Brass: What alloy, and where to buy

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Just curious have you guys checked your local scrap yard? I think our rich uncle has Metal that ends up there (junkies that will take anything to make a buck). And I buy it for pennies of what it'd be new? I've bought many pieces of large dia brass/bronze for under 15 bucks! Of course if it's not marked your left guessing?
 
Unless I really have to, I never buy any materials. The last piece was 6" square Ali x 1ft long, and I got it for £20, bought because it was such a bargain, off an occasional advertiser on a web site I frequent. A bit scarred in places, but that soon machines off.

The best place is to ask neighbours, family and friends to have a look though their garages and sheds, or even their gardens, for any metal (and maybe other materials) they don't want, even large nails and big bolts are good enough for some jobs, plus become a scrap yard yourself, it really pays. Ask the people above that before throwing out anything that might be of use, tell them to drop it off. You can then strip it down, get the materials out of it and then when you have enough junk that can't be used, take it down the local tip.

At my last askings, I was given 3" diam x 2ft long of brass and the same in PB, 2x6" diam x 1.5" thick brass bar. Next week a friend is bringing me some steel bar, cold rolled and it is usually 3" x 1" x around 20ft long (in smaller pieces), he works fitting garage doors, and those operating bars are usually thrown away. I cut it up into 6" pieces and distribute it around to whoever needs some.
Over the years, you won't hardly ever have to buy any materials, you just search through your stockpile until you find what you need.
The only problem is finding storage for it all, I have four large garden storage boxes (used for bicycles and lawn mowers) and my workshop full of my ill gotten scrounging.

Help someone out now, and you will be rewarded in full in the future.

John

Just as an aside, if anyone lives nearby and you need some raw materials, get in touch.
 
Between Speedy, McMaster, and Online Metals, Speedy had the best over-all pricing.

Hobby Metal Kits had good pricing on a few of the things I'm after, but not enough to warrant separate shipping.

Boy, prices sure add up quick when you don't have a lot of metal in stock to pull from! The biggest single item cost is for the 4.5" cold-rolled round bar for the flywheel. Maybe I should go with cast iron round for the flywheel, It seems to be about half the coat of cold-rolled. Or maybe check ebay for some cool looking cast iron cart wheels... But that brings up other issues.

Are there any "secret" flywheel materials/methods out there?

Thanks!
Chris

Have a look around your local scrapyard for bar bell and dumbbell weights. You might have to machine a plug for the hole in them. Another source is table lamps. A lot of them often have a cast iron weight in the bottom. One that pops into mind, if you go to Ikia, they have an LED table lamp with a 125 mm diameter cast iron disc in the bottom. The LED lamp makes a good work light for the lathe or mill as well.
 
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