Using Old Exercise Weights as Project Material?

Yeah, machining cast sucks. Be careful, I worked with cast housings from China. I found "rocks" and all sorts of garbage in them. Believe it of not, I found several taps in castings. Even high quality castings have voids, sand and hard spots. Use a brush and a rag when cleaning your machine. Clean your machine often. The iron dust will get under the wipers and destroy your ways very fast.
 
Benny, how long a piece of 4" do you need? I have a bar of 4140 I could slice off a chunk of if you can't find something suitable and don't mind using alloy.
 
I set up the shop vac hose near the cutter when turning cast iron, Brass, and plastic. A little noise but shure is alot cleaner.:))
 
Tony Wells said:
Benny, ........ I could slice off a chunk of if you can't find something suitable and don't mind using alloy.
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Tony,
Thanks for the offer but I should be okay. This is not a rush project so I have plenty of time to find material. The back plate is for an old Southbend 14 1/2" that currently is just setting there waiting for some TLC. It just came to the surface because I found a four jaw chuck that was larger than the one on my Southbend 10" lathe on Craigslist and jumped on it. Besides part of the fun is searching the scrap yard. The guy who runs the new material sales and the recycle yard is pretty good at cutting the length I need so I don't have to buy a bunch of extra.

Benny
 
OK Benny. Your scrapyard is friendlier than most here. They won't sell anything. You have to know the guys in the yard to buy if off the record, and that's getting tough because there has been people sent in to test them. They have to know you really well.
 
Sorry to resurrect this, but it showed up on a Google search and seems to be the same question I had, but likely a different metal.

Could anybody take a crack at what this one is, or how to work it? It's a couple small hand weights (end bells are only about 1.5"dia). Somehow I figured it would be more of a chewy messy composition, but it's hard as a friggin' rock. A hacksaw blade barely scratches it unless I work really hard in one exact spot. I didn't get a really definitive check on it, but it seems to grind with lots of really short sparks without much tail on them.

Cast_Weight.JPG

In this state, I'm guessing I'll either get nowhere or put too much wear on my cutters. Does it sound like something I could oven heat for a while to soften it? If so, how much and how long?

Thanks!
 
They often use cheap scrap iron of whatever stuff is in the melt, and then cast it in a way that chills the metal. It is quite possible that you will ruin tools and tooling worth well more than buying the metal that would be ideal for whatever you are looking to make with it, not to mention the frustration involved. I love using mystery metal, and I love to save money, but sometimes it just is not worth it. When you get the first hints that all is not well, change to a different plan before it gets worse.
 
Thanks Bob! I was just now sort of figuring it might not be worth it, as I just let it sit at about 375°F in the oven for a little while then cool slowly inside it. No effect whatsoever on the hardness. This isn't really a money saving thing as the diameter isn't all that great anyhow. I was just curious as to what might be underneath it. I may try to get it red hot later just to see what it does, but no big deal either way. I'll try my best to quit after that. :cool 2:

Take Care
 
I found some barbell weights of different sizes for a buck each at the restore and the couple Ive machined were nice.
Perhaps because they are old US made.
The material that I stress relieved in the oven didn't work great either.
What did give some good benefit was to leave them close to the broiler till they were heat soaked, then let them cool slowly.
Others have said a temp of 600degF to 650degF is needed to relieve cast iron.
 
Jidis said:
Could anybody take a crack at what this one is, or how to work it? It's a couple small hand weights (end bells are only about 1.5"dia).
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I think that is a chain link pin. Old saw mills and material handling chains could use differing links to grip and move material.
 
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