what is monel metal

Home Model Engine Machinist Forum

Help Support Home Model Engine Machinist Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

werowance

Well-Known Member
HMEM Supporting Member
Joined
Sep 2, 2011
Messages
1,336
Reaction score
353
hello everyone, I decided to try my hand at making a trench style cigarette lighter out of a popular science magazine from the 50's and have a few questions.

1. it recommends monel metal. what is that? what would be a good substitute? im trying brass without much success
2. on the flint tube, I must tap the inside to #10 x cant remember the threads. and cut the outside to 3/16 by cant remember the number of threads. sorry im at work and don't have the plans here. but with brass I snap the tube off every time cutting the outside. I have even increased the outside from 3/16 to a 5 mm thread still witout luck. so was wondering if there would be a trick such as annealing the brass first or something. or if I just need to find monel metal.

thanks much.
Bryan
 
Monel metals are alloys in the family of stainless steels.316 would be an adequate substitute for what you are doing.Easy to btain and work
 
ah, great, I happen to have a stick of 316. just hope its big enough.

I figured it was going to be soft metal since most trench lighters are brass.

thank you very much.

have a great weekend and don't eat to many thanks giving left overs.

:):)
 
Monel is a high nickle alloy used in corrosive sea water situations. Most
larger metal dealers will have access to it although its us has been pretty
much been replaced by stainless steel as Monel has a lot of copper in it.

Pete
 
Monel comes in various grades, but they are all roughly 1/3 copper & 2/3 nickel, with very small amounts of other stuff. The main use in model and to a greater extent full size steam engines is as firebox stays in locomotive type boilers.
 
It is/was also used for brake pipes in cars when you didn't want them to rust through in a few years.Very good in that application.
 
but with brass I snap the tube off every time cutting the outside.

Just a thought - is it possible to cut the outside thread while it is still solid, then drill and tap the internal thread after? If you can do it in that order you have a better chance of the part staying in one piece.
 
Am I missing something?

#10 major diameter = 0.190 regardless of TPI
3/16 major diameter = 0.188

How can you have a pipe threaded inside and outside with those two dimensions?

The result is nothing but disconnected metal dust particles
 
Hastelloy and inconel are similar High nickel alloys
Tin
 
Just a thought - is it possible to cut the outside thread while it is still solid, then drill and tap the internal thread after? If you can do it in that order you have a better chance of the part staying in one piece.

yes I should be able to, just the plans say to do it opposite, but it also says to start your threads on the lathe then finish with a die. I just cant thread with my lathe right now due to a chipped gear.

but ill give that a try. tried stainless with tap inside first, then die outside second this weekend and failed. but hopefully reverse will work. I have plenty of that ss rod and its a very small part so I can keep on trying.

thanks for the suggestion.
 
Hastelloy and inconel are similar High nickel alloys
Tin
Other than high nickel content, not really. Hastelloy is largely nickel and molybdenum, inconel is largely nickel and chromium, and monel is largely nickel and copper. There are various flavors of each with different main and minor alloy contents.
 
Monel metal is a copper and nickel alloy containing 65-70 percent nickel, 20-29 percent of copper and small amounts of iron, manganese, silicon and
carbon. It was discovered by Robert Crooks Stanley, who
worked for the International Nickel Company (INCO) in 1905. It is stronger than steel, malleable, resistant to corrosion, has low coefficient of thermal expansion, highly resistant to alkalis. It can be easily brazed, welded and soldered. It is used in sheet and plate ductwork, flashing, gutters and downspouts, mail chutes, laundry chutes, elevator fittings, lighting fixtures, and skylights.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top