Magnesium Rod

admin

I was cleaning out a closet here at school and ran across a bundle of 36" long 1/8" diameter Grey rods with a tag on them that just says Magnesium and a price of $13.63.What are they for and how does a person use them?  Are the for Oxy/Act, TIG?I have never run across anything like these before.  I have about 30 of them and would like to put them to use if I can.Any info would be appreciated. Thanks
Reply:no number or trade name of any sort? as that could tell me the filler metal specification and that will tell you the composition.Pure magnesium isn't weldable in an oxygen atmosphere. It's pyrophoric, it will combust with oxygen to create  a fire that's near impossible to put out.pretty rare to do magnesium welding.Welding EngineerCertified Scrap Producer
Reply:Pure magnesium isn't weldable in an oxygen atmosphere
Reply:I TIG weld with magnesium. Mostly repairing the magnesium housings on German made cement saws.        Sincerely,             William McCormick
Reply:A retired firemen told me they use purple "K" chemical extinguishers, on magnesium fires. I believe some Volkswagon motors were magnesium and every now and then a fire would get hot enough to light it up.They had a magnesium fire here at an aircraft plant many, many years ago. It burned into the ground and there was panic because they thought it would hit the ground water. None of the firemen at the time had dark visors so they could not even get close to it without getting flashed. Finally some specialists were either flown in or found, and they got their with their special fire and heat proof suits and physically separated it into small piles. Where they let it burn out basically.        Sincerely,             William McCormick
Reply:Originally Posted by ifallswelderI was cleaning out a closet here at school and ran across a bundle of 36" long 1/8" diameter Grey rods with a tag on them that just says Magnesium and a price of $13.63.What are they for and how does a person use them?  Are the for Oxy/Act, TIG?I have never run across anything like these before.  I have about 30 of them and would like to put them to use if I can.Any info would be appreciated. Thanks
Reply:Originally Posted by spiral-cut-bevelIf the rods were left out exposed to air you may be better off tossing them.  Mag. is highly reactive with our atmosphere (as already mentioned) and will oxide quickly.  You will have to be very sure that the oxide layer on the outside of the rods can be removed before using them.  Also remember that welding mag. is very dangerous and can lead to big fires !  I would not recommend attempting to weld Mag. with out more knowledge and or experience.And lastly.... Mag. comes in many different alloys, so that leaves you with a guessing game as to what they will work with (base material).  Generally Mag. is welded using the TIG process (GTAW)
Reply:A friend of my sisters was making a costume for Halloween, she was going as the actress in the Alfred Hitchcock movie the birds. And she wanted me to make her a device that would make a bird fly around her head. I used a magnesium welding rod to hold the bird. I used a cassette tape recorder drive hidden in her hat, to move the bird. It looked wild. She won first place. Normally my sister takes first place, with her costumes. I don't know where any pictures are right now, but I will look around.        Sincerely,             William McCormick
Reply:After reading all of the posts so far I tried cutting off a piece about 1/2" and heated it with the oxy torch.  Nothing spectacular happened!!  It melted into a pool on the fire brick and would not catch on fire like I thought it would.  Cleaning out the shop, so off it goes to the scrap bin with all the other treasures I have found over the last week.  Anybody need some broken mill cutters marked USAAF?  The last shop teacher never threw away anything!!
Reply:Originally Posted by ifallswelderAfter reading all of the posts so far I tried cutting off a piece about 1/2" and heated it with the oxy torch.  Nothing spectacular happened!!  It melted into a pool on the fire brick and would not catch on fire like I thought it would.  Cleaning out the shop, so off it goes to the scrap bin with all the other treasures I have found over the last week.  Anybody need some broken mill cutters marked USAAF?  The last shop teacher never threw away anything!!
Reply:i put out a car fire before i guess the wheels were mags. cause as soon the water hit it. it exploded. wasn't cool lol....