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Hard Drive Platters - Any Problems With Melting?

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Pete W.:
Hi there, all,

(especially those experienced in home foundrywork)

I've accumulated quite a lot of computer hard drives and have been 'processing' them ready for offering them to my local scrap metal dealer.

The actual disks (aka 'platters') are aluminium alloy but coated with the magnetic material that actually stores the 0s and 1s.  As far as I know that coating is very thin so its effect on the weight is negligible.

What experience have Modders had with melting such HD platters?  Does the magnetic coating cause any problems?   :scratch:   :scratch:   :scratch: 

Can I, with a clear conscience, include these platters with the rest of my scrap aluminium offering on the basis that the coating is chemically benign?

RotarySMP:
I only melted the HD frames, and binned the platter. They are thin with larger surface area, so they are just going to produce 60% slag anyway.

Mark

awemawson:
That slag effect can be avoided by plunging them below the surface of a crucible of aluminium, thus excluding the oxygen.

Eugene:
The coating is a deposit of electroless nickel plate.

It will have a melting point well above that of the Al base. It's also pretty chemically inert, much more so than ordinary nickel by virtue of the alloying phosphorous.

Really it's a case of suck it and see, but I wouldn't be too hopeful.

Eug

Will_D:
The disk platters make great mirrors!

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