Friday, December 05, 2008

Photographic "solid proof":

For those that were unaware of the fact, what we call "ordnance steel" is a carefully calculated alloy of awesomesauce and sparks.
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9 comments:

Fuzzy Curmudgeon said...

But they're letting all the sparks out.

That's kind of like what happened to your furnace motor this morning. In the biz we used to call that "letting the smoke out".

10:52 AM, December 05, 2008
KingsideRook said...

Nah, those are the extra sparks spilling out. You put the Sparkerator against the metal and turn it on, and it pushes spark molecules (Atomic symbol - Sk) into the metal molecules.

Now, since spark molecules are active and volatile, you have to push a whole lot of them, really fast, and so naturally, some of the raw Sk material spills out on the table before you get the entire part sparkerated. You just have to make sure your work table isn't made of wood, because it's really hard to get Sk to meld with Wood (atomic symbol - Wd), and it can cause a chemical compound known as Fire (atomic symbol - Fr).

KsR

12:02 PM, December 05, 2008
Anonymous said...

But do you get more sparks from forgings or castings?

12:05 PM, December 05, 2008
KingsideRook said...

Forged sparks are stronger and have better grain structure, but are more expensive, and require more machining to get them to fit into the Sparkerator.

Cast sparks are more affordable, but may not be a strong as forged in many spark-critical applications.

MIM sparks are worthless, no matter what your local Spark dealer may tell you about "Good MIM". You don't want your MIM sparks to suddenly split in half during sparkeration, or God forbid, when you're trying to use the gun they went into.

KsR

12:13 PM, December 05, 2008
Anonymous said...

"That's kind of like what happened to your furnace motor this morning. In the biz we used to call that 'letting the smoke out'."

Same thing around a lights dimmer-beach at a rock-show. All those big blinking boxes and huge wires backstage are filled with magic smoke, and they never work after you let the smoke out.

Sparks are a revelation. Thank you.

The advance of science is a desperate effort against the darkness, but well worthwhile.

1:13 PM, December 05, 2008
Anonymous said...

Fairly low carbon content steel alloy from the color and length of the spark. The higher the carbon content, the redded it gets, and the shorter the sparks, because they burn faster with the extra carbon. 1018 or 1040 series maybe?
All of which is only camoflage (protective coloration?) for what is really happening of course, which is sparkoratorial leakage from a portable warp field generator.

1:19 PM, December 05, 2008
Anonymous said...

I think I understand why titanium parts are so expensive now, they're made from the really pricey bright pure white shiny sparks.

2:13 PM, December 05, 2008
Anonymous said...

And magnesium sparks are the most expensive of all, and very short lived. So are you if they set fire to something nearby, which they're very good at. Demon sparks of the first order.

4:43 PM, December 05, 2008
Anonymous said...

And some stainless alloys are harder to "ensparkerate" than carbon steel. Or, maybe easier, since you rarely see the "extra" sparks escape.

jb

Word verification - mital (clost to "metal". Coincidence? hah!

4:59 PM, December 05, 2008

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