Copper beryllium.

See recent thread on this.

Beryllium copper is a hazardous material and its use in the US is restricted. Be careful of breathing *ANY* dust or fumes resulting form machining/finishing.

Unka George (George McDuffee)

There is something to be said for government by a great aristocracy which has furnished leaders to the nation in peace and war for generations; even a democrat like myself must admit this. But there is absolutely nothing to be said for government by a plutocracy, for government by men very powerful in certain lines and gifted with the "money touch," but with ideals which in their essence are merely those of so many glorified pawnbrokers.

Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), U.S. Republican (later Progressive) politician, president. Letter, 15 Nov. 1913.

Machining it is not so much a problem, so far as you get decent chips, and don't burn it. Grinding it is. Do some more research on it.

ca

Very carcinogenic! Don't mess with it if you can help it. If you have to, then don't breathe fumes from it or don't breathe any air that might have grinding swarf or small particles floating around.

JB

Drilling it is a royal pain in the ass. It has a tendency to heat up then collapse at the point of attack, pinching the tool. If you have through tool cooling capabilities, use it if you have to drill. Otherwise I mill it as if it was P20, but use sharper tools. It grinds OK too. As others have pointed out, don't breath any dust created during machining and use wicked ventilation if you have to EDM or weld it. If you have to EDM it, you're going to need at least twice as many electrodes as you would for steel, and Poco EDM-3 is the only way to go for graphite.

If you're using it in molds, you may want to consider alternative materials. We often use (these are trade names) Moldmax or Ampcoloy 940. There are others. They're twice as expensive as BeCu, but safer to work with, and sink heat almost as well.

HTH

Let me add, though, that if you're going to turn or mill it, flooding it with coolant will keep the dust from going into the air. Years ago, we used to run a lot of this in the swiss machines, but since they were cutting with oil, we never had any problems.

Tom

MaX-- I have machined literally tons of this stuff. I used to go thru about 1500 pounds of the stuff weekly for about 6 years. Machining is usually not a problem. Where the danger really comes to play is in grinding and finishing operations where dust and fumes are produced. As a precaution, when ever I cleaned the machine or just removed the chip build up I did use gloves.

Neal

MaX-- I have machined literally tons of this stuff. I used to go thru about 1500 pounds of the stuff weekly for about 6 years. Machining is usually not a problem. Where the danger really comes to play is in grinding and finishing operations where dust and fumes are produced. As a precaution, when ever I cleaned the machine or just removed the chip build up I did use gloves.

Neal

Thanks a lot gentlemen for all responds. Regards MaX