Anyone want to guess the colour code?

This topic has 13 replies, 11 voices, and was last updated 22 August 2015 at 18:08 by Bowber.

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21 August 2015 at 20:28 #24054
pgk pgk
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@pgkpgk17461
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21 August 2015 at 20:28 #201365
pgk pgk
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@pgkpgk17461
Local scrappy scored some useful parts for me including some round bar lengths of steel with just a dusting of rust approx inch diameter and 4 foot long. This was from a rubbish clearance from a deceased hobbyist.

Some of the bars have off-white painted ends, some a dull mid green and one the same green wth a black '1' in the middle.

I realise colour codes can be personal amongst stockist but just on the off-chance it rings a bell….?

(The haul also included 2 different v blocks a pair of v blcks with clamps. 2 different size bullfinch burners an engineers clamp and a 'eclipse' holder with assorted blades which include hand slittign saws and files and knives.. about the size of a thin stanley knife in it's original cardboard box. £20 the lot seemed a bargain)
21 August 2015 at 20:34 #201368
Neil Wyatt
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@neilwyatt
It's almost certainly steel of some sort

Try the spark test on it.

Neil
21 August 2015 at 22:23 #201388
Anonymous
According to the steel stockist I use white is EN16T and green is EN1A, which may also explain the black '1'.

Andrew
21 August 2015 at 22:58 #201395
Ajohnw
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@ajohnw51620
I think the white will be free cutting mild steel. Green may be ke805 or something like that – green/black – memory is rather hazy on that one but pretty sure green was used.

I don't think that mild steel that could be case hardened was marked with white.

John

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22 August 2015 at 07:29 #201403
JasonB
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@jasonb
1+ for what andrew says and also on Parkers chart, the 1 could just be to differentiate 1" from 25mm stock, I tend to do it the other way and mark the metric stuff as I have less of that.
22 August 2015 at 08:55 #201414
David Clark 13
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@davidclark13
Green is usually en1a I think. Blue en3b. Perhaps the black means leaded. I think en32 was red. It was a long time ago. Try macreadies steel stockholders if they are still about.
22 August 2015 at 09:02 #201416
Nigel McBurney 1
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@nigelmcburney1
White was used for en3B for a long time ,parker steel now mark en16 with white, green is fairly universal for en 1A, the green with no 1 marked in black could be the owner marking it to remind him that it was no1. EN 3b is mild steel but doe not machine as well as EN1b. If its en16 it does not machine easily and is very tough,don't weld unless you know what you are doing.
22 August 2015 at 10:18 #201427
Michael Gilligan
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@michaelgilligan61133
This thread reminds me of the classic film Green for Danger

[quote] When Nurse Linley seems to be on the point of suffering the same mysterious death as the postman, the Inspector realises that a cylinder of gas, normally painted green, has been repainted black to resemble an oxygen cylinder. [/quote]

MichaelG.

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 22/08/2015 10:19:12
22 August 2015 at 10:51 #201428
John Hinkley
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@johnhinkley26699
Just checked my stock of steel odds and ends, following our recent move and it all seems to be coded a rather fetching shade of light brown!! Need to get the Scotchbrite out.

John

P.S. New mill arrived yesterday. Had to order an engine crane today! Hope to make a start on fitting the DROs and power feed motor while I wait for its delivery.

Edited By John Hinkley on 22/08/2015 10:55:57

Edited By John Hinkley on 22/08/2015 10:56:32
22 August 2015 at 13:45 #201447
Neil Wyatt
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@neilwyatt
I have cyan for EN1A and magenta for EN1APb in my stocks.

Neil
22 August 2015 at 16:46 #201464
Nick Hughes
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@nickhughes97026
The other thing you're up against is that the smaller bar ends are not individually painted (and 1" Dia is considered small), but the whole bundle of say 100 bars is done as if it was a large single bar. So for a two colour code e.g. Brown/Green, depending where the bar is taken from the bundle, it could have either a Brown, or a Green painted end. This of course means unless the bar is re-painted after removing from the bundle, then just checking the colour code charts would lead you to think that the bar was either EN24T (Brown) or EN1A Freecutting (Green) rather than EN24 Annealed.

Note:- the above colours are from the Parker Steel Colour Code Chart.

Nick.

Edited By Nick Hughes on 22/08/2015 16:52:21
22 August 2015 at 17:10 #201469
Neil Wyatt
Moderator
@neilwyatt
My local stockholders thought it was really funny that I was grasping a copy of the a 'standard' colour chart. Apparently I'm not the first to have come to grief by using it to select from their shortends.

I think some of them change the colours as a protection against theft.

Neil
22 August 2015 at 18:08 #201476
Bowber
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@bowber
We used to add coloured tape to the bars, however there was always some numpty who would cut off the end with the colour code!
And if you came back into the shop grasping the end with the colour code on you didn't do it again!

Steve
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