cool stuff to try

thermite is alunium powder and iron oxide powder fun stuff when lit
possable to make magnets if proporshining is correct and subject to magnetic fields
lites with a wielder arc too

enameled magnet wire feed threw soldering tip
to start heat the iron feed some wire, feed some solder and cool the tip.
feed copper and move plotter to end point.
heat the iron,feed solder and press in to cut the copper

add cnc like head change function
add lazer or microwave heating
vacuum box & plasma arc to sputter p-type n-type to silcone on a pice of glass
making custom chips is far out
but mine will be nuclear powered!!!

Actually I work with thermite for a living, developing materials for the metalworking industry. I tried at one point to sinter aluminum powder into a conductive rod using a thermite derivative, thinking that a thermite paste could be extruded out a cold barrel and then lite to make a wire. The problem was that the conductivity was extremly poor with the aluminum oxide that gets formed.

Never tried making magnets however.

Mike

The email is a spam trap, ask if you want a real one.

Mike,

I was wondering, who do you use as suppliers for powdered metal?
I'm looking to pick up ~1 kg of powdered bronze.

-Sebastien

You could try ebay. I did some 'experiments' with thermite once, got everything i needed off ebay.

Uh yes.. that's exactly what I want in my "garage"... burning thermite...

One bad spark in the "I got me some kilos thermite and store it right here next to the fire"-bucket, and you'll be having a nice "burn the house down" barbecue

I'd guess, that'll be a fun thing to watch..... but NOT AT HOME!

nevrmind, but if you try that for the first time: use as few thermite and be as far as possible away from where you intent to sleep that night
Be aware... I do not know anything that burns as hot as thermite does.

'sid

Mike? No warnings about playing with thermite, do I have to be the bad guy?

It's ok, i can be the bad guy too for a bit

Playing with thermite = bad idea if you do not know exactly what you are doing.
Besides, you need the whole heat resistant mold to make something out of it. Thermite may burn as hot as 2000

Yes and no.

Just like you can take furan alcohol that would explosivly polymerize and make it safe with the addition of fillers, you can do the same thing with thermites. We make a thermite material that is mixed with refractories to make a self heating cup for the metalworking industry. I would store a ton of those things in my garage and sleep like a baby, since nothing short of a MAP torch could actually make them propagate. By the time a fire got hot enough to ignite these things it would have already burnt my house to the ground.

Development of these things is definitly for experienced individuals only but use of a desensitized blend is no more dangerous than gasoline, and safer than propane for example.

Mike

The thoughts and ideas expressed in this post do not reflect those of my employer and are intended only as communications between individuals. Any attempts at implement are at your own risk

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/12/2007 09:37PM by ohiomike.

I could sleep with thermite mix under my bed also, no problem. But once you manage to lit it, after baking the mix to release the air, and igniting it with a torch or with magnesium powder, you'd better have your plan straight 'cause the molten metal is on it's way and you won't be able to blow the flame off

By the way Mike, one question on your Furan resins: did you ever try to start their polymerization with a Lewis-acid? I found a couple of molecules that would start producing Lewis-acids under UV-light. Hey, even AlCl3 may do the trick as I have seen reactions with it that were UV triggered. Wouldn't that be a cool to have a resin that has a very long pot-life and starts hardening only after deposition?

Any acid will cataysize furfuryl alcohol but straight furfuryl usally needs sulfuric.

mike

The thoughts and ideas expressed in this post do not reflect those of my employer and are intended only as communications between individuals. Any attempts at implement are at your own risk

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/12/2007 09:36PM by ohiomike.