The Bound Forum

I have never found an equivalent to your X-5000 metal analyzer.
Perhaps when the X-6000 version comes out, it will change the molecular structure of your sample so that Zinc alloy becomes Stainless Steel, or better yet, Titanium!

Actually your photograph could easily be of the "stainless" cuffs that I have. I was sure they were not brass because of the color of metal shavings that came off but it was a bit soft and easy to drill to be steel. These same bits go through steel without great difficulty though. Guess I need to look for other sets as well.

Yeah, if they look cast, they probably are, and if they're cast, they're probably not stainless steel. SS has a pretty high melting point, compared to alloys of usual suspects (copper, tin & zinc & friends), and casting at those temperatures is much more difficult - it's done industrially of course, but it's kinda expensive. (It can be done small-scale for jewellery and so-on, but a bigger item like a cuff needs a lot of energy.)

Consequently you tend to find SS items are worked and welded rather than cast.

The X-7000 does lead into gold, BTW...

It is always a compromise between durability and ease of manufacture though in this case it is more an issue of false advertising. I have run into durability issues with some of the other Chinese made toys. We just used the set of mystery metal cuffs the other day and they don't show any significant signs of wear which is good. I have always had the impression that I could break out of them if I really tried.
I am actually pretty familiar with metal casting. Many stainless steel firearms today are investment cast though the pieces that are critical for strength such as barrels are often forged or turned and broached. At home, I have done some lead, tin and silver casting. Way back in high school, we cast pieces out of aluminum.
My assumption was that although it is not cost effective to cast these kinds of toys in the West, in China, the rules and costs are different. I have an example of a very thin wall object made of cast iron that was not expensive. This kind of thing would be cost prohibitive around here because of the great difficulty in getting a successful cast and the resulting high rejection rate.

I was thinking that with a suitably tuned X-6000, lead to gold would be just one of the options.

Hi Ruru67,
I finally received the lock inserts I ordered.
I am not impressed. They appear to be missing at least one pin and when there are only three to start, there isn't much security.