Cast Steel, Nickel Steel, Phos Bronze?

[PaulRParticipant @paulr]

A few years ago someone gave me some blocks and thick flats of a silvery looking steel which he described as 'cast steel'. I believe they used to work this stuff with a laser or water cutter in his engineering business. What's it usually composed of and is it any use for model engineering?

I also have some approx 1" dia steel bar which despite being well over a decade old shows no hint of rust or corrosion. I don't think it's stainless, it has a very slight hint of greeny-yellowish colour to it (and no it's not brass before some wag chips in with that 😀 ) I think someone once told me it was nickel steel…

And finally, I have a few blocks and tubes (the latter about 2" dia) that I think are phosphor bronze – it looks more yellow than brass and seems difficult to machine. What, if anything, is it likely to be useful for in modelling?

[PaulRParticipant @paulr]

[Mark CParticipant @markc]

They could be anything but the brass is probably just that or maybe aluminium bronze – if it was phos it would be a rather nice copper red. If you have a helpful scrap dealer near you they might zap the materials with a composition tester which will give the material from it's chemistry.

Mark

[Brian HParticipant @brianh50089]

Posted by PaulR on 05/01/2017 21:54:54:

And finally, I have a few blocks and tubes (the latter about 2" dia) that I think are phosphor bronze – it looks more yellow than brass and seems difficult to machine. What, if anything, is it likely to be useful for in modelling?

It is possibly aluminium bronze. A good test of its suitability is to try silver soldering it; if the solder runs everywhere but doesn't stick then it is likely to be al bronze. Still useful for some jobs though.

Brian

[Rik ShawParticipant @rikshaw]

If it is of a silvery/grey hue with a hint of green/blue then it might be nickel. I have a bar of thisand thats why yours sounds familiar. I posted about it on here quite a long time ago and several identified it as nickel and that it may have been used as part of the gubbins in an EDM (spark erosion) machine. Mine is approx. 7"x1.5"x.5" from memory as I have put it in one of those "safe" places that I have forgotten about……….Rik

[Martin KyteParticipant @martinkyte99762]

When built my Quorn the rotating base material was cast steel and it machined really nicely. Sort of cast iron without the dust. I assume it was just a low carbon steel that had been cast rather than drawn so no skin stresses.

regards Martin

[Michael Cox 1Participant @michaelcox1]

Another possibility is that it is Monel, an alloy of copper and nickel. This is similar in appearance to stainless steel.

It is corrosion resistant but any corrosion that does form will be greenish ( both copper and nickel hydrated salts are green).

It was used for special purposes such as chemical plant etc . but most commonly it was used for items in contact with seawater such as propellors and propellor shafts.

Mike

[PaulRParticipant @paulr]

Thanks for the replies. What I described as phosphor bronze can be soldered; I made a tiny boiler from part of one tube a few years ago (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tpH0FAYScQ). Maybe it's some type of brass but it is truly horrible to machine it does remind me of the few pieces of bronze I've ever worked with.

If the 'nickel steel' is Monel or some other nickel alloy, does it have any application in model engineering (I'm not planning on building a sea-going boat!)? I'll saw a bit off the bar and have a play with it. I don't know of any scrap dealers in the area – which is a shame as I'd love to rummage through their bins.

I'll have to try machine some of the cast steel although it's in flat slabs or chunky blocks that will take some hacksawing to fit in the lathe.

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