OT: Marcury has a layer of diamond 10 miles thick, NASA spacecraft finds

Post by Jan Panteltje
Mercury has a layer of diamond 10 miles thick, NASA spacecraft finds
https://www.space.com/mercury-diamond-layer-10-miles-thick-nasa-messenger#main
Now there is an incentive to go!

The report said that it may a have ten mile thick layer of diamond
between the mantle and the core. Getting through the mantle to get at it
- if it is there - wouldn't be easy. There seem to be areas at the
north pole of Mercury that are permanently shaded from the sun and would
be colder than -161C, so you might build a mine there, but while the
incentive might be tempting, the business of getting hold of any diamond
would be discouragingly difficult.

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Bill Sloman, Sydney
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John Robertson

2024-07-30 15:22:39 UTC

By the time we can mine Mercury, we will be able to make diamonds as
cheap as water anyway.

John ;-#)#

Liz Tuddenham

2024-07-30 15:38:50 UTC

Post by John Robertson

By the time we can mine Mercury, we will be able to make diamonds as
cheap as water anyway.

You think the price of water will have gone up by that much?

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John Robertson

2024-07-30 22:16:10 UTC

Post by Liz Tuddenham

Post by John Robertson

By the time we can mine Mercury, we will be able to make diamonds as
cheap as water anyway.

You think the price of water will have gone up by that much?

Hey! Be nice to me, I sell the jukeboxes that take your records!

(ducking)

Energy available to the human race seems to be growing around
2.3%/annum, hence insanely cheap diamonds at some point in the future.
They will make a nice durable sandpaper!

https://dothemath.ucsd.edu/2011/07/galactic-scale-energy/

John ;-#)#

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john larkin

2024-07-30 17:46:32 UTC

Diamond, like gold, is valuable because it's rare. Accessing cubic
miles of diamonds would trash its value.

Martin Brown

2024-07-30 20:25:13 UTC

Diamond, like gold, is valuable because it's rare. Accessing cubic
miles of diamonds would trash its value.

Diamonds aren't really all *that* rare - a cartel controls production
and marketing. They were bricking themselves when synthetic gem quality
diamonds became possible by CVD. You can tell the difference with a
loupe even now and particularly in the early days since they tended to
have nitrogen impurities and were yellow. The best labs have got
remarkably good at it in the past couple of decades!

https://4cs.gia.edu/en-us/laboratory-grown-diamond/#

Now De Beers has taken to monogramming their "natural diamonds" to keep
the prices high.

https://www.debeers.co.uk/en-gb/natural-diamonds.html

Industrial diamonds are much less exacting synthesis conditions but they
generally look black like carborundum from graphite impurities only much
harder.

"Diamonds are forever" isn't quite true either. If you get one red hot
and then drop it into a jar of oxygen it burns rather brightly.

--
Martin Brown

Jeroen Belleman

2024-07-30 21:10:01 UTC

Diamond, like gold, is valuable because it's rare. Accessing cubic
miles of diamonds would trash its value.

Which would be good, because it's useful!

Jeroen Belleman

Bill Sloman

2024-07-31 02:38:15 UTC

Diamond, like gold, is valuable because it's rare. Accessing cubic
miles of diamonds would trash its value.

Wrong. Diamond is light, hard, strong and has very high thermal
conductivity. You can buy synthetic diamond heat-sinks right now.

https://www.msesupplies.com/products/diamond-heat-sink-thermal-conductivity-1500w-m-k?variant=39601902846010

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boB

2024-07-31 20:04:54 UTC

Diamond, like gold, is valuable because it's rare. Accessing cubic
miles of diamonds would trash its value.

Wrong. Diamond is light, hard, strong and has very high thermal
conductivity. You can buy synthetic diamond heat-sinks right now.
https://www.msesupplies.com/products/diamond-heat-sink-thermal-conductivity-1500w-m-k?variant=39601902846010
--
Bill Sloman, Sydney

Would love to have some diamond (man-made is fine) heat sink
insulator material !

boB

John Larkin

2024-07-31 22:00:49 UTC

Diamond, like gold, is valuable because it's rare. Accessing cubic
miles of diamonds would trash its value.

Wrong. Diamond is light, hard, strong and has very high thermal
conductivity. You can buy synthetic diamond heat-sinks right now.
https://www.msesupplies.com/products/diamond-heat-sink-thermal-conductivity-1500w-m-k?variant=39601902846010
--
Bill Sloman, Sydney

Would love to have some diamond (man-made is fine) heat sink
insulator material !
boB

If you mean an insulator between a power transistor and an aluminum or
copper heat sink, a thin aluminum nitride insulator would be almost as
good as diamond. Or hard anodize.

Really using the heat sink would require lateral heat spreading,
namely a big thick slab of diamond.

boB

2024-08-01 20:33:11 UTC

On Wed, 31 Jul 2024 15:00:49 -0700, John Larkin

Diamond, like gold, is valuable because it's rare. Accessing cubic
miles of diamonds would trash its value.

Wrong. Diamond is light, hard, strong and has very high thermal
conductivity. You can buy synthetic diamond heat-sinks right now.
https://www.msesupplies.com/products/diamond-heat-sink-thermal-conductivity-1500w-m-k?variant=39601902846010
--
Bill Sloman, Sydney

Would love to have some diamond (man-made is fine) heat sink
insulator material !
boB

If you mean an insulator between a power transistor and an aluminum or
copper heat sink, a thin aluminum nitride insulator would be almost as
good as diamond. Or hard anodize.
Really using the heat sink would require lateral heat spreading,
namely a big thick slab of diamond.

John, this would be used as a lower thermal resistance insulated
interface from case to heat sink. I wonder if you still need to use
the white bird shit on that interface ?

boB

John Larkin

2024-08-01 21:16:46 UTC

Post by boB
On Wed, 31 Jul 2024 15:00:49 -0700, John Larkin

Diamond, like gold, is valuable because it's rare. Accessing cubic
miles of diamonds would trash its value.

Wrong. Diamond is light, hard, strong and has very high thermal
conductivity. You can buy synthetic diamond heat-sinks right now.
https://www.msesupplies.com/products/diamond-heat-sink-thermal-conductivity-1500w-m-k?variant=39601902846010
--
Bill Sloman, Sydney

Would love to have some diamond (man-made is fine) heat sink
insulator material !
boB

If you mean an insulator between a power transistor and an aluminum or
copper heat sink, a thin aluminum nitride insulator would be almost as
good as diamond. Or hard anodize.
Really using the heat sink would require lateral heat spreading,
namely a big thick slab of diamond.

John, this would be used as a lower thermal resistance insulated
interface from case to heat sink. I wonder if you still need to use
the white bird shit on that interface ?
boB

Silicone grease makes a huge difference in thermal conductivity,
especially if the mating parts are not optically flat.

A typical TO-220 mosfet tab can be bowed by a couple of mils, and heat
sinks are usually extruded, not very flat. Air gaps are rotten heat
conductors.

Given some grease, keep the insulator thin.

Polycrystalline diamond is crazy expensive.

One trick is to bolt a transistor directly to a copper block, to
spread the heat footprint, and insulate that from the main heat sink.

Or just parallel a few fets to spread the heat around.

a***@spenarnc.xs4all.nl

2024-08-17 12:21:34 UTC

Post by boB
On Wed, 31 Jul 2024 15:00:49 -0700, John Larkin

Diamond, like gold, is valuable because it's rare. Accessing cubic
miles of diamonds would trash its value.

Wrong. Diamond is light, hard, strong and has very high thermal
conductivity. You can buy synthetic diamond heat-sinks right now.
https://www.msesupplies.com/products/diamond-heat-sink-thermal-conductivity-1500w-m-k?variant=39601902846010
--
Bill Sloman, Sydney

Would love to have some diamond (man-made is fine) heat sink
insulator material !
boB

If you mean an insulator between a power transistor and an aluminum or
copper heat sink, a thin aluminum nitride insulator would be almost as
good as diamond. Or hard anodize.
Really using the heat sink would require lateral heat spreading,
namely a big thick slab of diamond.

John, this would be used as a lower thermal resistance insulated
interface from case to heat sink. I wonder if you still need to use
the white bird shit on that interface ?
boB

Silicone grease makes a huge difference in thermal conductivity,
especially if the mating parts are not optically flat.
A typical TO-220 mosfet tab can be bowed by a couple of mils, and heat
sinks are usually extruded, not very flat. Air gaps are rotten heat
conductors.
Given some grease, keep the insulator thin.
Polycrystalline diamond is crazy expensive.
One trick is to bolt a transistor directly to a copper block, to
spread the heat footprint, and insulate that from the main heat sink.
Or just parallel a few fets to spread the heat around.

Putting my machinist cap one.
It is not particularly hard to lap the two surfaces, that virtually
no air gap result. This is used to construct parallel gauges, they
are so flat that the cohesion holds it together.

Whether it holds up with thermal stress,I don't know.

Groetjes Albert

--
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You must not say "hey" before you have crossed the bridge. Don't sell the
hide of the bear until you shot it. Better one bird in the hand than ten in
the air. First gain is a cat purring. - the Wise from Antrim -

john larkin

2024-08-17 14:21:07 UTC

Post by a***@spenarnc.xs4all.nl

Post by boB
On Wed, 31 Jul 2024 15:00:49 -0700, John Larkin

Diamond, like gold, is valuable because it's rare. Accessing cubic
miles of diamonds would trash its value.

Wrong. Diamond is light, hard, strong and has very high thermal
conductivity. You can buy synthetic diamond heat-sinks right now.
https://www.msesupplies.com/products/diamond-heat-sink-thermal-conductivity-1500w-m-k?variant=39601902846010
--
Bill Sloman, Sydney

Would love to have some diamond (man-made is fine) heat sink
insulator material !
boB

If you mean an insulator between a power transistor and an aluminum or
copper heat sink, a thin aluminum nitride insulator would be almost as
good as diamond. Or hard anodize.
Really using the heat sink would require lateral heat spreading,
namely a big thick slab of diamond.

John, this would be used as a lower thermal resistance insulated
interface from case to heat sink. I wonder if you still need to use
the white bird shit on that interface ?
boB

Silicone grease makes a huge difference in thermal conductivity,
especially if the mating parts are not optically flat.
A typical TO-220 mosfet tab can be bowed by a couple of mils, and heat
sinks are usually extruded, not very flat. Air gaps are rotten heat
conductors.
Given some grease, keep the insulator thin.
Polycrystalline diamond is crazy expensive.
One trick is to bolt a transistor directly to a copper block, to
spread the heat footprint, and insulate that from the main heat sink.
Or just parallel a few fets to spread the heat around.

Putting my machinist cap one.
It is not particularly hard to lap the two surfaces, that virtually
no air gap result. This is used to construct parallel gauges, they
are so flat that the cohesion holds it together.
Whether it holds up with thermal stress,I don't know.
Groetjes Albert

Lapping a fet and its heat sink will seriously reduce theta, but it's
a lot of work. Grease is easier. But the thermal conductivity of
aluminum is still a bottleneck.

Heat sinks and machining are both expensive, and mosfets are cheap. It
often makes sense to use several fets, distributed about a heat sink,
to avoid hot spots.

I assume that heat sink vendors test theta by applying a big, uniform
heat source. Real parts tend to be small spots, and local heating
makes theta go way up.

We have several new products that use copper CPU coolers on the board,
to cool mosfets. They are magic.

https://highlandtechnology.com/Product/P945

Jan Panteltje

2024-08-02 04:50:49 UTC

On a sunny day (Thu, 01 Aug 2024 13:33:11 -0700) it happened boB

Post by boB
On Wed, 31 Jul 2024 15:00:49 -0700, John Larkin

Diamond, like gold, is valuable because it's rare. Accessing cubic
miles of diamonds would trash its value.

Wrong. Diamond is light, hard, strong and has very high thermal
conductivity. You can buy synthetic diamond heat-sinks right now.
https://www.msesupplies.com/products/diamond-heat-sink-thermal-conductivity-1500w-m-k?variant=39601902846010
--
Bill Sloman, Sydney

Would love to have some diamond (man-made is fine) heat sink
insulator material !
boB

If you mean an insulator between a power transistor and an aluminum or
copper heat sink, a thin aluminum nitride insulator would be almost as
good as diamond. Or hard anodize.
Really using the heat sink would require lateral heat spreading,
namely a big thick slab of diamond.

John, this would be used as a lower thermal resistance insulated
interface from case to heat sink. I wonder if you still need to use
the white bird shit on that interface ?

What's wrong with Mica?
Has been working for decennia here.

john larkin

2024-08-17 14:26:33 UTC

Post by Jan Panteltje
On a sunny day (Thu, 01 Aug 2024 13:33:11 -0700) it happened boB

Post by boB
On Wed, 31 Jul 2024 15:00:49 -0700, John Larkin

Diamond, like gold, is valuable because it's rare. Accessing cubic
miles of diamonds would trash its value.

Wrong. Diamond is light, hard, strong and has very high thermal
conductivity. You can buy synthetic diamond heat-sinks right now.
https://www.msesupplies.com/products/diamond-heat-sink-thermal-conductivity-1500w-m-k?variant=39601902846010
--
Bill Sloman, Sydney

Would love to have some diamond (man-made is fine) heat sink
insulator material !
boB

If you mean an insulator between a power transistor and an aluminum or
copper heat sink, a thin aluminum nitride insulator would be almost as
good as diamond. Or hard anodize.
Really using the heat sink would require lateral heat spreading,
namely a big thick slab of diamond.

John, this would be used as a lower thermal resistance insulated
interface from case to heat sink. I wonder if you still need to use
the white bird shit on that interface ?

What's wrong with Mica?
Has been working for decennia here.

It's cheap and thin, but AlN conducts heat about 200x better.

1 mil thick hard anodize is really good, up to 100 volts or so.

Jan Panteltje

2024-07-31 05:59:26 UTC

On a sunny day (Tue, 30 Jul 2024 10:46:32 -0700) it happened john larkin

Diamond, like gold, is valuable because it's rare. Accessing cubic
miles of diamonds would trash its value.

Sure, but the first sample return will pay for itself.
And marketing those as 'the first Mercury diamonds' may help too.
NASA always asking for more budget.. there you go!
Few consumers want moon dust...

I know moon rocks was a big business.. Some got stolen and resold,
guy got caught.

Martin Brown

2024-07-31 12:10:56 UTC

Post by Jan Panteltje
On a sunny day (Tue, 30 Jul 2024 10:46:32 -0700) it happened john larkin

Diamond, like gold, is valuable because it's rare. Accessing cubic
miles of diamonds would trash its value.

Sure, but the first sample return will pay for itself.
And marketing those as 'the first Mercury diamonds' may help too.
NASA always asking for more budget.. there you go!
Few consumers want moon dust...
I know moon rocks was a big business.. Some got stolen and resold,
guy got caught.

Some collectors will pay silly money for anything rare enough. The main
use for moon rock was to determine the age of the Moon or rather the
time of last melting of the pieces of it that they brought back.

I reckon less than 1kg all up of moon rock was actually used
destructively in this way - the rest is sat in museum cabinets (and in a
few professors trophy cabinets). Looks very much like terrestrial basalt
to the trained and untrained eye alike (think tarmac carpark rock).

Iron meteorites with huge crystals in are much harder to fake.

--
Martin Brown

Ralph Mowery

2024-07-31 18:14:33 UTC

Diamond, like gold, is valuable because it's rare. Accessing cubic
miles of diamonds would trash its value.

Diamonds are only valuable because of the De Beers convincing the women
they need them. Almost all diamonds used to go through them and they
would only let a few out and if you tried your own mine and a store
bought some from you the De Beers would cut them off.

They are like paint. Anyone can get paint and put it on a canvas but if
you have the big name you get thousands or millions for the painting.
Diamonds can be cut and put into jewelry as an art form.

Jan Panteltje

2024-08-01 05:36:43 UTC

On a sunny day (Wed, 31 Jul 2024 14:14:33 -0400) it happened Ralph Mowery

Diamond, like gold, is valuable because it's rare. Accessing cubic
miles of diamonds would trash its value.

Diamonds are only valuable because of the De Beers convincing the women
they need them. Almost all diamonds used to go through them and they
would only let a few out and if you tried your own mine and a store
bought some from you the De Beers would cut them off.
They are like paint. Anyone can get paint and put it on a canvas but if
you have the big name you get thousands or millions for the painting.
Diamonds can be cut and put into jewelry as an art form.

Yea, I would never even want a Rembrandt or Monalisa ...
I once had a Polaroid instant camera, paper pictures!

Now you need an expensive color printer and ink to hang your picture on the wall..
Oh well I have a Kodak electronic picture frame...
Shows sequence of sky views and stellar stuff, other fun things, runs all day..
been working fine for decennia.. Not very big..

Bill Sloman

2024-08-01 16:28:31 UTC

Diamond, like gold, is valuable because it's rare. Accessing cubic
miles of diamonds would trash its value.

Diamonds are only valuable because of the De Beers convincing the women
they need them. Almost all diamonds used to go through them and they
would only let a few out and if you tried your own mine and a store
bought some from you the De Beers would cut them off.
They are like paint. Anyone can get paint and put it on a canvas but if
you have the big name you get thousands or millions for the painting.
Diamonds can be cut and put into jewelry as an art form.

Somebody hasn't heard of industrial diamonds.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamond

"Eighty percent of mined diamonds (equal to about 135,000,000 carats
(27,000 kg) annually) are unsuitable for use as gemstones and are used
industrially. In addition to mined diamonds, synthetic diamonds found
industrial applications almost immediately after their invention in the
1950s; in 2014, 4,500,000,000 carats (900,000 kg) of synthetic diamonds
were produced, 90% of which were produced in China. Approximately 90% of
diamond grinding grit is currently of synthetic origin."

--
Bill Sloman, Sydney

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Ralph Mowery

2024-08-01 20:14:44 UTC

Post by john larkin
Diamond, like gold, is valuable because it's rare. Accessing cubic
miles of diamonds would trash its value.

Diamonds are only valuable because of the De Beers convincing the women
they need them. Almost all diamonds used to go through them and they
would only let a few out and if you tried your own mine and a store
bought some from you the De Beers would cut them off.
They are like paint. Anyone can get paint and put it on a canvas but if
you have the big name you get thousands or millions for the painting.
Diamonds can be cut and put into jewelry as an art form.

Somebody hasn't heard of industrial diamonds.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamond
"Eighty percent of mined diamonds (equal to about 135,000,000 carats
(27,000 kg) annually) are unsuitable for use as gemstones and are used
industrially. In addition to mined diamonds, synthetic diamonds found
industrial applications almost immediately after their invention in the
1950s; in 2014, 4,500,000,000 carats (900,000 kg) of synthetic diamonds
were produced, 90% of which were produced in China. Approximately 90% of
diamond grinding grit is currently of synthetic origin."

Yes there are plenty of industrial diamonds and they are almost
worthless compaired to the jewelry quality.

In not too long ago time there has been a way to make them instead of
mined diamonds.

Diamonds are rated by how well they can be converted to jewel quality.
The 4 C's. Color cut clairty carat. If they do not measure up they go
to the industrial bin and are almost worthless.

Bill Sloman

2024-08-02 12:13:38 UTC

Post by john larkin
Diamond, like gold, is valuable because it's rare. Accessing cubic
miles of diamonds would trash its value.

Diamonds are only valuable because of the De Beers convincing the women
they need them. Almost all diamonds used to go through them and they
would only let a few out and if you tried your own mine and a store
bought some from you the De Beers would cut them off.
They are like paint. Anyone can get paint and put it on a canvas but if
you have the big name you get thousands or millions for the painting.
Diamonds can be cut and put into jewelry as an art form.

Somebody hasn't heard of industrial diamonds.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamond
"Eighty percent of mined diamonds (equal to about 135,000,000 carats
(27,000 kg) annually) are unsuitable for use as gemstones and are used
industrially. In addition to mined diamonds, synthetic diamonds found
industrial applications almost immediately after their invention in the
1950s; in 2014, 4,500,000,000 carats (900,000 kg) of synthetic diamonds
were produced, 90% of which were produced in China. Approximately 90% of
diamond grinding grit is currently of synthetic origin."

Yes there are plenty of industrial diamonds and they are almost
worthless compared to the jewelry quality.
In not too long ago time there has been a way to make them instead of
mined diamonds.
Diamonds are rated by how well they can be converted to jewel quality.
The 4 C's. Color cut clairty carat. If they do not measure up they go
to the industrial bin and are almost worthless.

To jewellers. We mine 27 metric tons of diamonds, and make 900 metric
tons of synthetic diamonds,essentially all for industrial applications.

We wouldn't be doing that if industrial diamonds were "almost
worthless". The fact the gem-quality diamonds can be sold for a lot more
money than industrial diamonds doesn't make industrial diamonds
worthless - if gem-quality diamonds fell out of fashion we'd still be
digging up and making a lot of industrial diamonds.

--
Bill Sloman, Sydney
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Ralph Mowery

2024-08-02 14:28:09 UTC

Post by Bill Sloman
To jewellers. We mine 27 metric tons of diamonds, and make 900 metric
tons of synthetic diamonds,essentially all for industrial applications.
We wouldn't be doing that if industrial diamonds were "almost
worthless". The fact the gem-quality diamonds can be sold for a lot more
money than industrial diamonds doesn't make industrial diamonds
worthless - if gem-quality diamonds fell out of fashion we'd still be
digging up and making a lot of industrial diamonds.

From what I could find in a quick search the industrial diamonds are
only about 10 to 20 dollars per carat vers the seveal thousand dollars
the jewel quality ones would cost. That is where I base my
'worthless' price at.
Industry still uses a lot of them in many processes so they are valuable
for use but worthless for money cost.

Bill Sloman

2024-08-02 16:09:59 UTC

From what I could find in a quick search the industrial diamonds are
only about 10 to 20 dollars per carat versus the several thousand dollars
the jewel quality ones would cost. That is where I base my
'worthless' price at.

Cheap isn't the same as worthless.

Post by Ralph Mowery
Industry still uses a lot of them in many processes so they are valuable
for use but worthless for money cost.

80% of mined diamonds - 135 million carats - are fit only for use as
industrial diamonds, but that's still a couple of billion dollars at 10
to 20 dollars a carat. The 20% of mined diamonds that can be sold as
gemstones are worth about hundred times more per carat, but only twenty
times more in aggregate. We synthesise 33 times more iduatrial diamonds
than than we dig up, so the market for industrial diamonds is clearly
bigger than the market for gemstones.

Nothing would stop working if the gemstone supply was cut off, but
industrial diamonds keep industry working.

The gemstone business is a luxury trade that piggy-backs off the
industrial diamond supply chain.

Diamond mining supports several rather unpleasant regimes

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_diamond

and rich women really ought prefer synthesised diamonds.

--
Bill Sloman, Sydney
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Ralph Mowery

2024-08-02 21:29:39 UTC

Post by Ralph Mowery
From what I could find in a quick search the industrial diamonds are
only about 10 to 20 dollars per carat versus the several thousand dollars
the jewel quality ones would cost. That is where I base my
'worthless' price at.

Cheap isn't the same as worthless.

My bad choice of words. I should have said something more like they are
not worth much money. They are very useful in industry, just do not
cost anything at all like the jewelery ones.

Years ago I had an uncle that worked for a brick company and he used a
saw to cut the bricks for samples. He had saved a jar full of diamonds
that came off the saw blades. Thought he had some big money comming to
him. Found out that that whole jar would only sell for a few dollars.

Jeroen Belleman

2024-08-02 22:00:39 UTC

Cheap isn't the same as worthless.

My bad choice of words. I should have said something more like they are
not worth much money. They are very useful in industry, just do not
cost anything at all like the jewelery ones.
Years ago I had an uncle that worked for a brick company and he used a
saw to cut the bricks for samples. He had saved a jar full of diamonds
that came off the saw blades. Thought he had some big money comming to
him. Found out that that whole jar would only sell for a few dollars.

Diamond is amazing. We had this benchtop wheel grinder to shape and
sharpen steel turning tools, and somebody had tried to grind a piece
of aluminium on it. A diamond-tipped wheel dressing tool went through
it as if it was butter. It's kind of amazing to see a grinding wheel
yield so easily to a tiny piece of diamond.

Jeroen Belleman

Phil Hobbs

2024-08-02 22:39:37 UTC

Cheap isn't the same as worthless.

My bad choice of words. I should have said something more like they are
not worth much money. They are very useful in industry, just do not
cost anything at all like the jewelery ones.
Years ago I had an uncle that worked for a brick company and he used a
saw to cut the bricks for samples. He had saved a jar full of diamonds
that came off the saw blades. Thought he had some big money comming to
him. Found out that that whole jar would only sell for a few dollars.

Probably gummed it up pretty badly, too. Some alcohol makes a big
difference cutting Al.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

--
Dr Philip C D Hobbs Principal Consultant ElectroOptical Innovations LLC /
Hobbs ElectroOptics Optics, Electro-optics, Photonics, Analog Electronics

Jeroen Belleman

2024-08-03 14:43:07 UTC

Post by Phil Hobbs

Cheap isn't the same as worthless.

My bad choice of words. I should have said something more like they are
not worth much money. They are very useful in industry, just do not
cost anything at all like the jewelery ones.
Years ago I had an uncle that worked for a brick company and he used a
saw to cut the bricks for samples. He had saved a jar full of diamonds
that came off the saw blades. Thought he had some big money comming to
him. Found out that that whole jar would only sell for a few dollars.

Probably gummed it up pretty badly, too. Some alcohol makes a big
difference cutting Al.
Cheers
Phil Hobbs

Yes, that was the reason for dressing the wheel. People shouldn't
try to grind aluminium on these things. It irritates the mechanic.
We hate people who don't clean files, too.

Jeroen Belleman

Glen Walpert

2024-08-06 22:39:08 UTC

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Post by Phil Hobbs

Post by Jeroen Belleman
Diamond is amazing. We had this benchtop wheel grinder to shape and
sharpen steel turning tools, and somebody had tried to grind a piece
of aluminium on it. A diamond-tipped wheel dressing tool went through
it as if it was butter. It's kind of amazing to see a grinding wheel
yield so easily to a tiny piece of diamond.
Jeroen Belleman

Probably gummed it up pretty badly, too. Some alcohol makes a big
difference cutting Al.
Cheers
Phil Hobbs

Yes, that was the reason for dressing the wheel. People shouldn't try to
grind aluminium on these things. It irritates the mechanic.
We hate people who don't clean files, too.
Jeroen Belleman

Grinding non-ferrous materials with any grinding wheel not specifically
rated for non-ferrous not only gums up the wheel, it risks grinding wheel
shattering from crack initiation by metal jammed into the wheel pores. I
once worked with a shop foreman who made sure everyone knew this by
relating an incident where someone was killed when a large wheel shattered
while someone was grinding aluminum on it. Grinding wheels rated for use
with non-ferrous materials are readily available but rarely found
installed on bench grinders, probably because grinding soft materials
which can easily be filed rarely makes sense.

Glen

a***@spenarnc.xs4all.nl

2024-08-17 12:34:00 UTC

Cheap isn't the same as worthless.

My bad choice of words. I should have said something more like they are
not worth much money. They are very useful in industry, just do not
cost anything at all like the jewelery ones.
Years ago I had an uncle that worked for a brick company and he used a
saw to cut the bricks for samples. He had saved a jar full of diamonds
that came off the saw blades. Thought he had some big money comming to
him. Found out that that whole jar would only sell for a few dollars.

You need not have a diamond for this. Steel wheel dressers are used
before that. It works by removing the top layer of the wheel, where the dull
grains are, by hitting it.

Post by Jeroen Belleman
Jeroen Belleman

Groetjes Albert

Jan Panteltje

2024-08-17 12:44:12 UTC

Post by a***@spenarnc.xs4all.nl

On a sunny day (Sat, 17 Aug 2024 14:34:00 +0200) it happened

Cheap isn't the same as worthless.

My bad choice of words. I should have said something more like they are
not worth much money. They are very useful in industry, just do not
cost anything at all like the jewelery ones.
Years ago I had an uncle that worked for a brick company and he used a
saw to cut the bricks for samples. He had saved a jar full of diamonds
that came off the saw blades. Thought he had some big money comming to
him. Found out that that whole jar would only sell for a few dollars.

You need not have a diamond for this. Steel wheel dressers are used
before that. It works by removing the top layer of the wheel, where the dull
grains are, by hitting it.

Few days ago I cut a dead tree in my garden with a flex
cut just below the ground level, so I can mow grass over it...

Five minutes work.

Flex is a cool tool!

a***@spenarnc.xs4all.nl

2024-08-17 12:23:53 UTC

Post by Jan Panteltje
On a sunny day (Tue, 30 Jul 2024 10:46:32 -0700) it happened john larkin

Diamond, like gold, is valuable because it's rare. Accessing cubic
miles of diamonds would trash its value.

It may be less attractive if you include the cost of shipping.

Post by Jan Panteltje
I know moon rocks was a big business.. Some got stolen and resold,
guy got caught.

Ralph Mowery

2024-08-17 16:39:33 UTC