cutting 1/4" sheets of magnesium

[Levi Chanowitz]

can anyone tell me what do I need to know about cutting 1/4" sheets of magnesium. I need to cut it into 1 1/2" x 8" pieces


what kind of saw?
cost
how long would it take to cut each piece?
noise?
Shavings?
dust collection
hazards (dust)Thank you

[Carl Fox]

your biggest hazzard is FIRE. Once mag gets going it is nearly impossible to put out and it burns hotter than almost anything.

are you trying for a Darwin Award?

Or is this an April Fools Joke?

[Fred Woodward]

I do hope that was an April Fool's joke.

Many years ago, when I was in high school. I worked in a machine shop where among other things, they made racing go karts. They had a lathe that they used to turn the edges of mag wheels. Signs all over the place to not use water on magnesium fires and tons of sand in barrels just on the chance that there was any fire started in the shavings. One Sunday morning the janitor tossed a cigar into a small bin of magnesium shavings with the result being a pretty hot but small fire started in the bin. He then traveled a long way away from the lathe to get a soda/water fire extinguisher to put the fire out. Not a good idea. The small fire quickly became a huge fire and took out the whole machine shop. About $6,000,000 loss in 1965 dollars.
The janitor did not die but was pretty severely burned.

You really don't want to do that.

[Matt Ocel]

Hey Levi - watcha gonna do with the mag????????:)

[David DeCristoforo]

"Many years ago, when I was in high school..."

Yeah, there's gonna be a lot of these stories I'll bet! When I was a kid I used to build "slot cars" and I used magnesium for the frames. One day I was soldering a wire on one of them and I got the magnesium a little too hot. There was a flash and a funny "sppfftt" sound and poof... the magnesium was gone! But to answer the question, I used to cut it with a jeweler's saw.

YM

[Lee DeRaud]

But to answer the question, I used to cut it with a jeweler's saw.BTDT, long time ago. But for the size pieces (or more to the point, length of cuts) he's talking about, fine-blade hacksaw is probably the right answer.

Or a good buddy with access to a water-jet.:cool::p

[Bruce Page]

Mag is very pyrophoric. I have watched video showing it burning a good sized hole through the bed of a large engine lathe, the lathe was destroyed. We would have buckets of powdered graphite standing by to smother any sparks/fire, whenever we machined it.

IT IS NOT FOR THE NOVICE!

If I were you, I’d find a good sheet metal shop and have them cut it on their shear.

[Peter Quinn]

I remember igniting magnesium strips in chem. lab for some experiment or other. Boy, what a hot white light it makes.

Do you really want to mess with that?

Even if I knew how to cut it I wouldn't tell you for fear of an explosion and ensuing law suit.

[Eric Larsen]

Too bad sodium is too soft for magnesium-cutting saw blades.

I'd like to see the youtube video of a sodium/magnesium cutting operation, preferably in a fireworks factory.

EDIT -- Imagine the plight of the poor yob who throws water on THAT fire!

[Ray Moser]

Perhaps it is not obvious but the reason for sand as a fire extinguisher is that a magnesium fire must the smotherered. It burns too hot for other extinguishing agents.

[Sam Yerardi]

Levi,

If you are really serious (this has to be an April Fool's joke) the only safe way I know of (or would be willing to try) is cutting it with a CNC water-jet.

[mike holden]

One of the shops I worked in cut it in a milling machine.
There is a special type of fire extinguisher needed for a magnesium fire, check with your local fire department. Oh, and your insurance agent - you may need a rider for special coverage.
This is nasty stuff to work with.
Mike

[Levi Chanowitz]

Is zinc better to work with? What would I cut it with?

[Peter Quadarella]

Zinc won't burn but I don't know what it's like to cut. What about aluminum - a lot easier to come by and easy to cut. What's the application?

[Levi Chanowitz]

acid etched plaques

[Tom Walz]

With zinc - think "pot metal" which is usually mostly zinc. There are other versions. That just seems to be the most common in my experience.

It is brittle and I don't much like the feel or the look.

When I made plaques it was with sandcast silicon bronze. Way overkill but fun to do.

Tom

[Pat Germain]

In the never ending firefighting training I received in the Navy, the recommendation for a magnesium, or "Class Delta Fire", was always the same: Jettison over the side! Obviously, this isn't an option in most woodworking shops.

[Fred Haydon]

Not sure how many are aware, but road flares are really just powdered magnesium with a binder in a cardboard tube. I've watched many a firefighting training video regarding car fires and every time they put water on them you get a nice, bright flash of white. This is not to say that you can't put out a mag fire with water, you can, if you have a pump rated @ 750GPM or higher and at least 3K of water standing at the ready. As well as proper gear and training. I've done it once, the pucker factor was off the scale during and the cool factor was off the scale afterwards. And I have no desire to do it again.

Levi, please find an alternative material for your etchings. No one here wants to see anything happen to you.

Cheers,
Fred

[Lee Schierer]

Ask your supplier how to cut it or pay them the cutting charge to have it cut to your specifications.

[Mike Schmalzer]

If you are etching plates. Zinc would be a good safe way to go. Zinc plates are commonly used in printmaking for etchings and aquatints. Unfortunately a dying art but I have a BFA in it. I use zinc for most of my plates and it can be etched with watered down Nitric acid. It seems like a much safer alternative.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

what kind of saw? -- Use a Non ferrous metals blade 80 teeth. I'm assuming you have a table saw. A Band saw will do it too.
cost -- what do you mean? Are you doing this? Charge your hourly rate.
how long would it take to cut each piece? - not long.
noise? - - HA HA HA you will be shocked how quiet it is cutting magnesium.
Shavings? - - - Worth collecting and selling to a metal recycler.
dust collection - - not needed.
hazards (dust) - - none known

[Jacob Reverb]

I know what I wouldn't use to cut it: A plasma cutter! :eek:

[Gordon Harner]

The special fire extinguishing agent is called purple K. Pleease... don't machine that stuff!!!