Fuse materials

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junkhound

Senior Member
Location
Renton, WA
Occupation
EE, power electronics specialty
'Sand' filled fuses.

Likely proprietary, but anyone with knowledge of what minerals the 'sand' used is?
Many appear to be talc or other soft magnesium mineral from the blown fuses I've dissected out of curiosity.
 

junkhound

Senior Member
Location
Renton, WA
Occupation
EE, power electronics specialty
The ones I taken apart are not silica, very soft - can crush the grians easily with back of fingernail.
 

junkhound

Senior Member
Location
Renton, WA
Occupation
EE, power electronics specialty
Possibly something that doubles as thermal insulation, like vermiculite?

Not an insulator. Small white spheroids, thermally conductive - re-assembled a fuse with the material and piece of solder. Solder fuses in under 2 seconds in air, takes 18 seconds with the filler at same current. Crushes to fine white powder with slight pressure. Does not melt to fuse element, rather the small spheroids ( approx. 0.25 mm dia) crush to a fine white power with just slight fingernail pressure, possibly gypsum or talc?
 

gar

Senior Member
Location
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Occupation
EE
180420-0835 EDT

junkhound:

Some metal suppliers or machine shops have hand held x-ray analysis probes for determining alloy content, about 20,000 to 30,000 dollar instruments. You might find someone with one of these.

Melting point, probably high. Reaction with various reagents. Bunsen burner or other heat source with a visible spectroscope. You know this, but it is obviously easier if someone already knows the content.

Have you ever built a spectroscope? I have several gratings, but never built an instrument. I have always been fascinated by the concept of a grating since I took an optics course in 1950. But I am more inclined to get a cheap assembled one to look at LED and fluorescent spectra than to build one.

.
 

junkhound

Senior Member
Location
Renton, WA
Occupation
EE, power electronics specialty
180420-0835 EDT

Have you ever built a spectroscope?
.

Thanks for the reply.

I've bid on a few SEMs and spectroscopes on ebay, never have won one. Wife thinks I should get rid of some of the stuff scattered around now before we are too old to get rid of stuff.
She is not to happy about the 5000 pound CNC knee mill I bought a few years ago and have not yet used (did build a 3 phase rotary converter of a surplus 100 HP 460 V motor to run it).

Company I do consulting for has all the analysis equipment if I had approvals for a few $K budget for analyses hours (nothing cheap at a big corp) and cannot 'just walk into the lab' and do a quick test.

I'm getting so lazy these days I have not yet even burned a sample of the filler and looked at the color, thought I'd just ask around on-line first :D.

BTW, in 1950 I probably did not even know the word spectra, was just getting to the point of sticking paperclips into outlets to feel the shock - drove Mom crazy! The nannies on NFPA boards don't realize the inquisitive little kids that do that stuff will just consider TR outlets as a challenge :roll:

When youngest grandson was 6, son came home and a bathroom door lock was laying on the floor in pieces, the little guy wanted to see how it worked. He is 10 YO now so I've giving him an old TEK 2430 scope top 'play with'.
 

Fulthrotl

~Autocorrect is My Worst Enema.~
Wife thinks I should get rid of some of the stuff scattered around now before we are too old to get rid of stuff.
She is not to happy about the 5000 pound CNC knee mill I bought a few years ago and have not yet used.

do what i did. buy a jeep.

then your spouse can make a condition of purchase that you sell all of this stuff.
there is some wiggle room here..... i'm considering trading one of the motorcycles
for "enhanced" suspension components for the jeep.

sort of like trading a meth lab for a still, but i never claimed to be perfect.

not quite a sale, but she'd be happy if some of the motorcycles left, period.
 

Fulthrotl

~Autocorrect is My Worst Enema.~
But, I already have 5 old S-10 4x4, that count as a jeep? :lol:

no. a "jeep" is a word describing spousal panic that is signified by
the utterance of the words "you have to get rid of all this!"

existing stuff doesn't count. "the straw that broke the camel's back"
is one specific straw. it's the last straw. sounds like you, as i, already
have a haystack. it's the last straw that counts.

now, i have another straw, leaning against the hedge next to
the front driveway. a 3' x 4' x 3/8" plate of mild steel. my neighbor
heard i was in need of long range target material, and had it in his
backyard... he said i could have it, as long as i didn't tell jill where
it came from.

he has his own haystack he's dealing with. we all do.

speaking of which, i know a good use for that CNC mill you have....
there are those of us with need for a good scope mount for long
range shooting, that can be repeatedly inclined from zero, to 100
mils. of elevation (360 MOA). the extreme long range loonies are
shooting out to 3,000 meters now..... you need to tip the scope
a bunch, accurately, to hit out that far.

anyway, there is probably a demand for close to 1,000 of such
a device, at a price in the $450~$500 range. see? a buisness
opportunity awaits.

then you won't have to sell it when you buy the jeep, as it's
earning it's keep.
 
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LarryFine

Master Electrician Electric Contractor Richmond VA
Location
Henrico County, VA
Occupation
Electrical Contractor
i'm considering trading one of the motorcycles
for "enhanced" suspension components for the jeep.

not quite a sale, but she'd be happy if some of the motorcycles left, period.
How many bikes are we talking about??? (and what bikes?)

I only have one:

Bike.jpg
 

Fulthrotl

~Autocorrect is My Worst Enema.~
How many bikes are we talking about??? (and what bikes?)

i've got three i don't use, and probably aren't gonna use
enough to justify keeping them licensed, insured, and idle.

2001 suzuki hayabusa, 14k miles. internal enhancements.
suzuki R&D cams and remapped ignition without 186 mph
governor. friend of mine worked for US suzuki, and found
boxes of spare parts from their engine test facility. we swapped
parts out to see what would happen. top speed as configured
est. 205~210. fastest i've ever had it was 182 indicated on gps.

1979 Husky 390 auto, california currently plated, which makes
it a pretty rare unicorn. probably less than 20 hours on the
bike since new. purchased for sentimental value. i raced one
back in the day.

2014 Beta 520 RS. custom build from factory. extensive upgrades.
about $22k into it. less than 1k miles on it.
 
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