cast iron

[mark smith 20Participant @marksmith20]

I just noticed this on ebay , i dont have any intention bidding as its at the opposite end of the country but can this sort of stuff be useful for model engineering or is it likely to be crap quality?? Seems a useful size and shape  for projects though. No photos of the actual stuff.

**LINK**

 

Edited By mark smith 20 on 04/11/2016 18:53:19

Edited By mark smith 20 on 04/11/2016 18:53:52

[mark smith 20Participant @marksmith20]

[SamsarandaParticipant @samsaranda]

Looked at the Link, would take a lot of hacksawing to get anything of a useful size for model engineering purposes. I would think as they were cast as ballast weights the quality would be awful, as the ad says good for use as boat anchors.

[not done it yetParticipant @notdoneityet]

Agree wholeheartedly with 12 bore.

Boat anchors, etc is likely the best area of use.

[John ReeseParticipant @johnreese12848]

They resemble the stack weights used in elevator (lift) counterweights.

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by John Reese on 04/11/2016 20:15:37:

They resemble the stack weights used in elevator (lift) counterweights.

That's because they are lift weights

I would guess they will be reasonable (as they are big enough that chilling is very unlikely) but the grain size might be a bit coarse. Pot luck like window sash weights, but perhaps more likely to be OK.

Neil

[not done it yetParticipant @notdoneityet]

If I ever needed some large cast iron bits, I would pop over to a mate and get a couple of good tractor suitcase weights for that money.

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

Just watching "Britain's greatest bridges" on ch 5. This episode is about Stephenson's bridge over the Menai straits. According to this wrought iron was made by hammering red hot cast iron. What do hey teach in school now?

[Tim StevensParticipant @timstevens64731]

Most of the technical stuff on television is designed to keep the blood pressure of engineers, scientists, et al, at an unreasonably high level. That's why they always put music over Spitfires and Locomotives, in an attempt to demonstrate the intellectual superiority of those who did meeja studies but who cannot wire a three-pin plug.

Cheers, Tim

PS note from the ebay advert: used instead of an anchor, 'they will take a lifetime to rust away'. This means that when they rust away your life is going to end soon. Probably correct.

 

Edited By Tim Stevens on 05/11/2016 16:09:21

[AjohnwParticipant @ajohnw51620]

As they will have been cast I wouldn't use them for anything other than weights. There is no saying how they would have been chilled but on that score given their original use they probably wont be terrible but unlikely to be up to machine tool etc castings.

On the other hand I have a model engineering casting supplied by a well known retailer that has cracked due to too much stress. Pretty thin casting for a rather small rotary table and that sort of thing needs some care. Fortunately the table still works without any problems at all. It's the one done for the DW miller.

John

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