Paint codes to identify metals

John G S

Aluminum

Joined

Jan 11, 2007

Location

Washington, D.C.

• Sep 13, 2007

• #1

While I may have missed it, a quick look in the handbook does not show any standardized paint codes for the identification of metal stock. I suspected that there was no standardizaton when MSC sent me two pieces of 1018, one with a reddish brown code and one with black. Most of the 1018 I've gotten from them is coded with the reddish brown. Now I've gotten some 12L14 and none of it is coded. So I have to mark it, and would like to get the code right.

If the codes are not standardized, what are the most commonly encountered codes for:

1018
12L14
W-1 drill rod

 

johnoder

Diamond

Joined

Jul 16, 2004

Location

Houston, TX USA

• Sep 13, 2007

• #2

Stamping them with what they actually are makes far more sense to me.

John

 

matt_isserstedt

Diamond

Joined

Dec 15, 2003

Location

suburbs of Ann Arbor, MI, USA

• Sep 13, 2007

• #3

I've seen 1018 red and 1018 green. I've seen W-1 drill rod green.

12L14 is usually a reddish brown....all over

Best is to pick your own color scheme, write it down, and stick to it, being nutty about coloring both ends and updating a bar after it has been bandsawed. Eventually there will be other alloys...1144, O-1, A-2, 4140, etc.

When you get little springy drill rods, say 1/4" and under, I like to color about 1" of the OD back in from the end...the actual flat end gets kinda small...

 

G

Guest

Guest

• Sep 13, 2007

• #4

1018 from one of my suppliers is black, the other supplier it is green. 12L14 is white, haven't
bought any W-1. I either separate mine by location on my racks or my own paint scheme.

 

A

Airborne

Stainless

Joined

Apr 7, 2006

Location

Seattle

• Sep 13, 2007

• #5

I get 1018 with yellow ends.

So from this thread, we can deduce that all metals are 1018.

 

Frank Ford

Hot Rolled

Joined

Dec 20, 2003

Location

Palo Alto, CA USA

• Sep 13, 2007

• #6

I paint the entire length of new stock with my color code. That way I never have to think too hard about what I have, even in my scrap piles:

Here's a good deal more than you want to know about my color coding.

Cheers,

Frank Ford
FRETS.COM
Gryphon Stringed Instruments
My Home Shop Pages

 

O

ohgood

Aluminum

Joined

Feb 15, 2007

Location

Birmingham, AL

• Sep 13, 2007

• #7

grind one end (with an angle grinder) an 'X'.

stamp the material type in there.

bludgen anyone in your shop that cuts off from the wrong end.

put it back in the rack afterwards.

works for me. some shops even adopted my habit after they quit whining and bitching about 'taking too much time to get a piece of stupid stock' once they knew what was on the shelf

 

P

priest

Aluminum

Joined

Mar 28, 2007

Location

detroit.

• Sep 13, 2007

• #8

In over 10 years of working with 12L14 I have never seen anything other than Green used. most of what we got of 12L was from Laurel Steel. customers are going more for the 12T now.

12T14 is usually painted a purpleish color so they don't get confused. Then again the confusion would be sorted out fast in the machine if they did mix up lol.

I've seen alot of different colors for most anything so it might all depend on the supplier.

 

John G S

Aluminum

Joined

Jan 11, 2007

Location

Washington, D.C.

• Sep 13, 2007

• #9

Frank, that's quite a bit about your color coding! At least painting the whole thing also keeps the rust down.

Much of my stock is small diameter stuff, 3/8" or less, so stamping would be out for the really small pieces. Luckily I only keep these two steels around, so a single groove filed across the end for one type and a cross groove added for the other type would do it. But I think I'll color code them to my own standard.

Having just said that I only kept these two steels, I remembered that CRS is also in the stockpile. All mine seems to rust like mad anyway, so I can identify it from the corrosion. I'll add a paint color for it anyway.

 

eKretz

Diamond; Mod Squad

Joined

Mar 27, 2005

Location

Northwest Indiana, USA

• Sep 14, 2007

• #10

We do kinda' like Frank. Stock comes in it is painted with a stripe from one end to the other. Yellow is 1018/1020/A36, green is 1044/1045, red is 4140HT. Sometimes it is also written on in yellow paint marker in about 5-6 places on a 12'er.