One of the chaps I work with wants a piece of tungsten carbide. He's after a piece about 2" by 1"dia.
It's for a dragster engine. Something to do with balancing the crank. TBH I wasn't really listening, but it was definately a piece of tungsten carbide!!
Any ideas??
Cheers, Owelly.

Get your wallet out....

He's not short of a few quid but his engine builder has told him he is waiting for the tungsten carbide to finish his engine. he suspects the guy is just stalling so he wants to get the stuff and give it to him to get the motor back and fitted ready for some upcoming event.

What on earth would you want it for?

Its nearly impossible to cut/shape by conventional means. It is afterall used as tooling on many machine tools. Its also incredibly brittle.

Tools made of WC are not actually solid. They are what is known as cemented carbides. Basically fine grains of WC stuck together with a softer metal, such as cobalt. When heated the cobalt melts and runs between the WC grains sticking them together. Tools are made in their finished shape normally, with their edges ground using diamond wheels to produce a sharp edge.

Where you would get a lump that big I have no idea.

You sure he didnt need a carbide TOOL to machine the crank?

[Edited on 5/5/06 by flak monkey]

I'm sure when he see's the cost he will think again! I'm not sure were he is going to stick it....

quote:

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Originally posted by flak monkey
Get your wallet out....

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Next he'll be asking for a GLASS HAMMER

I saw it last, next to the 'Long weight'

ah, sorry, i moved it, i needed a left handed screw driver and it was in the way. Its now over by the short stand.

I'll see what I can do - I can get 2" x 1" x 1/2" slab for £10ea which is next to nowt, but it will need grinding. Green Grit grinding wheels grind TC pretty easily. Cemented Carbide (Cermet) is not suitable as it is inherantly lighter and he needs the weight.

Just reading with some amusement!

As Hellfire answered, Tungsten Carbide isn;t that pricey, and certainly is available for things other than tool tips!

We use solid carbide drills regularly, but they aren't a patch on CuBN (Cubic Boron Nitride) drills!

Tungsten Carbide is regularly used for injection moulding tools, and if I remember correctly is usually shaped either by grinding for simple shapes or spark erosion for complex stuff.

Sadly I don't have any lumps handy though!

Does he want it to make a cutting tool for a lathe or something similar? To balance a crank. you would remove metal, not add it.
Cheers John