Guest102023
Materials
- Feb 11, 2010
- 1,523
Hi all,
I'm being pushed to build my own home met lab by sharply rising costs and increasing turnaround times of the labs I occasionally use. Most of my work involves carbon steel, often with welds, to support my failure investigations. Nothing that requires specialized tools or techniques.
I am looking for low-priced sources, used or new, for the following:
[ol 1]
[li]- Metallograph with digital camera. I don't require anything fancy like imaging software or even a live link to a monitor. Just a small consumer-sized camera sitting on top of the eyepiece tube.[/li]
[li]- Vickers microindentation hardness tester. 1,000g maximum load but I’ll settle for 500g.[/li]
[/ol]
I already have most of the grinding and polishing necessities including a mounting press (thanks to a lab clear-out at the local community college). I have a machine shop partner for breaking down the big samples.
I've set a budget of C$3,000, which is the cost of two to three small lab subcontracts. I'm happier to buy used Western-made equipment than new Eastern stuff, even though it might cost more.
Any and all suggestions are welcomed. One limitation is the essentially closed US/Canada border, making importation more expensive than pre-Covid.
Thanks in advance.
"If you don't have time to do the job right the first time, when are you going to find time to repair it?"
I'm being pushed to build my own home met lab by sharply rising costs and increasing turnaround times of the labs I occasionally use. Most of my work involves carbon steel, often with welds, to support my failure investigations. Nothing that requires specialized tools or techniques.
I am looking for low-priced sources, used or new, for the following:
[ol 1]
[li]- Metallograph with digital camera. I don't require anything fancy like imaging software or even a live link to a monitor. Just a small consumer-sized camera sitting on top of the eyepiece tube.[/li]
[li]- Vickers microindentation hardness tester. 1,000g maximum load but I’ll settle for 500g.[/li]
[/ol]
I already have most of the grinding and polishing necessities including a mounting press (thanks to a lab clear-out at the local community college). I have a machine shop partner for breaking down the big samples.
I've set a budget of C$3,000, which is the cost of two to three small lab subcontracts. I'm happier to buy used Western-made equipment than new Eastern stuff, even though it might cost more.
Any and all suggestions are welcomed. One limitation is the essentially closed US/Canada border, making importation more expensive than pre-Covid.
Thanks in advance.
"If you don't have time to do the job right the first time, when are you going to find time to repair it?"