Paint codes on metal stock

[JonL]

I'm going to be making the bushes for my connecting rods soon and have what I am hoping is some phosphor bronze. On the end of the rod are two paint stripes that look like they have been added as an identifier. One stripe is orange/terracotta colour and the other is a blue slightly darker than Thomas the Tank engine!

Are these codes that denote what the metal is or something else? The only codes I found that could relate were to do with stainless steel which this isn't.

Thanks,

Jon.

[JonL]

imgur.com/a/CQEx5Qx

[goldstar31]

deleted-- gave views for steel- sorry

[don9f]

Hi, I don’t know the answer to your specific question but you can normally tell the difference between leaded bronze, brass, gunmetal and phosphor bronze by their colour and how they machine. I have listed them in my own interpretation of decreasing “yellowness” when freshly cut. Phosphor bronze looks more “coppery” and is not so easy to machine as the other three, particularly when drilling.

Hope this helps if you can’t find out what the markings mean.

Cheers Don

[mr swarf]

You can't always rely on the colour coding, some stockholders have their own colour system. Best to machine a bit & see.
From your picture is looks like brass, phosphor bronze is a darker colour.
Paul

[uuu]

Bronze goes ding when you hit it, brass goes dunk. Still doesn't tell you what kind of bronze.

Wilf

[JonL]

Thank you, thats all very informative. For safety I'll just order some fresh and assume this is brass! I was planning to use it for my coupling rod bearings.

[Deleted]

Dec 21, 2018 19:47:04 GMT JonL said:

Thank you, thats all very informative. For safety I'll just order some fresh and assume this is brass! I was planning to use it for my coupling rod bearings.

That's what I tend to do Nobby...better safe than sorry...the unknown metal can always be used somewhere..

Pete

[Roger]

I agree that if the colour in the picture is a good representation, it's almost certainly Brass. If you turn a bit it will chip in a brittle fashion. If it was Bronze of any kind, it would have a more coppery hue and might still chip, but it won't be as brittle as Brass and would prefer not to dig in.

[chris vine]

I was once given a lovely bit of bronze, about 2" diameter.

I used it to make a blast nozzle cap with blower nozzles and a silver soldered gallery to feed them.

soldered fine, but there were a few little leaks in my soldering. Cursed and did it again, more flux this time. More leaks.
After the 3rd time I found that the leaks were right through the parent metal. Of course you have guessed it already: It was leaded bronze!!

Caveat Recipient Freebieorum!

Chris.

[Roger]

Dec 21, 2018 22:26:07 GMT chris vine said:

I was once given a lovely bit of bronze, about 2" diameter.

I used it to make a blast nozzle cap with blower nozzles and a silver soldered gallery to feed them.

soldered fine, but there were a few little leaks in my soldering. Cursed and did it again, more flux this time. More leaks.
After the 3rd time I found that the leaks were right through the parent metal. Of course you have guessed it already: It was leaded bronze!!

Caveat Recipient Freebieorum!

Chris.

Hi Chris,
I made my Turret out of that before being advised that this might not be a good choice of material. I'm hoping it doesn't leak like a sieve. I'd be tempted to try to get some high temperature Loctite into it before scrapping it though.

[mr swarf]

Just a little tip which may help you in the future, I've always found PB102 round to be a thou or two over nominal size with brass being a thou under.
Paul

[rrmrd66]

This any help?

www.parkersteel.co.uk/media/pdf/standards/colour_chart.pdf

[JonL]

Dec 22, 2018 12:34:20 GMT rrmrd66 said:

This any help?

www.parkersteel.co.uk/media/pdf/standards/colour_chart.pdf

A useful reference for the future (I shall put a copy on my workshop wall!) but in this case it doesn't appear on there.