Any lock experts out there?

[Dave Osborne]

[tony sayer]

Mazak is it called?..

[Bob Mannix]

I have always known it as "monkey metal"

[tony sayer]

In article , Bob Mannix scribeth thus

Thats the one ;)..

[Jon Fairbairn]

My grandad called it "muck metal", implying that it was made of workshop-floor sweepings.

[Jules]

Heh - I've heard muck metal before, but not monkey metal... either seem appropriate though, bloody awful stuff even for decorative bits, and I don't know why anyone would use it for anything critical (apart from the obvious, obviously ;)

[Andy Dingley]

It isn't, it's actually extremely high purity.

Late 1930s Dinky toys are relatively(sic) common and cheap. Early

1930s ones are rare, thus valuable. The difference was just in the purity of the zinc alloy, particularly the reduction of iron impurities from it. Early impure alloys suffered from intergranular precipitation of this iron, causing distortion & cracking. Zamak was a new high-purity alloy, based on using a whole new zinc smelting process. This was what solved the Dinky toy problem. Mazak was the UK licensee for a very similar process and alloy, but the original and better known name is Zamak.

"Pot metal" is a Victorian term used for mostly lead, sometimes brasses, that were literally made from floor sweepings and local recycling of turnings by throwing them back into the melting pot. The term was applied to zinc alloys too, but in practice you've never been able to be this careless with alloys for diecasting. Moulding sprues were thrown back into the next melt, but only if they were clean and reliable. Machining swarf was very carefully segregated (certainly at Binns Road) and didn't go back into the pot without going back to the smelter first.

[<me9]

Sh*tite was what it was called when I was much younger and it was used where plastic is used now.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Mezak, muckite, shittite, pot metal..Zinc mainly I think.

A low temperature die casting ,material of little strength and less intrinsic value.

Used to make Dinky toys and B&Q cabinet hinges...;-)