Posted by But... on June 13, 2001 at 21:45:37:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Heavy Rotary Valve Caps posted by In that case... on June 13, 2001 at 11:41:24:
You would have to get around the hardness factor. Cast iron is much more brittle than brass, although it doesn't weigh as much. A 2" diameter X 1" long piece of tube weighs .8116 lbs in cast iron, as opposed to .9658 lbs in brass. That's a 15% savings in weight. But since the material is so brittle, the vibrational properties would be suspect. Kind of throwng the baby out with the bathwater. Besides, the condensation would make it rust from the inside out. Not to mention that cast iron is cast in a mold because it's not machined. It can be heated and hammered, bent, folded, spindled and mutilated. But if you're going to put it on a consumer-grade lathe, wear Kevlar.
I'm interested to see if lightweight, high-strength, malleable alloys (especially aluminum-based) would work.