsuited to purpose is not the same as poor quality. ) Lucky indeed are folk with ready access to straightforwardly machinable scrap. At least half of what I get is tricky to work with!

Best I think to treat all scrap with suspicion. Scrap is useless until proved OK, and no-one should be surprised when unknown metals cause bovver.

Dave

Edited By SillyOldDuffer on 20/06/2022 12:02:44

It may be copper chromium, usually about 1% chromium, the rest copper. It is used for spot welder electrodes as it wears much better than pure copper.