tin weights and steel weights

I was thinking of buying some tin ingots and melting them together for a weight. But was wondering about tin corrosion. Does it stay shiny and bright and uncorroded?

Also have some old pioneer weights used for scales of iron/steel with a rust coating. Was thinking of sanding away the rust and then quickly apply a lacquer or varnish or some clear coating while still shiny. Am I kidding myself by thinking the shiny steel will last and remain rust free?

Thanks in advance for any information

Archimedes Plutonium whole entire Universe is just one big atom where dots of the electron-dot-cloud are galaxies

Reply to
Archimedes Plutonium
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Tin doesn't have to corrode to crumble away into dust. In cold winter temperatures, a crumbly gray allotrope can be more stable (lower energy) than the hard shiny allotrope, a phenomenon known as "tin pest".

Or that the lacquer won't chip, thus altering the weight.

Reply to
Mark Thorson

Is this a phase change? It doesn't sound like it, though... Plutonium (not the OP) goes through six phase changes on its way to operating temperature in a reactor, but I don't think it does anything like "tin pest".

David A. Smith

Reply to
N:dlzc D:aol T:com (dlzc)

I believe it would be correct to call this a phase change, though I can't cite a reference to back me up. It's like the transition between diamond and graphite.

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Reply to
Mark Thorson

Cool!

In case anybody doesn't *know* about brass and vacuum, zinc has a vapor pressure. Zinc is one of the elements forming the alloy that is brass. I had an instructor that told me about a thermocouple bundle he had created for use in a vacuum application. The bundle was cased in brass...

Short!

Thanks, Mark Thorson.

David A. Smith

Reply to
N:dlzc D:aol T:com (dlzc)

Tin will remain relatively bright. It corrodes very slowly. Wheel weight metal, probably availible free at the local tire shop, might be cheaper than pure tin and just as good for the purpose.

If you clean and de-grease the metal carefully before applying the finish you can get good results, but how accurate will your weights be after removing and adding unmeasured amounts of material?

You're welcome,

Pragmatist -"No generality is true...not even this one."

Reply to
pragmatist

I wonder if those weights they bang onto tire hubs to balance the tire are tin compositions. I am trying to find tin that is free of lead.

I want to make some clothes tree stands with a base composed of tin metal.

I want to use the weight as a clothes tree stand base. I like making arts and crafts sort of items and wanted to make more clothes tree stands.

But I am the author of the idea that tar not only prevents rust on steel or iron but actually removes rust. So that if I take a rusty sheet metal of iron and apply tar and wait for 1 or 2 years and pull the tar off, that I expose shiny bright steel or iron and that tar absorbed the iron oxide into its tar matrix. I suppose the acidity of tar ate away the iron oxide.

So, I wonder if chemically it is possible or impossible to create a tar that is see through, or clear and transparent? I would guess not because to make a transparent tar is asking whether carbon can be transparent but then again I maybe wrong because many plastics are obviously carbon based but are clear.

So, I decided that with my antique steel weight with inscriptions U.S. Standard and many numbers of a cube about 25 cm by 25 cm with a handle, all with a light coating of rust and discoloration, that I decided to turn into a clothes tree base. And I decided to leave as is and coat that block of steel with tar and then paint it with a color that I like. And as the years go by, I expect to peel off that tar and paint and find underneath a pretty shiny iron or steel surface which I then will retar and repaint.

Question: can a clear tar be produced?

Question: are those weights hammered onto the side of wheel hubs made of tin and contain no lead???

Archimedes Plutonium whole entire Universe is just one big atom where dots of the electron-dot-cloud are galaxies

Reply to
Archimedes Plutonium

I think the collective wisdom is "no".

Lead. Maybe lead alloy. And recycleable...not a throw-away item for those in the know.

For what reason, other than the name "tin"?

have some old pioneer weights used for scales of iron/steel with

An honorable way to make a buck.

You don't identify the source of the "tar". "Tar" as known from the residue of petroleum refinement contains heavy oils (presumably long chain alkanes), waxes, and residues of plant material, cellulotic structures, among other things. There's a lot there that could "absorb" iron oxide, I suppose.

Diamond is "transparent" carbon.

So we're talking "steel" now?

"Clear tar" has got to be an oxymoron.

I'd guess, "no".

I thought that was dandruff :-)

Mark

Reply to
Mark Tarka

Arch, 'Wheel weights` are made of an alloy of lead, tin, and antinony. I don't recall the percentages.......(senior moment). You can probably buy pure tin but it will be pricey. The difference could probably purchase you some more 'dots`. You needn't panic about the lead. I have been casting wheel weights into sinkers and bullets for years without a problem. The metal in solid form is not dangerous to handle or store. If you paint it, corrosion is not a problem. Just use good common sense in fabrication / melting /pouring, (well ventilated area, don't inhale flux fumes, wash hands, don't get burned, (725+F.), make sure your mold is DRY and strong enough to contain large masses, don't eat while working, clean up after.) NOTE; If you intend to craft with it, wheel weight alloy has the additional advantage, (due to antimony content), of being heat treatable, (heat and quench to harden, heat and slow cool to anneal). Pragmatist- "It won't fit? - Use a bigger hammer!"

Reply to
pragmatist

Archimedes Plutonium (a snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com) wrote: : I was thinking of buying some tin ingots and melting them together for : a weight. But was wondering about tin corrosion. Does it stay shiny : and bright and uncorroded?

: Also have some old pioneer weights used for scales of iron/steel with : a rust coating. Was thinking of sanding away the rust and then quickly : apply a lacquer or varnish or some clear coating while still shiny. Am : I kidding myself by thinking the shiny steel will last and remain rust : free?

Use gold. The weights don't take up as much space, and they don't corrode under ordinary conditions.

--

-- William "Dave" Thweatt Robert E. Welch Postdoctoral Fellow Chemistry Department Rice University Houston, TX snipped-for-privacy@ruf.rice.edu snipped-for-privacy@us.army.mil

Reply to
William David Thweatt

I prefer to use stainless steel. By the way does anyone know if anyone makes a stainless steel lemon or orange Reamer. They stopped making glass ones some 20 years ago.

Stainless steel would make an excellent base for clothes trees. Anyone know at what temperature I would have to get to melt down tableware in order to get a nice big round disc clump of stainless steel for the base of my clothes tree?

I wonder if I can use old glass Reamers as molds and pure into them molten stainless steel and make my own Lemon reamers. I am guessing the temperature is too hot.

I think *tin* is not used enough in modern society. I hear of "tin cans" and tin toys but I rarely actually see any tin. Perhaps tin is biased and prejudiced against.

So I would like a nice heavy disc of tin to make a clothes tree.

Archimedes Plutonium whole entire Universe is just one big atom where dots of the electron-dot-cloud are galaxies

Reply to
Archimedes Plutonium

Tin cans are made of steel. The steel is coated with tin to keep it from rusting.

Perhaps you should check out the properties of Tin. In particular, look up grey tin and white tin.

I really don't believe their is an anti-tin conspiracy.

heh

That seems so silly.

Reply to
bob

Tin is a wonderfull material for all kinds of usefull things. It is cheap and easy to cast and was used for many of the common household items which plastic is used for today. It would (IMHO) be a nice thing to see metal used instead of cheap plastic again. Maybe you could start casting some things out of tin and see how it goes. One point that is lost today, is that newly cast items made from tin should be placed in the freezer (or anyplace sufficiently cold) for 30 days or so, to cure the metal to it's final strength. This rather lengthy process is one reason that tin manufacture fell out of favor. Try it out and let us know how it goes.

Cheers, Tony.

Reply to
Tony

Tony wrote:One point that is lost today, is that newly cast items

Uh huh. It's "cured" when you can poke a bamboo skewer completely through it.

Reply to
Mark Thorson

Do you have something against concrete? That's what most of the people on this planet use.

Steve Turner

Real address contains worldnet instead of spamnet

Reply to
Steve Turner

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