Where to buy soft iron in europe

[David King]

Good point David,
I've only played around with 1/8" and 3/16" round pole pieces not solid bars.

"Optimized for magnetic properties" could mean several different things, pure iron won't hold a charge so if that's your criteria then yes.

I'm sure a lot of it is that my ears don't know what to listen for so until I have an extech to show me a change in the peak I just can't tell if there's a change.

[David Schwab]

I've swapped pole piece screws on a PAF style humbucker with screws of a different alloy, and you sure could hear a difference. And that didn't include the slugs.

[tjecotech]

Hello Andrew

i can supply soft iron(pure iron/armco iron) follow your request.

please contact me. My e-mail：sales@ourecotech.com

Best Begards

Eric From CHINA

[J M Fahey]

Well, this is an old post, dead for over a year.
For what it's worth, I make speakers and use SAE1010 which is cheap and plentiful, and *is* soft iron.
Only problem is that because of being mechanically soft, it produces long, curly, endless scrap when turned on a lathe, which often gets stuck and even breaks or cracks cutting tools easily.
My lathe man hates it, so sometimes I buy 12L14 which is still magnetically soft, but breaks in 1 or 2 mm "scales".
You can buy 6 meter bars of any of them *anywhere*.
Sometimes you can get SAE1005 which is as soft as you can get commercially in reasonable quantities.
I guess buying by the ton is out of the way.
Good luck.

[Diablo]

Carpenter Products - Vacumet Consumet Core Iron

[J M Fahey]

Well, it's not in Europe but USA and only sells to Big Companies (not even retailers) in presumably multi-tonnes minimum order.
Besides, they specialize in Stainless Steel, exotic alloys, tool metal and powdered-sintered metals.
Quite out of reach for any of us.

[Sam Lee Guy]

Böhler-Uddeholm UK - Overview

[Alberto]

Hi

Does anybody on the forum know where to get soft iron in rods or bar form in Europe. I was thinking of trying to make some pickup parts using soft iron as opposed to mild steel which apears to have more carbon in it.

Cheers

Andrew

Hi Andrew, did you finally find a place where to buy soft iron in rods or bars in Europe? I'm looking for the same thing. Thanks.

[David King]

I don't know but I sure got a kick out of watching the video here voestalpine Precision Strip - Home

[salvarsan]

Some searching tells me that wrought iron contains microscopic slag inclusions,i.e., sand and maybe silicon.
A low silicon electrical steel might be a good Plan B choice. Look for non-oriented electrical steels.
Other search phrases are
Silicon steel, transformer laminations, low hysteresis steel.

[Joe Gwinn]

I think that it's 1018 that is sought; this is widely available under one name or another.

The main sources will be German, but I bet that there are many Italian sources. In either event, I'd find a metalworking form and ask there.

LtKojak on this forum may be able to help.

[J M Fahey]

I think you are reading too much into this.

In general speaking terms, "soft iron" and "mild steel" mean exactly the same: low carbon steel, period.

Which translates into "magnetically soft" iron, "low coercitivity" iron, "low remanence" iron, etc. , all meaning the same: that iron itself does not *stay* magnetized even after getting inside a magnetizer.

Reason is simple: because any remaining magnetism will *substract* from main magnet flux, don't look beyond that.

I make speakers and for me it's clear: suppose I have a ceramic speaker assembly inside the magnetizer yoke, pointing up.

I apply a huge pulse, so strong that all microscopic domains (small molecule sized "magnets" inside the ceramic material) get oriented North up, also all inside the soft iron polepiece will, and to boot the pole piece will be saturated.
So I have *all* magnetic material pointing North, both ceramic ring and polepiece.
Now I cut the current and pull speaker outside the machine.

Ceramic magnet being a *hard* magnetic material (Alnico too although not that strong) will stay magnetized, still North up.

But polepiece must lose the North up it had seconds ago and become South up (under the influence of the ceramic magnet remaining field) so as to close the magnetic circuit, ANY remaining North magnetization will substract from desired flux in the voice coil gap.
That's why an "as soft as possible" material is needed.

We all have tools, drills, etc. which magnetize easily and *keep* magnetism, in general picking annoying iron filings and such, that's because they are high carbon for hardness.

So search (with an open mind) for soft/mild iron/steel with as low Carbon as possible, and don't worry.

Unfortunately low carbon has poor mechanical properties , so it sells little, so suppliers in general don't carry it.

I can get 1008 with certain ease, but in 1" to 2" cylindrical cold rolled bars, see you are having to use 1018 , not that bad but not the best.

Can't imagine why silicon steel would help here , its low hysteresis is fine in motors or transformers but not too important (or noticeable) at low pickup magnetic densities; plus it's very hard, you can't make wire with it (what for?) , only widely available in rolled sheets.

[David King]

The closest I've come in the USA is the wire they use in assembling wooden step ladders. The diameter is .177" or about 4.5mm. It's usually 1008 or 1010 and come in gigantic spools of 500Kg. I have a friend who uses it for truss rods but he has to order 1000 at a time from a ladder manufacturer.

[tedmich]

1018 steel is MINIMALLY 98.81% Fe

[Alberto]

Thank you everybody for your help! I've found some small metalworking company around here and I'm going to ask them.

I've also found a supplier of black iron and zink plated iron in 1.5mm bars. Would zink plated iron or black iron do the trick?