'though i was young and learned much of this later, the term "pot metal" seems to be an Americanism. Better manufacturers "de-scummed" the melt before casting, "penny cheaper" manufacturers did not. Hence the overblown nostalgia for "old" die cast metal cars, etc,. Baby boomers in fits of nostalgia and larger bank accounts bid up the "price" of the better made ones, having wilfully forgotten about all the broken ones. Drat, this dates me.
I have heard that much of the crumbliness and impact fragility is due to calcium contaminants that were removed from the mainstream feedstocks for the "good" castings.
Yes, I remember those fragile cast-metal toys. More fragile than glass, in many cases.
Let's refine the spelling, capitalization, and punctuation a tad...
Gegen Dummheit kämpfen die Götter selbst vergebens.
That is slightly modernized German. I'm told that Schiller actually wrote:
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens.
Well, at least you are getting dates! ;-)
-- Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to prove it. Member of DAV #85.
Michael A. Terrell Central Florida
There are plenty of urban legends about "monkey metal".
One possibility: if the metal had a lot of Tin in it, reallyt bad things can happen.
Tin has a phase-change at around 40 degrees F IIRC (and I probably dont). It changes crystalline structure, which can result in major expansion, warping, and disintegration.
Not a problem as long as you keep your old toys and radios in the house, but a problem if the radio ended up in the attic or shed.
Damn! I thought that The Good Doctor had made that up!
Thanks, Rich
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