cutting 1/4" sheets of magnesium

[Levi Chanowitz]

can anyone tell me what do I need to know about cutting 1/4" sheets of magnesium. I need to cut it into 1 1/2" x 8" pieces

• what kind of saw?
• cost
• how long would it take to cut each piece?
• noise?
• Shavings?
• dust collection
• hazards (dust)

Thank you

[Carl Fox]

your biggest hazzard is FIRE. Once mag gets going it is nearly impossible to put out and it burns hotter than almost anything.

are you trying for a Darwin Award?

Or is this an April Fools Joke?

[Fred Woodward]

I do hope that was an April Fool's joke.

Many years ago, when I was in high school. I worked in a machine shop where among other things, they made racing go karts. They had a lathe that they used to turn the edges of mag wheels. Signs all over the place to not use water on magnesium fires and tons of sand in barrels just on the chance that there was any fire started in the shavings. One Sunday morning the janitor tossed a cigar into a small bin of magnesium shavings with the result being a pretty hot but small fire started in the bin. He then traveled a long way away from the lathe to get a soda/water fire extinguisher to put the fire out. Not a good idea. The small fire quickly became a huge fire and took out the whole machine shop. About $6,000,000 loss in 1965 dollars.
The janitor did not die but was pretty severely burned.

You really don't want to do that.

[Matt Ocel]

Hey Levi - watcha gonna do with the mag????????

[David DeCristoforo]

"Many years ago, when I was in high school..."

Yeah, there's gonna be a lot of these stories I'll bet! When I was a kid I used to build "slot cars" and I used magnesium for the frames. One day I was soldering a wire on one of them and I got the magnesium a little too hot. There was a flash and a funny "sppfftt" sound and poof... the magnesium was gone! But to answer the question, I used to cut it with a jeweler's saw.

YM

[Lee DeRaud]

But to answer the question, I used to cut it with a jeweler's saw.

BTDT, long time ago. But for the size pieces (or more to the point, length of cuts) he's talking about, fine-blade hacksaw is probably the right answer.

Or a good buddy with access to a water-jet.

[Bruce Page]

Mag is very pyrophoric. I have watched video showing it burning a good sized hole through the bed of a large engine lathe, the lathe was destroyed. We would have buckets of powdered graphite standing by to smother any sparks/fire, whenever we machined it.

IT IS NOT FOR THE NOVICE!

If I were you, I’d find a good sheet metal shop and have them cut it on their shear.

[Peter Quinn]

I remember igniting magnesium strips in chem. lab for some experiment or other. Boy, what a hot white light it makes.

Do you really want to mess with that?

Even if I knew how to cut it I wouldn't tell you for fear of an explosion and ensuing law suit.

[Eric Larsen]

Too bad sodium is too soft for magnesium-cutting saw blades.

I'd like to see the youtube video of a sodium/magnesium cutting operation, preferably in a fireworks factory.

EDIT -- Imagine the plight of the poor yob who throws water on THAT fire!

[Ray Moser]

Perhaps it is not obvious but the reason for sand as a fire extinguisher is that a magnesium fire must the smotherered. It burns too hot for other extinguishing agents.

[Sam Yerardi]

Levi,

If you are really serious (this has to be an April Fool's joke) the only safe way I know of (or would be willing to try) is cutting it with a CNC water-jet.

[mike holden]

One of the shops I worked in cut it in a milling machine.
There is a special type of fire extinguisher needed for a magnesium fire, check with your local fire department. Oh, and your insurance agent - you may need a rider for special coverage.
This is nasty stuff to work with.
Mike

[Levi Chanowitz]

Is zinc better to work with? What would I cut it with?

[Peter Quadarella]

Zinc won't burn but I don't know what it's like to cut. What about aluminum - a lot easier to come by and easy to cut. What's the application?

[Levi Chanowitz]

acid etched plaques