NOW I REMEMBER WHY I HATE WORKING WITH ALUMINUM!

[Protocall_Design]

Everyone seems to have their own favorite cutting oil or fluids. I am just sharing what I have found to work over decades of tool & die making and running production parts. I am not always sure why one thing works better than another, I just know what works for me. Everyone is free to use whatever they want to. You may ridicule and make fun all you want to, it doesn't matter to me, I'm just trying to help others.

 

[NYlakesider]

Everyone seems to have their own favorite cutting oil or fluids. I am just sharing what I have found to work over decades of tool & die making and running production parts. I am not always sure why one thing works better than another, I just know what works for me. Everyone is free to use whatever they want to. You may ridicule and make fun all you want to, it doesn't matter to me, I'm just trying to help others.

Thank you for sharing your expertise..

Like I said before my son is a CNC programmer and foreman in a large machine shop and he gives me a lot of good advice. Working with a lot of things keep you on your A game!

 

[Rule3]

If you get Tap Magic for Aluminum you will have a much easier time of it.
It is far better than WD-40 or kerosene. It also works great on all non ferrous metals like brass, copper, bronze, etc. I machine precision parts out of all metals for a living, so I'm not just repeating something I heard. I use this on a daily basis.

Everyone seems to have their own favorite cutting oil or fluids. I am just sharing what I have found to work over decades of tool & die making and running production parts. I am not always sure why one thing works better than another, I just know what works for me. Everyone is free to use whatever they want to. You may ridicule and make fun all you want to, it doesn't matter to me, I'm just trying to help others.

I was not making fun or ridiculing YOU. You said previously that Tap Magic works better than WD 40 or Kerosene.
No doubt that it probably does

I was mentioning all the different products Tap Magic has
Are they significantly different from one another??

I guess all the machining done in the machine age before magic, broke and dulled a lot of bits and blades.

Put a small amount of product in a small bottle call it magic a charge for it. Just like Gun Cleaning/Lube.

The proprietary additive, EP-Xtra, provides a synergistic boost in performance.

 

[ImprovedModel56Fan]

Aluminum is NOT pot metal.

What are pots made of?

 

[Texas Star]

Ah-loo-min-yum.

I think the Brits say, "Al-you-MIN-um.

My primary experience with it is in knife pommels and some guards, as on Buck sheath knives. Works fine for that.

I had a Beretta M-391 Technys Gold 20 ga. shotgun with a receiver of that stuff, but it worked fine in that role. Oh: My Beretta 9 mm has an aluminum frame. Seems to hold up well.

 

[Texas Star]

What are pots made of?

Mine are stainless steel with copper bottoms. Some are cast iron.

"Pot metal" is usually an incorrect term.

DocB said above that Nazi era dress daggers were pot metal. Not those I've seen! Some even had blades of Damascus steel.

Maybe he's seen some cheap repros?

 

[Protocall_Design]

What are pots made of?

When you think of it that way, aluminum, cast iron, copper and stainless steel are all pot metal.

 

[1morethan8]

Every metal is worked different.. and you must choose the right metal for the job.

Out of all the metals I've worked, I like titanium the best!

 

[Tom S.]

If you get Tap Magic for Aluminum you will have a much easier time of it.
It is far better than WD-40 or kerosene. It also works great on all non ferrous metals like brass, copper, bronze, etc. I machine precision parts out of all metals for a living, so I'm not just repeating something I heard. I use this on a daily basis.

When I started my apprenticeship, they had just started using the old formula of Tap Magic, which carried a warning to NOT use it on aluminum. If you did, it would literally turn the aluminum to a soft gummy black goo. Later, they came out with Tap Magic for aluminum, and you could tell by smelling it the major ingredient was kerosene. Then they "upgraded" the regular Tap Magic, which was PR for "we removed a chemical the government has banned", and the stuff didn't work near as well. I don't know how well the upgraded Tap Magic for aluminum works, as I've never used it.

 

[Collo Rosso]

Not long after I got out of the service I got a job at Grumman aerospace. Was hoping for electrical (what I did in the Navy) but they offered me structural mechanic till an opening came along. First project I was on I got to work with a structures guy that started building F8F bearcats in 1945! I got quite an education on working aluminum in the 3 years I was there.

 

[Collo Rosso]

I have always considered Pot Metal to be Zink! ER I meant Zinc, thanks to Jeff423!

British S.U. and Amal carbs were cast from mazak. The British form of crappy zinc pot metal. 30K miles and the slides have worn the bodies oval. Air bled around the slide causing a constant state of lean.

 

[Protocall_Design]

Mazak is a Japanese brand of machine tool, mostly lathes and mills. Mazak is short for Yamazaki.
Zamak is the zinc pot metal. A lot of things were/are made of this fairly soft material.
We always said that Amal carburetors were nothing more than a metered leak. It was fitting when they were paired with Lucas electrics, the Prince of Darkness.

In the interest of full disclosure, I have just found out that Mazak was also a British brand name of Zamak, the metal alloy.

 

[misswired]

Every metal is worked different.. and you must choose the right metal for the job.

Out of all the metals I've worked, I like titanium the best!

I never liked titanium, it's a take it low and slow machining metal....I'm from the old school of 'moving iron'!

I always used caution keeping the chip pan cleaned of titanium excessive chips to prevent a meltdown core fire that would burn through concrete or whatever until it burned out of fuel. I can remember igniting 3 or 4 titanium fires. The worst white hot flash temporarily blinded me.... I hit the red kill button,stepped back and listened to the other machinists panic while shouting 'FIRE'... They were squirting windex, one guy was spraying triple 1 trichloroethane with produces the deadly phosgene gas!!! Starting to regain some vision, I hear/see a maintenance man ask: "Do y'all want me to put that fire out?" I shouted YES! He calmly removed a fire extinguisher from a nearby pole and promptly put the dreaded titanium fire out. No....I never liked machining titanium and yes Old Joe, monel sucks too!

.......the machine shop stories are endless!

 

[rwsmith]

Everything;s got a downside.

Some of the stainless steels I used couldn't be machined w/o interrupted dies. That's probably old hat to most of you, but back then it was a problem. I had a lot of success with Delrin for plastic parts.

We made some vessels out of Hastelloy X and the nearest places that could make them was the west coast, probably because of the Aerospace industry.

 

[chief38]

The original part that I replaced on his FMC balancing machine was made out of a super light weight and super durable fiberglass reinforced plastic but I am not sure what it is called and so I could not source it. Delrin is also a pretty strong and durable plastic and has been used for knife handles for a long time.

 

[misswired]

Here's a real piece of delrin..::this delrin is so soft you can see the dirt embedded in it over the 20 some odd years I've had it...delrin is a soft plastic in my experience ....west coast aerospace machining????cut us north alabamian machinists a break and google Werner von Braun....

 

[Steve912]

The original part that I replaced on his FMC balancing machine was made out of a super light weight and super durable fiberglass reinforced plastic but I am not sure what it is called and so I could not source it. Delrin is also a pretty strong and durable plastic and has been used for knife handles for a long time.

That describes "Zytel", and probably other composites. Delrin is similar to "plastic block" style nylon.

Pot metal=Zamak.

 

[1morethan8]

"it's a take it low and slow machining metal.."

Which reminds me of a bet I won with a guy several years ago...
I told him I could drill 1/8" holes in 16ga Grade 5(6-4) titanium in less than 3 seconds a hole without coolant. Same drill bit for over 400 holes without sharpening the bit... he lost the bet!

 

[BillyMagg]

What are pots made of?

Stainless with a copper bottom! LOL,

I don't do pot's?? what r your pots made of,,, pot metal is a non-ferrous material normally used in castings

 

[BillyMagg]

"it's a take it low and slow machining metal.."

Which reminds me of a bet I won with a guy several years ago...
I told him I could drill 1/8" holes in 16ga Grade 5(6-4) titanium in less than 3 seconds a hole without coolant. Same drill bit for over 400 holes without sharpening the bit... he lost the bet!

you're not just whistling Dixie! so what was your secret, diamond tipped drill bit??