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Dr.Bob
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Blenders can also cause fires if done too much at once. I've seen a video of it.
Just start small and then move larger, but I would do all milling of fuels and oxidants in a shed or outside or somewhere fire safe. I used to be
able to buy Reynolds aluminum powders at paint stores locally when I was young. Those where the days. But we had little KCl4O available locally
when I was a kid...
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macckone
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Quote: Originally posted by Dr.Bob  | Blenders can also cause fires if done too much at once. I've seen a video of it.
Just start small and then move larger, but I would do all milling of fuels and oxidants in a shed or outside or somewhere fire safe. I used to be
able to buy Reynolds aluminum powders at paint stores locally when I was young. Those where the days. But we had little KCl4O available locally
when I was a kid... |
Open frequently to avoid ignition. A problem even with aluminum.
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currawong
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I used a rock tumbler (running in a steel bucket on a concrete slab for fire safety) and glass marbles on lathe turnings from a magnesium water heater
anode a few months back. I added about half a gram of charcoal powder to 30g turnings on the logic that it works for making german dark aluminium
powder. Opening it twice a day, it took a few days to be milled to a fine powder. Of course, it helped that I could take very shallow cuts on the
lathe so the turnings were quite fine already. I imagine you would get much coarser chips from a drill.
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yobbo II
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Would a reamer be a good starting point for getting the Al or Mg into a state good for ball milling. A reamer as pictured would be easy to drive with
an orginary drill. Put perhaps a bearing on the side away from the chuck and bolt the drill and bearing down to a bench. You could feed the bar of Al
(or whatever) between the reamer and a steel plate that is also attached to the bench. The plate would need to be adjustabe upwards towards the reamer
to shave layers off of it.
A reamer in conjunction with the lathe and you would be on the pigs back!
Yob.
[Edited on 13-11-2025 by yobbo II]
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j_sum1
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Thanks for the suggestion, Yobbo.
I have found a step drill is excellent for getting turnings. So no need to worry about that.
And I have just acquired a rock tumbler for less than what I can buy 100g of Mg powder.
My only concern at this point is knowing just how frequently to let air into the mill in order to be safe.
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greenlight
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I have heard venting times ranging from every two hours to once a day when milling magnesium.
Maybe you could purge with argon gas as you slowly open the jar and then reduce the flow in order to allow the oxygen to slowly interact with the
powder instead of in one rapid moment if you are worried.
Or rig some sort of extended handle for opening in a contained space from a small distance away to avoid burns or eye damage if it does decide to
combust.
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