RE: [RCSE] Re: Tungsten Ballast

[Bruce Hobbs]

Dear ballasting buddies, I built for a Sharon Pro 3.7  ……which everyone that has held or owned one knows has the skinniest fuselage known to man….a tungsten ballast system that loaded under the wing via a small opening into a carbon fiber tube. I got the machineable tungsten round rod which is approximately 97% as heavy as pure tungsten and tried to cut it into small sections on my Atlas 6” lathe…..not a chance in hell that was gonna happen.  A club member’s father worked at an aerospace lab doing prototype machining and his father tackled the “machinable” tungsten and 5 hours later had it cut into nice 2 oz. chunks…..can’t imagine how much it would have cost if I had to pay the regular rate. All said and done the Sharon could ballast up an additional 1.85 lbs. over minimum weight and if I had to pay the going price the ballast system probably would have ran an additional $400 for materials and machining. My $.02   BCNU Bruce Hobbs -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Monday, March 14, 2005 2:07 PM To: Soaring@airage.com Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [RCSE] Re: Tungsten Ballast    Walter -   You say it's an alloy. Do you know what the tungsten is alloyed with? There are some tungsten alloys that have been specifically formulated to be easily machined, your bar may be some of that. Get yourself a good hacksaw blade, chuck that sucker in a vise and try it out. If the tools you have available won't cut it then find a machinist with some cobalt bits. If you don't know somebody send me the bar and I can cut it, but I'll probably have to keep the "scraps" :-) The post office is gonna love it.   happy trails - Rob Glover     I have some 3/4 inch heavy tunsten alloy stock I need to cut. Do I have to have a machine shop cut it or is it possible to cut it at home with???? Thanks, Walter