Is terminal velocity a factor in achieving a spherical shape? Is that part of the reason for the height of the tower, or is it just cooling time?
Shot tower
51–60 of 80 posts
Re: Shot tower
#52Is terminal velocity a factor in achieving a spherical shape? Is that part of the reason for the height of the tower, or is it just cooling time?
I think a falling ball of lead would have a very high terminal velocity, as it is quite dense and in a rounded shape. I doubt it has much of an effect at the height needed to make these shots.
Re: Shot tower
#53Is terminal velocity a factor in achieving a spherical shape? Is that part of the reason for the height of the tower, or is it just cooling time?
It sounds like cooling time, from the article: "Shot towers were replaced by the "wind tower" method by the end of the 19th century, which used a blast of cold air to dramatically shorten the drop necessary."
Neat!
Re: Shot tower
#54Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm very sceptical that such procedure would produce proper solder joints. Proper joint requires that both the lead/pin and the pad are heated. Some metallurgy guru could chime in and explain why that is.
When the metal is hot, solder remains melted, flows onto the metal and bonds to it. In fact, when soldering you should heat only the metal parts first and not the solder directly, and then apply the solder to the metal parts where the soldering iron touches them. You never heat solder directly with the soldering iron and expect it to stick to cold metal. When the metal is cold, the molten solder freezes up as it touc…
It sounded like a bad description of drag soldering which involves dragging a ball of solder over the pins with the iron and relying on the solder mask and surface tension to make a good connection on each pin.
Re: Shot tower
#55This is also how you create urea in prill form, which you'll find in a bag of fertilizer.
Re: Shot tower
#56You can try something similar to this (although more related to the older barrel technique) at home with a soldering iron . Melt some tin at the tip while holding the iron at a sufficiently large enough height over a glass of water. It takes some practice to make nice round balls, but it works!
I did this, but using lead. Yes, I was young and stupid. It did work nicely though.
Also, at school, our chemistry teacher heated a rod of glass and asked a boy (who was grabbing an end of the rod in pliers) to run across the room, creating a thin thread of glass.
I don't think they'd do that in schools today, but maybe I'm wrong.
Re: Shot tower
#57Earlier quoted context omitted.
Side (but on-topic) note: I don't necessarily agree that building a 49 m tower to make tiny shot balls is "a very effective solution".
Perhaps you mean efficient rather than effective? It does seem to be quite effective, despite the superficially amusing fact that a very tall tower is being used to form a very small product. Though whether it's inefficient in any other sense is, I think, open to question: The up front expense and difficulty of the tower is a one-time cost, and I'd think maintenance on it would be fairly minimal. I'd think other meth…
> Perhaps you mean efficient rather than effective?
Parent said "very effective", I am not sure what it means if not "efficient".
> Though whether it's inefficient in any other sense is, I think, open to question
Indeed, that's exactly what I meant.
Re: Shot tower
#58There's quite a big and famous one in Baltimore that's right in the middle of town and hard to miss. And it's open for tours.
Re: Shot tower
#59In the most restrained and calm way possible, I'm wondering why this is on Hacker News at the moment... A Wikipedia article, concerning a technology that is effectively ancient and indisputably outdated, seemingly with no relevance to any recent events in the tech world, or the greater world in 2013 for that matter. Occasionally it seems as if one could do "Random" Wikipedia click [0], find something marginally inter…
Just out of interest:
1) Why, exactly, should this not be on HN?
2) What makes a submission suitable to be on HN?
You've said that you found it interesting. You maybe learned something? Your curiosity isn't piqued - do we still use this process, does anyone anywhere in the world use this process, could it be used for anything, what happens if you use other materials or if the air is hotter or colder, or if we try it on the moon or on Mars or etc etc etc?
Re: Shot tower
#60You can try something similar to this (although more related to the older barrel technique) at home with a soldering iron . Melt some tin at the tip while holding the iron at a sufficiently large enough height over a glass of water. It takes some practice to make nice round balls, but it works!
Friendly reminder to exercise common sense when you do this. Wear eye protection, long sleeves, possibly gloves. And ffs DON'T FLING THE IRON. Your aim is not as good as you think it is. :-)
Also, lead. Don't use a drinking glass.