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heavy stuff

Posted: Thu Mar 13, 2014 5:45 pm
by hawkwind
Busy back at the drawing board yet again …......drifted off with the mind pondering very weighty issues ….lead to be exact …..needing lots of weight vs very little space what options are available ,so a little research showed me that there are options better than lead .BUT and a very big BUT at that.
The table below is metals denser than lead and the spot price of that metal ….

metal lbs cubic foot Kgs cubic foot cost per Kg US $
Lead 708 321 2
Rhodium 755 342.5 65926
Ruthenium 765 347 2434
Mercury 849 385 50
Tungsten 1205 546 47
Gold 1206 547 42184
Platinum 1340 608 45458
Iridium 1396 633 21900
Osmium 1402 636 15000


These are the spot prices NOT retail so add ???? as can be seen for all but those with large pockets lead is the only viable option …..mercury & tungsten are viable options but well beyond this little black ducks budget …..so back to scrounging lead.
Cheers

sorry all the lines and boxes disappeared???

Re: heavy stuff

Posted: Thu Mar 13, 2014 7:16 pm
by Greg Watters
Seen Stainless talk about powdered tungsten , maybe there are cheaper sources ?

Re: heavy stuff

Posted: Thu Mar 13, 2014 8:04 pm
by dplecko
Had tungsten or 'mallory metal' in a crankshaft or 2 before today.

Is a 'wing' allowed? Top fuel bike are very creative with the rear of their bikes.

Said it before and i will say it again - 2 wheel drive...

Re: heavy stuff

Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2014 8:37 pm
by hawkwind
Did some checking ....tungsten powder ex china ranged between 50 to 70 US $ KG one supplier offered it at 30 a kg but min order of 100 metric tons :(

dpleco ......I am seriously investigating aero downforce :) :idea: .......two wheel drive car or bike? if a bike :shock: that's way beyond my ability

Re: heavy stuff

Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2014 8:51 pm
by internetscooter
Gary - hit your local tyre shop - they normally biff the old weights in a bucket. I got 30Kg for free :)

Re: heavy stuff

Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2014 9:57 pm
by dplecko
Sorry to wake an oldish thread in the middle of winter...In many years before today I worshiped a formula called DMR or dollar mass ratio: general mass * 1, polar mass * x, unsprung mass * 3 & rotating mass * 5. It was very useful for deciding where to spend your precious budget/time to lighten your race vehicle. The inverse of parts of the formula are equally applicable to the thread topic. To regurgitate your table (excluding spent isotopes) in a log graph wrt DM/R Lead and Tungsten are clear winners:
Image

Re: heavy stuff

Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2014 10:14 pm
by momec3
I think lead fell off your graph.