Special Metals Fabrication

May 16

Man stole £27k of metal and sold for £200!

A 22 year old man stole up to £27,000 of mining equipment and sold it as scrap for a minimal £200 it was told.

“The defendant said he sold the metal for £200,” prosecutor Ellie Morgan told the court.

“The payment was for the load on the van as opposed to how much it was worth in its weight.”

This was said to be around £1,500.

“That value conflicts with the victim’s valuation of the equipment, which was around £27,000.”

“This is something of a mess, quite frankly,” said defence solicitor Gavin Rofer. “You will have heard Mr Vyce plead guilty to an offence of stealing scrap metal.

“That’s what he has pleaded guilty to but the prosecution is trying to suggest this is something other than scrap metal.

“The charge should either be increased, or the offence to which he has pleaded guilty is not the one he has actually committed.

“The prosecution are saying there was some 10 to 15 tonnes of metal.

“Let’s have some common sense; since it was put to this defendant that he made one journey in a seven-and-a-half tonne flat-bed truck which has a payload of three tonnes, the possibility of taking ten tonnes of metal would not have happened unless the Vauxhall Vectra which came with him had a large and very capable roof rack.

“They want the penny, the bun — and the bakery.”

Vyce also pleaded guilty to driving without a licence or insurance, offences which happened in Merthyr Tydfil on April 20.

May 10

Police raids target metal ‘thieves’

You may have been hearing about this story in the press already, and its quite shocking how these thieves have been getting away with stealing metal, and at sentimental valur too for so long.

The £3,500 ornament, which was stolen from a residential back garden, was recovered along with a bronze statue of Christ, around 150 memorial plaques taken from churches and crematoriums, copper cabling and £20,000 in cash.

Acting Inspector James Coomber, the operation coordinator, said: “This represents a significant find in our ongoing efforts to target metal theft.

“The majority of scrap metal dealers who are legitimate support our targeting of those acting outside of the law. Those contributing to the thriving illegal trade can expect regular operations to search, detect and arrest those profiting from it.”

Four separate operations focusing on the illegal metal trade have been carried out by the Met in the past eight months with almost 500 scrap metal businesses inspected and searched.

Apr 28

Molybdenum Stirrers

Molybdenum

Molybdenum is a very hard, pure element with an extremely high melting point of around 2620°C, it has a high thermal conductivity and is corrosive resistant to glass and other metals.

Applications include; sintering trays and boats, charge carriers, aerospace parts, plasma spraying nozzles and electrodes, sputtering targets, furnace components, glass stirrers, and medical parts.

Apr 22

UK targets against metal theft

The government said on Friday it has put forward amendments to a bill that prohibits cash payments for the purchase of scrap metal, requires records to be kept of payment recipients, and increases maximum fines for offences.

“If the Bill is enacted, it is envisaged that these provisions would come into effect in autumn 2012,” it said in a response to a report by the transport committee of the House of Commons, the lower house of parliament.

“This would provide a direct means of tracking the financial audit trail for sales of scrap metal, and hence go a substantial way towards enabling the identification of the sellers of stolen material.”

“The fact that they have done that is very encouraging. I would anticipate that the cashless scheme will take full effect in a few months,” said Tony Glover, head of press and public affairs at the ENA. “In many ways I liken the cashless regime as the jewel in the crown. They will now have to use cheques, bank transfers and cards so it’s all traceable.” Around 15,000 tonnes of metal is stolen annually, according to the British Metals Recycling Association (BMRA). The UK recycles about 13 million tonnes of metal every year. “Metal theft rates have fallen quite drastically in some parts of the country because the police have done a very good job in clamping down on this crime,” said BMRA director general Ian Hetherington. “The 5 million pounds originally allocated has had some impact and we would like to have seen an extension of that as it continues to provide the sort of intelligence coordination which we think this needs.”

Apr 18

Fabrication machines

Ever wondered how we fabricate but never wanted to ask?

Well we use a range of machines which are designed to do various things, and below is the 2nd half of the list of our machines.

If you have any questions, drop us a comment in the comment box below or contact us via email.

VIBRATION RUMBLER

SAFAN BENDING MACHINE

GUILOTENE (x 2)

ADDISON BAND SAW

CHOP SAW

ABRASIVE LINISHING MACHINES x 3

BENCH TYPE PILLAR DRILLS

MILLER SYNCROWAVE 500 (x 2)

FLY PRESS

MUREX MIG WELDER CHALLENGER 400

SPOT WELDER

MITUTOYO PROFILE PROJECTOR

TESA M700 HEIGHT MEASURING INSTRUMENT

Apr 14

Refractory Metals at SMF

Carrying on from our last blog post, we thought we would inform you of some more refractory metals we use here at SMFUK.

Tungsten – Tungsten has the highest melting point of these refractory metals at 3422°C. It is very robust and has an extremely high tensile strength; it has the ability to be drawn into very thin wires. Tungsten’s corrosion resistance is also very good.

Applications include; lighting elements, X-ray targets, heating elements, missile components, and due to its high density is used as counter weights.

Niobium – Niobium has a similar structure to Tantalum and is produced in a similar method. It too has a very high melting point of around 2470°C. It has excellent corrosive resistance and has good cold ductility. It is however half as dense as Tantalum.

Applications include; sintering trays and boats, special chemical applications, superconductors, medical components, jet engine parts and is used in the lighting industry.

Zirconium – Zirconium is a lustrous, greyish-white, soft, ductile, and malleable, it is highly resistant to corrosion by alkalis, acids, salt water, and other agents. The melting point of zirconium is approx 1855°C

Applications include; laboratory crucibles, metallurgical furnaces, surgical appliances, missile components and vacuum tube filaments.

Apr 12

Refractory Metals

Refractory metals are metals that are extraordinarily resistant to heat and wear.

Here at SMF those are the kind of metals that we use, when fabricating.

Molybdenum - Molybdenum is a very hard, pure element with an extremely high melting point of around 2620°C, it has a high thermal conductivity and is corrosive resistant to glass and other metals.

Applications include; sintering trays and boats, charge carriers, aerospace parts, plasma spraying nozzles and electrodes, sputtering targets, furnace components, glass stirrers, and medical parts.

Tantalum – Tantalum is generally made from sintering the powdered ore to produce a metal with an extremely high melting point of approximately 2990°C. It has an excellent resistance to corrosion against molten metals and liquids, is biocompatible and has very high conductivity.

Applications include; heat exchanger tubes, charge carriers, capacitors, electrodes and grounding rings, jet engine parts, missile parts and vacuum furnace parts.

Mar 26

Precious metals close higher

“The mere mention of the fact that ultra-low interest rates are helpful to an economy that is trying to grow” was enough to push gold prices higher, said Jon Nadler, an analyst with Kitco Metals, in a note.

“Precious metals players remain desperately fixated on any promise of a QE3 by the Fed, or even the hint of one,” he said, referring to a potential third round of Fed bond buying, or quantitative easing.

The US dollar pulled back after the release of Bernanke’s prepared remarks, and gold gained $US15 an ounce in the span of about 15 minutes. A weaker dollar can boost dollar-denominated gold by making the futures appear cheaper for buyers using other currencies.

“The mere mention of the fact that ultra-low interest rates are helpful to an economy that is trying to grow” was enough to push gold prices higher, said Jon Nadler, an analyst with Kitco Metals, in a note.

“Precious metals players remain desperately fixated on any promise of a QE3 by the Fed, or even the hint of one,” he said, referring to a potential third round of Fed bond buying, or quantitative easing.

The US dollar pulled back after the release of Bernanke’s prepared remarks, and gold gained $US15 an ounce in the span of about 15 minutes. A weaker dollar can boost dollar-denominated gold by making the futures appear cheaper for buyers using other currencies.

Mar 14

Zirconium

Is a chemical element with the symbol Zr and atomic number 40.

The name of zirconium is taken from the mineral zircon.

Its atomic mass is 91.224. It is a lustrous, gray-white, strong transition metal that resembles titanium.

Zirconium is mainly used as a refractory and opacifier, although minor amounts are used as alloying agent for its strong resistance to corrosion.

Zirconium is obtained mainly from the mineral zircon, which is the most important form of zirconium in use.

Mar 10

Contact Us

Suppliers & Manufacturers of Machined & Fabricated Products

Tel: 01268 820409

Fax: 01268 280665

Email: sales@special-metals.co.uk

If there is anything that you need or would like to know then please contact us.