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Chockstone Forum - Gear Lust / Lost & Found

Rave About Your Rack Please do not post retail SPAM.

Topic Date User

Should a dropped ATC be retired? 5-Jan-2015 At 8:00:14 PM Robbie

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G'day All, my background has a little bit to do with welding repairs of aluminium. Does 17 years as welding specialist in an automotive college count?
Anyway, some facts:
* Go to the following for the lowdown Al, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminium_alloy
* Al age hardens, this is where the life expectancy of a component will vary. However Al can be annealed to restore ductility and malleability. Al alloys will vary in this restorative process.
* Al alloys are used obviously in areas such as aerospace, automotive and yes climbing hardware.
* Hands up those of you that run alloy wheels on their car? "I thought so!" So, who retires one of these nice objects when a curb is nudged etc, etc, "or better still," the speedometer clocks over a hundred thou? "Get the picture."

Now if you really want to get serious about the integrity of you climbing hardware go and have have a look at the this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEK-c1pkTUI

This should help to take some guesswork out of establishing criteria\s for retiring your gear.

My blurb is by no means the be all, just a go at putting some objectivity into an area that has been kicked around since Adam was pup. Cheers