metal….grades?

[Benjamin DayParticipant @benjaminday94198]

hi, is there some kind of guide available for the properties of different grades of metals? as in a guide to suggest the preferred grade to use for a given application? Or what grade can be substituted for what. pros & cons. if a build guide says “use blah blah grade steel” and I dont have or cant quickly obtain it but I do have a sh** ton of this other stuff, can I still get away with using it? Or am i over thinking this?
Thanks and an apology for the probably silly question!
Ben.

[Benjamin DayParticipant @benjaminday94198]

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Just to show what a minefield you are getting into, Benjamin

This paper lists [on page 2] the 'Composition of the main types of High Speed Steel' **LINK**

http://www.biancogianfranco.com/Agg%20Area%20UK/Materials%20and%20treatments/Materials%20used%20to%20manufacture%20hobs.pdf

Search, and ye shall find similarly exhaustive lists for other materials !

It is the duty [rarely fulfilled] of the designer/author to note any stringent requirements, and preferably to mention realistic alternatives.

MichaelG.

.

Other opinions are available, and will probably be forthcoming.

[Clive FosterParticipant @clivefoster55965]

Minefield is a serious understatement.

I have the 1948 edition of the American Society for Metals Handbook. About 2 1/2 inches thick, 1330 pages 11 x 8 1/2 inches in moderately sized print. Last one I saw was probably late 1990's in 18 volumes! Yikes.

Realistically for the likes of us it's down to what can reasonably easily be got in appropriate sizes with sensible properties and not being to hard to machine. Maybe 20 or so types at the outside. Probably more like 10 would cover everything for most folk. Perhaps 5 or so being daily drivers.

If what you are doing really needs anything other than the "usual stuff for that sort of job" you ought to have engineered it properly and one research. Which isn't to say that the odd bit of wonder metal "very cheap to you sir" might not be welcome.

Clive.

Edited By Clive Foster on 22/08/2018 20:27:39

[Tim StevensParticipant @timstevens64731]

There are lists in many of the 'Engineering Handbooks' but these things (the materials available, not the books) change quite frequently. One thing to bear in mind is the fact that many reduced scale models are over-engineered, not out of any grand plan, but let me offer an example:

To make a full size glider you will expect to use a lot of aluminium alloy, perhaps some fairly strong wood, some steel, some clever plastics and adhesives, and so on. Make a model of the same plane and balsa is all you need. And of course, the flights are much shorter, and the payload much less (if any) but isn't that just the same with your table-top traction engine?

In brief, then, there is nothing to worry about, generally, with not finding exactly the same, or the 'correct' material for a modelling job. It only matters, really, when some specific special property is required. Examples of this latter might include stainless steel (not for its strength but because it won't corrode) and spring steel ( because the elasticity is important). Or perhaps brass because the original was that colour and anything else would look wrong.

And if you have a query about a specific material which does not appear in current suppliers' lists, ask us. There may well be a good reason, and perhaps an even better alternative. Example – celluloid, now forbidden, and replaced by PVC, Nylon, Delrin, and other plastics, depending on what it has to do.

Regards, Tim

[JonParticipant @jon]

Its no understatement and really not a silly question.

It all depends on application, though material specs will be found its rarer to see what suitability each material spec would have compared to others.
Also depending on the supplier various manufacturing standards specs will be thrown at you, many will be obsolete quoting old specs from the 30's and 50's.
However these old specs roughly translate to modern equivalents.

Just found this have a butchers for a full list of BS numbers.
https://mdmetric.com/tech/bssteelcode.pdf

[Peter G. ShawParticipant @peterg-shaw75338]

There's a section in Harold Hall's Metalworker's Data Book, page 153, where he lists various steels and makes some recommendations as to their use.

Also John Slater MEW146 page 47, R J Loader MEW 20 etc A Plain Mans Guide to Materials; Dave Fenner, MEW162 page 26

Happy reading,

Peter G. Shaw

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

You might buy a copy of the Workshop Practice Series book on Workshop Materials. Cheap to buy and a good starting point. **LINK**

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