Any place where I can get a block of strong material?

MillenniumFalsehood · Post by **MillenniumFalsehood** » Tue May 30, 2006 4:07 pm

I have been working on a skeleton of a 'mech for quite some time and have gotten tired of soldering countless pieces of brass together, so I've decided to machine a solid block of some sort of reasonably strong material into a hollow leg shape that is reasonably strong, lightweight, and easily machinable. It doesn't have to stick to glue, since the armor panels are removeable, but I need a material of some sort and I don't know what to use. I can't use wood(too brittle) or metal(too hard to machine). I am using a rotary tool to do this since I don't have access to a conventional mill.

So, any suggestions?

Chacal · Post by **Chacal** » Tue May 30, 2006 5:30 pm

How big is this part you intend to make? How much weight it'll have to support? By rotary tool you mean a Dremel?

The brass pieces you're welding, are they tubes/rods or sheet?

I believe you can get a pretty stiff and light hollow structure using sheet metal (if you use folds as much as you can, leaving the soldering to as few points as you can).

modelnutz · Post by **modelnutz** » Tue May 30, 2006 5:43 pm

What size pc's. do you need ?
How about a block of urethane ?
Easy to pour to a near net shape and quite machinable.
Glueable as well.

Modelnutz 8)
"I'll admit it..I too am a resin addict"

Post by **TER-OR** » Tue May 30, 2006 6:16 pm

Basswood is too brittle? The exterior can be strengthened with epoxy or acrylic (Future).

Otherwise, epoxy putty is good for this, as is the aforementioned urethane resin.

Antenociti · Post by **Antenociti** » Tue May 30, 2006 7:25 pm

aye - a block of polyurethane resin.

hmm - or wood, just a case of getting the right wood. Cherry would probably do it.

Zen-Builder · Post by **Zen-Builder** » Tue May 30, 2006 7:36 pm

Have a look at the Balsafoam products or similar.
I tend to use them often to make a master for casting or for scenery like dungeon walls.
Can be easily cut, carved and sanded to whatever shape you need, and comes in different hardnesses.

Here is a link for you:
http://www.balsafoam.com/

MillenniumFalsehood · Wed May 31, 2006 10:02 am

Chacal wrote:How big is this part you intend to make? How much weight it'll have to support? By rotary tool you mean a Dremel?

The brass pieces you're welding, are they tubes/rods or sheet?

I believe you can get a pretty stiff and light hollow structure using sheet metal (if you use folds as much as you can, leaving the soldering to as few points as you can).

1) About 11" x 2" x 3"

2) It'll have to support at least 25-30 lbs, maybe more.

3) Yes, although the tool is made by Craftsman.

4) They are 1/4" square tubes, .020 gauge.

Hmm. Sheet metal would be interesting. I'll look into it(I told my parents all that experience in paper models would come in handy some day!). If I do sheet metal, I'll be pop-riveting it together.

I'll get to work on it. Thanks!

Antenociti · Post by **Antenociti** » Wed May 31, 2006 12:22 pm

Zen-Builder wrote:Have a look at the Balsafoam products or similar.
I tend to use them often to make a master for casting or for scenery like dungeon walls.
Can be easily cut, carved and sanded to whatever shape you need, and comes in different hardnesses.

Here is a link for you:
http://www.balsafoam.com/

Balsafoam is fabbo stuff for terrain and fantasy stuff - especially the III harder variety - we use it by the cart load.

Mr. Badwrench · Post by **Mr. Badwrench** » Sun Jun 04, 2006 12:16 am

If you are going to use sheet metal, do you have a break press? I'd suggest balsa foam or RenShape. The lighter you can keep everything the better.

Bar · Post by **Bar** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 3:50 pm

Have you considered blue foam?
bar.

Antenociti · Post by **Antenociti** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 5:59 pm

..or if that's not strong enough go for a dense RohaCell - that stuff is surely strong enough and very lightweight