I found a good place to get things like brass knobs is at the
Habitat for Humanity Restore. They have a lot of old doorknobs and
cabinet knobs that have been reclaimed and donated from demolitions
and such and at times they are pretty old. Most of the older ones
are brass, no cast zinc in the ones I have bought. I even found some
doorknobs that are so heavy that I think they might be solid brass.
There are also stores that sell reclaimed home hardware but
sometimes they get rather pricey, thinking they have antiques.
Paul
Think Positive
----- Original Message ----- From: "jimlux" <jimlux@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "Tesla Coil Mailing List" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, November 28, 2009 8:40 PM
Subject: Re: [TCML] Safety gap
Quarkster wrote:
But be advised that 99% of the hardware store "drawer pulls" are
die-cast zinc, with an incredibly thin lacquered "brass finish".
The will erode very quickly if they ever actually see an arc.
Easy to find out with a file on the back side (where the screw goes
in). Then, if the packaging said "brass" you can take it back and
say "uh-uh... this aint the alloy the package said it was"...
OR, don't worry about it. Your safety gap shouldn't be arcing all
the time anyway.
BTW, for about $10, you can also buy a nice doorknob/latch set with
2 spherical knobs about 1 1/2" -2" in diameter, and yes, those are
solid brass (thin, but solid). Very pretty, and fairly easy to
figure out how to mount. They might have a thin layer of some
plastic coating on the: it helps them not tarnish.
Places that do a lot of brass beds, lamp stands, coat racks, etc
will often have a supply of brass knobs and balls in a variety of
colors and sizes (e.g. stainless steel, chrome, etc.) all with
convenient threaded fittings on them. The trick is to find the
"wholesale/repair" kind of place, as opposed to a retail
outlet. My best luck has been with going to a furniture store and
asking the repair guy where he gets his parts OR getting the mfr
name of the finished unit, and once you find one that is in the US
and not China, you call them (or google) and find their
distributors. (Turns out that a big maker of this stuff in the Los
Angeles area also makes brush guards and decorative metalwork for
SUVs... I guess.. once you have all the tubing benders and welding
jigs, whether you're welding up a brush guard or a coat stand, it's
all the same)
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