Hardware from ceiling fans

I have picked up several ceiling fans and most of the casings were steel. Here is my question. Some of the brackets that the fan blades screwed on to are non-magnetic. I took a file to reveal the metal beneath the paint, and it was a silver color, so they are not brass. Any idea what the bracket is probably made of? I am thinking pot metal, but did not know if the brackets were commonly made out of pot metal.

They go as die cast by me and I am getting .10 a pound for them...

They go for sheet aluminum here; .75/lb

I have come across a few that were steel, too. (magnetic)

Scratch and/or spark tests.

hit it with a hammer pot metal will break

Most of these are die cast zinc plated with brass. Die cast zinc is what alot of people call "pot metal" (it's actually a series of alloys called Zamak or Mazak) . The easy way to tell them from aluminum is that they will be heavy and aluminum is light. Also, die cast zinc gets a grayish color to it as it oxidizes. If you know what color an unpainted matchbox car is then you know what color zinc is.

Getting a fair price for zinc from a yard is hard to do as almost nobody knows what it is and they can get away with screwing you. Spot price for zinc right now is about $0.94 lb. I have been putting it in barrels and when I accumulate a ton or so of this I'll go shopping it.

Usually if you can fill a gaylord with anything you can negotiate for a fair price.

There is a huge amount of stuff made out of this but many people can't recognize it. If you've got cast alumunum that seems too heavy to be aluminum it's probably zinc.

I better dig out the fan hardware I tossed into the aluminum pile. Thanks for the info.

there zinc i did a thread on them , search what items contain zinc . hope this helps

My father told me Hover is the best ceiling fan supplier in India.

Originally Posted by Pinkyverma

My father told me Hover is the best ceiling fan supplier in India.

Psssh. Everyone knows it's Crompton.