Need Help!- Who can machine calcium metal?

[NLBuyer]

I am in search of a machine shop to do a one-time job, to form an ingot of calcium into a rod, which is 2" diameter and 3.048" long, or so. The problem is that it is a reactive metal and gives off hydrogen gas, so it has to be done in some sort of bath.
We have the ingot, but are looking for someone who has ever done this type of machining before. Thank you for reading.
Michael

[HuFlungDung]

Sounds interesting. If it is pure calcium, then it must be robbing an oxygen off of ambient moisture, or what is the reaction path?

Is the ingot soft? What approximate shape? I'm thinking that maybe it could be remelted in a protected atmosphere and recast, or else perhaps someone could forge it into shape with a hammer or make some dies to press it to shape? I'm not familiar with the machining or forging properties, and have no idea whether it is ductile and malleable or not.

[NLBuyer]

...am currently checking answers with the engineer. Thank you for inquiring.

[NLBuyer]

Hello again.
The ingot is soft for metal. The shape is roughly trapezoidal. 3"x3"x6"L.
Recasting into a 2"dia 3.048"L cylinder would be fine. We have no knowledge of pressing or forming calcium metals.
Thanks to all for looking.

[nate]

Why not just buy a small lathe and disable all of the electrical/ submerge in tank with suitable liquid and run the spindle/traverse feeds from above the tank using chain drive.

cumbersome sure, and it will kill the lathe, but the job could be finished before the lathe became unuseable.

[NLBuyer]

Thank you, Nate... I will run this by them...

[mmcp42]

might be easier to run it in a vacuum

[ksanalytical]

Or put a tent over the tool and run an inert gas. Argon is commonly used for thing like this (museum preservation etc...) but keep in mind that it's heavier than air and will displace oxygen in an enclosed environment.

I've dealt just enough with Na to get a feel for how reactive this stuff is... I'm sure you're smart enough to avoid ANY direct contact with water. Some kind of waxy coating would be an interesting solution too, but I don't know what would be sticky enough not to sling away during turning.

Ken

[MadMax]

I think the inert gas setup might be the fastest turnaround. What kind of tolerances are you looking for?

Casting may be impractical as Calcium has a fairly high melting point at around ~800C. That's close to the softening point of Pyrex glass which is too bad because I think it would be a relatively easy thing to sit the ingot over a glass beaker and melt the thing into it in an induction oven flooded with argon. If tight dimensional tolerances are an issue, casting is not practical for a single part job.

I think you should be able to chuck your ingot into small benchtop sized lathe with a four jaw chuck and a tailstock. You've got a lot of material to remove though.

Sit the whole thing into a big RubberMaid tub. Cut a few large holes into the tub and duck tape in some rubber gloves to turn it into a crude glove box. Replace the lid with a 1/8" sheet of polycarbonate so can see your work. I would not use heavy rubber gloves as they would prevent a serious hazard if they got caught in the headstock. One should not wear strong gloves when working on a lathe. They can get snagged and drag your arm in. You should be keeping your hands away from the headstock altogether anyways. Aim the argon inlet pipe at the workpiece. If you have to blow argon to keep the box purged, you might as well use it to clear chips.

IRC calcium is a fairly soft material. Aggressive rake aluminum carbide tools might be a good choice for this material.

Finally, I suggest a material transfer scheme. I assume your calcium is supplied under paraffin oil. I'd put the container with the oil into the glove box and begin the argon purge. Leave the container open with the calcium under the oil. After the purge is completed, reach into the oil via the gloves. Cover the oil jar loosely to keep chips out. When you're done your machining you can put the piece back into the jar to help you transfer back out. The next bit is pretty sticky. Your glovebox will be full of calcium chips which have a very high surface area to volume ratio. They will be quite combustible. I would suggest splashing down the inside of the glovebox and lathe with paraffin oil before opening it up to lift out the lathe. Brush off as many of the chips as possible before doing this. The oily chips would probably be far less reactive with air than if they were dry filaments.

[headsmess]

Ca? calcium?

looks like the problems answered, but my curiosity is not!

what are you using it for?

*collects rare metals, has Ca already though*