This post probably doesn't belong here but what the heck. I've been
working on my OMI READING 2-8-0 (Mother Hubbard/Camelback)I decided
that I wanted to add firebox lights in the model. I figured that it
would be a good thing to drill the vent holes in the two fire box
doors. In the process I've went through about 12 of the # 72 drills
and only managed to get 7 holes drilled. (These are not the cheap
drills either) They all would dull up quickly after one hole and some
of them never made it through even one hole. I decided I should test
the sharpness of the drills I was using on a scrap piece of brass
before I tried to drill some of the holes, and they would drill the
scrap with no problem at all. Then when I went to drill one of the
holes the drill would dull up real quick.
I have a fix for that! I have VERY EXPENSIVE small carbide drills.
They run about $8.00 each and easily drill through just about
everything. They too dulled up in a hurry.
With this I went into the panic mode. There is an alloy that looks
like brass, casts like brass and is used in industry. With heat
treating they use it in nuclear power plants, the oil fields to make
non sparking tools that are as hard as steel, as some electrode
components in the welding industry, and other uses. It is a
beryllium-copper alloy. Handling it in a solid part form presents no
problem. BUT!! Machining it is very difficult, and, the dust from
machining is extremely toxic. Inhaling this dust isn't just a little
toxic, it's really, really, bad. I don't know what the L/D of
Beryllium is and I don't care. I just know I want no part of
Beryllium!! I carefully cleaned up my work area. I put the chips in a
container and mixed with epoxy to make a solid mass. Mind you, I am
not absolutely sure this stuff had Beryllium in it. Silicon-bronze is
also hard. But I have never had this problem drilling through
silicon-bronze! I'm taking no chances here.
I've never ran into this in 40 years of messing around with brass
models. I've taken off the two firebox doors and they went with the
chips. Time to go wash my hand again.
Rusty (J Rustermier)
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