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Chockstone Forum - Gear Lust / Lost & Found

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When is metallic gear too old ? 20-Jun-2008 At 10:22:56 AM AlanD

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From a metallurgical view point and with the likely alloys used, there should be no issues with binas, as long as they still function correctly (gate closing etc) and show no signs of distortion or corrosion (a bit of very light surface corrosion on steel binas should be ok). Obviously they should be replaced if there is any major surface damage, light scratches shouldn't be an issue, but gouges are an issue.

If the binas at any stage of their lives have been dropped onto a hard surface from up a few metres, I'd be worried about internal cracks. While various non destructive testing techniques like x-ray, magnetic particle, UV light penetrant and ultrasonics might detect a potential crack or flaw in the metal, these tests only confirm that a crack is present, they do not prove that there is no crack present. These tests are too dependent upon the skill of the operator, orientation of the crack to the test equipment and the sensitivity of the equipment relative to the size of the crack. It's extremely easy not to detect a crack or flaw.

I'd be a more worried with the wires as they can be far more susceptible to corrosion and that corrosion may be happening inside the bundle of strands and maybe not showing any visible signs of corrosion. With wires, I'd suggest replacing them if there is a single strand of wire broken or any rust stains and I'd probably would want to replace them every 10 years as an absolute minimum.