Elements and metals group buy?

Hey guys, it's been a while since I posted here, but I still lurk occasionally.

Anyway, I did a group buy for elements like gallium and bismuth a while back and I was wondering if there is any interest in something like that again. I'm not quite sure if the dynamics of this forum have changed a lot since then but I wanted to make sure it would be still okay, and if so, if anyone would be interested. I'd be able to get most metallic elements and would buy in bulk if there is enough interest.

-Mark

Having a bit of gallium, indium, lithium, mercury, even potassium, and magnesium (maybe even cesium and rubidium? :eg around would be kinda neat. Perhaps those who machine heatsinks would be interested in copper and aluminum. I can't see TOO much desire for bulk metals, so maybe a small group buy, but I'd join in =]

Hey hey, good to see you post Mark.

Good luck with your GB. :beer:

Thanks T_J! Good to see you're still posting a ton. It's cool to see some of the same people around here.

bloompyle: I'm able to get gallium, indium, magnesium, copper, and aluminum definitely. I can look into the alkali metals but they might be harder/more expensive due to reactivity and hazmat shipping fees.

The last two alkalis were a joke, rubidium and water, please no. Plus the radioactivity, I wouldn't expect you to be able to get ahold of any, but if you could, you know where to find me. I'm essentially interested in "fun" metals, to put it bluntly. Something I can do things with, and learn with. Or perhaps blow off a wall of my dorm, but that's a whole other issue entirely.

I wouldn't mind some lithium or sodium... but I'm in Canada, and I doubt customs would be to happy with me

Fun/project metals are exactly why I'd be doing this. I love that kind of stuff. Last time, I remember selling bismuth, indium, gallium, and a couple others. I'll pull up a link to the thread if I can find it. I actually want to find the bottom 2 alkalis for my own collection, but they are pretty hard to find, and I don't have the materials to make them myself from compounds. Lithium in pure form can be found in AA or AAA lithium batteries (not Li-ion like in a computer battery, those are extremely dangerous to open.)

I'd rather not deal with selling radioactive things personally, but I do know how to obtain a few. You can buy uranium metal at United Nuclear , Scientific Equipment & Supplies, but they are often sold out...

You can also obtain thorium compounds (2% thorium, 98% tungsten rods or thorium nitrate, for example) on ebay.

Americium dots can be found in smoke detectors and harvested out, not sure the legality of this one but it is in every smoke detector.

Here's a link to the last GB: http://laserpointerforums.com/f55/multi-element-gb-official-39841.html

I've attached a photo showing what elements are available; anything in yellow is available in some form or another. I'll have to inquire for prices.

I am in for some gallium !

Jim

jimdt7 said:

I am in for some gallium !

Click to expand...

Oh nice! Me too.

Prices would be the same as the old GB?

Any other fun application for the metals ? How about neodymium for strong magnets.

Would you happen to know where to get a sample of metallic throium? I've been looking for ages and some time back some very lage chunks popped up on eBay, but they were tens to hundreds of grams and I remember the largest sold for over $1000. I don't need anything like that. I would be happy with 1g in a glass ampoule. I already have depleted uranium, but more is always better.

I wouldn't mind buying some gallium but purity level would be important. I'd say 99.9% and up only. I see 99% or 98% come up on ebay now and then. More than four nine grade is not needed for hobbyist fun purposes though.

Hello, I would be interested in magnesium, gallium, bismuth, copper, iron, and perhaps aluminum powders (the gallium and bismuth don't need to be powdered, but I would prefer the other elements to be powdered), all depending on the available prices after shipping (to canada).

I would also be interested in alkali metals (mainly potassium and up in terms of reactivity), as well as depleted uranium, but I highly doubt any of those could be shipped to Canada, or obtained at a reasonable price. Any (relatively) strong oxidizing agent is also welcome.

All of that being said, what I would want is entirely dependent on prices.

Thanks,

AAlasers

I'm glad people are interested in this. I'll leave this thread here for a couple of days to gauge specific interests and then send in a request for prices. Please let me know ahead of time if there are any metals you want me to get a quote on so that I won't have to send in multiple requests. I'll make an official GB thread when I have a better idea of pricing.

Prices would most likely be more expensive than the last GB, as metals have been skyrocketing in price recently. Gallium in particular is heavily used for semiconductors. Also, I got charged a hazmat fee last time for gallium (since I ordered a large quantity) that I didn't factor in and lost a bunch of money on that. However, prices will definitely be cheaper than any other source I know of because I'll buy in bulk.

I'll probably be ordering 99.9% gallium. I will provide a list of the purities of all metals I'll be offering. The majority are probably 3N at lowest purity, higher purities are available at higher prices. I have also ordered from this company before and can absolutely vouch for the quality of their materials. There are different available forms of most elements, I'd be most likely to go for solid samples but could also obtain powders. It looks like oxidizers are restricted in Canada, so I'd rather not deal with the potential risks of shipping things illegally, sorry about that and good luck finding sources of chemicals.

As for thorium metal, it's very hard to find a pure sample. However, with a little bit of knowledge of chemistry, you can purify it from other sources. You can buy thorium nitrate and thorium oxide on Ebay, and could purify it from there. Another option is to buy thoriated tungsten welding rods online or at a welding supply store. These are 2% thorium and can be dissolved with 35% hydrogen peroxide solution to form thorium oxide, which can then be reduced into thorium metal in a chemical replacement process.

Yeah, unfortunately it is illegal to purify thorium from consumer products into a concentrated form. Thank the "Radioactive Boyscout" for that. So, either buy it as metal or as compound, but don't change one in to the other. Direct from the mouth of the NRC. They figure small elemental samples are OK, but if you can refine/purify material then you have the means to make a breeder reactor and then there is also the tailings (illegal) and contamination risk.