At the scrapyard I grabbed up a few 1/8 to 1" round copper rods anywhere from 6 to 12" long--at the time I thought they were brass (newb mistake). Copper any good for anything other than plumbing fittings? I know they're machineable because some of them have obvious signs of being turned on a lathe (bored on the ends, center-drilled, etc...). Copper durable enough to be used in place of brass or too soft?
What to do with copper rods?
- Thread starter winklmj
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mklotz
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Copper with signs of machining? Sounds strange given the fact that copper is such a bear to machine. Are you certain they are copper? Some of the marine brasses/bronzes have a reddish color close to copper.
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Seems like solid copper in 1" round and 12" in length would be worth quite a bit of money.
-T
-T
Bronze would be worth more 
Most copper does not machine well at all. It's usually quite miserable to make a nice finish. Like
trying to turn chewing gum. That doesn't mean it can't be done, since it's accomplished every day
in industry. We used to get a job turning copper now and then in a shop where I worked. I've forgotten
tool geometry now, but remember we used whole milk as a lube.
Hopefully, what you got was some kind of bronze, like Marv says. You could actually use that for
something in regular model making chores. Copper has kind of a limited use for most of us. Rivets,
boiler stays, and stuff like that, but I wouldn't want to make a piston or cylinder from it.
If what you got was copper, trade it to someone for some nice brass.
Dean
trying to turn chewing gum. That doesn't mean it can't be done, since it's accomplished every day
in industry. We used to get a job turning copper now and then in a shop where I worked. I've forgotten
tool geometry now, but remember we used whole milk as a lube.
Hopefully, what you got was some kind of bronze, like Marv says. You could actually use that for
something in regular model making chores. Copper has kind of a limited use for most of us. Rivets,
boiler stays, and stuff like that, but I wouldn't want to make a piston or cylinder from it.
If what you got was copper, trade it to someone for some nice brass.
Dean
K
Kermit
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The cutting properties of copper can be improved significantly by creating an alloy with half a percent of tellurium. This produces only a slight alteration in the electrical and thermal conductivity and ductility of the free machining copper. Copper telluride precipitations in the microstructure break up the turnings into chips and enable a much higher machining speed than is possible with pure copper. On a machinability rating scale with 100 being for free cutting brass and 20 for copper, tellurium copper is rated at 90.
Alloy 145
Kermit
Alloy 145
Kermit
doc1955
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Deanofid said:
Lotion Rof} Rof} Rof} Rof} :big: :big:
We use to have a spot welder where I worked which too I believe .5 rods but I do know I've also machined pure copper for electrode racks for our process line. They are used for hard coat anodize and electro polishing. Those rods where 1.0 dia and 6 feet long. The racks we built were about 10 feet long by 5 feet tall, basically a big picture frame. And yes copper is not an enjoyable material to machine.
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Kermit
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Deanofid said:
NO. Nothing so difficult as that. Just increase the amount of paper money paid and let the 'jokers' at the foundry do it for you.
8)
My point being that a copper rod that is 'easy' to machine has a higher than average chance of being just such an alloy. Silly boys.
