Brake disc cast iron

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DICKEYBIRD

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In the auto dealer I work for, we fill up a 4' x 4' x 4' box with used brake discs and misc. iron & steel scrap every couple of months. It ends up at the local scrap yard and we feed everyone a "scrap lunch" in the dealer occasionally with the money made. I'm sure the iron comes back after a while as H/F lathes & mills. ;D

I picked out a few of the larger solid ones and cut them up on the bandsaw to put in my stockpile of metal. It's a little under a half-inch thick and machines beautifully. I reckon you could say they're work hardened & heat-treated what with all the heat cycles they go through in a few years of hard use. The pieces can be squared up and used to make engine frames, tooling brackets, etc. I guess a feller could bling 'em up a little and use a pair for a big ol' model engine of some sort as well.

Discs1.jpg

Discs2.jpg


I used 2 of the big vented ones and the outer rim of a solid one to make a counterweight for my X-3. It didn't come with a gas strut and would wear out my shoulder cranking the head up & down until I made the "crane" with compound pulleys. It spins up & down with one finger now.

counterweightsm.jpg


Recently, I discovered the vent holes make a handy place to store often used tools & widgets. ;D

DiscWeight.jpg
 
Just a few months ago I hauled a truck load of metals back TO the
"recycle center" (aka "scrap yard")

Included in that haul were a couple of brake disks off of my truck.
Both of them were spider webbed with stress cracks and showed obvious
signs of heat induced hard spots.

DICKEYBIRD I don't know what your junk discs came off of, but if you'd
sell them for less than $53 please let me know before you cut another one up! :D

Great idea for flat cast iron stock!

Rick
 
Thats a great idea. I have some used rotors (in fairly good shape) off of my wifes Benz after I did a full brake job on it. I will have to go check them out.

Eric
 
rake60 said:
....I don't know what your junk discs came off of, but if you'd
sell them for less than $53 please let me know before you cut another one up!
The solid ones came off the rear of a Range Rover and the vented ones from the front of a Jag. I'm pretty sure they wouldn't fit your truck so I better not take your money. ;D
 
Somewhere I saw someone make the equivalent of a "nano tram" sort of thing out of a brake rotor. In this case, they felt like buying a brand new rotor so it would be true. I can see where one might make a nice tramming surface for the mill if it really was true too. Then again, I've seen lots of folks that took a true piece with a shank, chucked it in the spindle, loosened up the locking bolts, and set the assembly down on the table to get the head "nearly trammed" aka "good enough for today's project." If you could find a way to get a shank on the darned brake disc that would be true, it would make a heck of a "nearly trammer".

Cheers,

BW
 
This is a little OT, But.

When I was going to college, The instructors knocked the mill heads out every day. You would be surprised how easy it becomes with a little practice. They also only had 4 jaw chucks on all the lathes so we could get the skill of indicating things in. Practicing a skill will make you good at it:O)

Most important is to have fun:eek:)

Wes
 
I went with just a 4-jaw for one project involving a lot of turning one time for exactly that reason. I also indicate the vise every new project or every time I put it on the table and I indicate the mill head too. My Indicol and Interapid DTI are on very friendly terms as a result. I don't see indicating as any imposition or a bother.

But, I'm lazy and a gadget hound. So I'll keep trying new things too!

Best,

BW
 

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