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Adam
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Aluminum Shavings
Dose anyone know a source of aluminum shavings? My current process is far to tedious.
Thanks
~Adam
Something like the flakes seen in here. Also mabey anyone has an idea of how to separate the flakes possibly through electrolysis?
[Edited on 22-4-2004 by Adam]
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Son of Northern Darkness
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Separate flakes by electrolysis? Eh?
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axehandle
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Take:
1) A block of pure Al.
2) A drill press.
3) An 8mm drill bit.
4) A coolant water vat to cool the drill bit from to time.
5) Running water to cool the Al block from time to time.
6) Have fun.
Edit: Another method would be to pump molten aluminum out of a small nozzle into water using a pump that gives "pulse" pressure.
Edit2: Ah, I see now that you want powder, not flakes. Use one of those knife sharpening rotating stone wheel thingies with the wheel partially
submerged into water. Grind away. It works, albeit slowly.
[Edited on 2004-4-26 by axehandle]
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4s2
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Does the aluminum foil in the blender (with water) actualy work?
I haven\'t failed, I\'ve found 683 ways that don\'t work. -- Me.
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axehandle
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No. I've tried it. You need to grind it. Sorry.
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tom haggen
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The problem with trying to use a grinder to obtain aluminum dust, is that your product will be contaminated with AlO2 or whatever type of abrasive you
might be using. You see abrasive wheels and the like are designed to break away during the grinding process, to uncover fresh sharp grains. I could
give you a more detailed example but I already sold my grinding book back to the book store. What you want to do, and what I'm planning on doing
is build a tumbler. With a tumbler you can throw in some scraps of aluminum and some oil and some hardened steel ball bearings, and get some aluminum
powder that way.
[Edited on 26-4-2004 by tom haggen]
[Edited on 26-4-2004 by tom haggen]
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jimwig
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simpler than all that - just go to a metal recycler - the guy who buys your aluminum beverage cans. he will have tons of turnings from machine shops.
the only problem is the alloy type will be unknown. so if you can come up with a downhome check for content then away you go.
that will get turnings - to get the powder is from wanderings I have read is a pyrophobic problem.
a ball mill will reduce the pieces but might catch fire without an inert lubricant.
[Edited on 27-4-2004 by jimwig]
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tom haggen
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Thats why I said toss some oil in the tumbler, vegi oil has a very high flash point.
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Adam
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LOL I went through all that trouble of trying to obtain the shavings but in the end my teacher will sell me pure powered aluminum for $3 / LB Still I
would like to thank you all for your help. Also the way he (my teacher) used to make it was by putting shredded aluminum foil from a blender half full
of oil (non oxidizing) and put it in a rock grinder with 50 a handful of aluminum pellets (but hardened ball bearings would work too but might
contaminate the mix) then let it turn for 12 hours, fallowed by drying.
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Saerynide
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How would you get the oil off the powder?
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4s2
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Yes, using a grinder to get aluminum dust is rather counter productive. The grinding/cutting/sanding discs all wear down to expose fresh surfaces.
While you can make a nice size of Aluminum dust that has carbon, silicon and other disc particles in it, you now have to go buy a new disc which
greatly outwieghs the cost of the aluminum powder from a shop.
The way I have been doing it is... taking crappy aluminum castings (Casting aluminum is fun) and a file that has a higher hardness factor, and file
away... wow does it suck... and wow does it take forever, but it works. and its cheap.
The blender sounds interesting. I think I will go to a goodwill or salvation army and buy a cheap blender anyway. (could allways use it to make
batches of biodiesil) and try to ways of doing it. I just don't know if theres anyhting on aluminum foil besides... aluminum. From casting
experiences, the shiny side vs the non shiny side probably isnt a difference in composition. (it does the same thing with cast metal that is very thin
and/or compressed)
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axehandle
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| Quote: |
How would you get the oil off the powder?
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With acetone or petrol.
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tom haggen
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I know in one of my posts I said that if you use a grinding wheel to create aluminum powder that your product would be contaminated with AlO2. I meant
Aluminum Oxide.
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4s2
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AlumaSeal
I was cleaning out my truck the other day when I stubled upon my E-Repair kit. In it was a small tube of powder called AlumaSeal- Radiator Sealer.
Inside the 20 gram tube, looks to be just finely ground aluminum. But Pouring aluminum into your radiator can't be good enough on its own. I
wondered, what ELSE is in this, what could be a way to extract the aluminum from it, and mostly, how does AlumaSeal work to fix the metalic
parts of your radiator? (it safely works with all parts (plastic, rubber etc) but does not work to on these parts to fix leaks.)
Sample of Alumaseal tubes I have
http://www.alumaseal.com
Instructions:
1. remove radiator cap after engine cools.
2. Start Engine.
3. Pour contents of tube into radiator.
4. add coolant to proper level.
5. replace radiator cap.
6. Drive vehicle. Leaks are stopped. (within 1-2 min)
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jimwig
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Go here do this:
http://home.deds.nl/~gamekeep/metal%20grinding%20machine.htm...
Interesting I had always thought that the air encouraged burning and that an inert oil or atmosphere was necessary.
I am going to experiment with this methodology - hopefully soon - I will classify the size of materials etc so that ball milling can be ascertained
as effective- or not.....
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nitroboy
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andyboy, http://andyboys.web.surftown.se/ had a quite effective way of obtaining high mesh aluminium, and it worked really damn well in a thermite mixture.
and i assume you want powdered Al for pyrotechnics so i would then assume this method (search his site) would be right for you too.
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jimwig
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Nitroboy- have you actually done this with the blender. Sounds like it might work but why hasn't it been more widely reported.
A ball mill is usually used in grinding. The repeated crashing of the balls against the material causing smaller and smaller pieces.
I guess the water is significant - adding some resistance so that the cutting action continues on and on.
This is too easy not to try.
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Prince_Lucifer
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Aluminium dust.
Hello guys,
In my opinion, the fastest and easiest way to produce very fine Al powder is to use grind Al foil in a coffee grinder/blender!!
Now im sure some of you have already tried this with little success, but have you tried grinding the Al foil with salt?
This provides lots of friction and allows the Al foil to come into contact with the blades as much as possible. When done, pour the mixture into water
and then decant the salt/water solution. Just make sure to have enough water to dissolve al the salt.
The Al produced is quite fine, perhaps 200-300mesh. Perfect for thermite 
Enjoy!
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axehandle
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coffee grinder warning: BOOM
The coffee grinder idea sounds like it might work, but I'd add a slight drop of wax, paraffin or similar. There are always tiny tiny crevices
leading down into the motor compartment from the grinder compartment, and, well, imagine 300 mesh Al going down there, meeting a spark.... you'd
be holding an exploding bomb in your soon-to-be-dismembered hands. You might be able to get away with it 300 times, then one day bad luck strikes.
But provided that a coating agent is added, it should work safely. In fact, I think I'll test it tonight if I have the time.
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Theoretic
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When in contact with salt water, aluminium corrodes easiy, much more so a fine powder. I would suggest some dense organic liquid, denser than salt but
not as dense as aluminium... but that's tedious and resource-consuming. Salt could be dissolved away by alcohol, much less corrosive to aluminium
than water...
Edit: Much harder and time consuming, requiring a preferably powerful blender, the same salt-grinding method with bulk aluminium (wire). It would take
much longer, but I think it would still work...
[Edited on 27-5-2004 by Theoretic]
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Prince_Lucifer
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Thanks guys,
Two very wise suggestions which certainly aroused some concern.
Ironically, I have only used this method a few times therefore i could count with my fingers.
Thank god i still have all 8, otherwise i would have to find another way to count  
Denatured EtOH and paraffin it is!
Heck, now that im perfecting the method, i may as well go all the way and dry the EtOH with molecular sieves. Peace
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axehandle
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If I ever get around to it, and can obtain about 1000..2000 16mm dia SS steel ball-bearing balls, I'll try using my 0.75kW ball mill and a few
rolls of Al foil. This method is mentioned everywhere, but noone I know of has actually done it...
Edit: Perhaps a rod mill is the way to go... using steel rods. Hmm.
[Edited on 2004-5-29 by axehandle]
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jimwig
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ya know there might be a reason that noone has actually done that "we" have read of.
There are photos on a site linked from here that depict what looks to be a blender with foil and then another with powder etc.
also in my rather extensive searching for info on powedering metals I have never come across the method of grinding. most patents deal with
atomization at the molten state by blowing the stream of metal with air.
aluminum is as stated pyrophobic - or else we would not be so interested in it, right!!! so if the conditons generate enough heat,- friction in a
confined space without cooling then - well ya know.....
IF I could locate my damn blender I would try this with a small amount. I can get all the aluminum, brass, etc turnings that I want down the street at
the recyclers but as I said earlier I do not have a way of checking the alloy. Does anyone know of a way of ascertaining the purity of any unknown
aluminum ?
I will try to get the url and report back.
This is one topic that I am very interested in for all the usual reasons and then some.
maybe this is relavent http://andyboys.web.surftown.se/aluminum.html
[Edited on 29-5-2004 by jimwig]
[Edited on 29-5-2004 by jimwig]
[Edited on 29-5-2004 by jimwig]
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Polverone
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determining aluminum
You could try dissolving a weighed sample of aluminum in NaOH solution. Undissolved material could maybe be filtered and weighed to see how much
aluminum was present. I say "maybe" because you may get superfine, hard-to-filter particles. If nothing else you should be able to compare
samples and see if one leaves more dark residue than another.
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Mumbles
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I have made aluminum suitable every pyrotechnic application I have. Flash use(extremely fine flake), Flitter use(large flat pieces), and
Glitter(small particles). They all work just fine.
I use the blender method to a degree. I put them in there to cut the pieces of Aluminum finer. One must ball mill for a while to get flash suitable
size. If It passes an extremely fine mesh screen I have I find it suitable. Flitter I ball mill for 3-4 hours. The pieces get flattened out quite
nicely. For glitter I take the flitter particles that were reduced in size from the ball mill. If It goes through a window screen it works. One can
also blend longer and you can get something that works.
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