Battery Post Clamps

[dieguy59]

I picked up a bag of battery clamps and crossovers, along with some pure 1/4" flat bars the other day. After primitive comparison testing(bending,scraping with a knife and banging on concrete)m I was just wondering, does anyone know what type of alloy they use to cast these from? I haven't tried the pencil test yet, but, while I can easily manipulate the flat bar of the same thickness, I could not bend the crossovers and had to really give the looped end quite a whack before it would deform in the slightest. All I know is that if/when I smelt them, it will be seperately until I can confirm the alloy. Any info would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[geargnasher]

Battery cable ends are usually somewhere between clip-on and stick-on wheel-weight hardness, around 9 bhn or so and contain enough antimony to heat-treat quite well. Air-cooled, they will work for most .45s and .38s no problemo. 9mm, 40, and 10mm, .38 Super, .357 Magnum at full pressure should work fine if they are water-quenched and aged.

You may or may not choose to add tin for castability and malleability, I have no idea how much is in there, but if your boolits crack and split badly when hit with a slegehammer you should add some tin, one or two percent.

Gear

[dieguy59]

Thanks for the info, I'm just starting to realize that there are alot of different alloys cast for different uses. And the hardness will be all over the scale. I really need to think about getting something other than a set of pencils.

[shaune509]

Some cable ends are cast over a steel strip used to prevent crack ing, last 2 dozen I smelted about half had this reinforcement along with the copper wire that needed fishing out of the melt.
shaune509