Billet

[chevy3755]

would someone please explain the turm billet to me......as in billet aluminuim....is this a special process........

[jstinem]

A billet is a chunk of ordinary metal that is processed in to something of unimaginable Coolness and Value by the marketing dept before it goes to the manufacturing dept to be made into something that may, or may not, be worth a dam* in the real world.

[Tait]

OT Reply

I think it used to mean "solid" as in a chunk from the factory (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billet_(bar_stock)).

After reading multiple discussions on this in the past, here and in other forums, I've come to conclude that "billet" is a marketing term meaning "better than not billet."

I'll be interested in hearing what other replies come in!

p.s. jstinem replied as I was typing...

[Highpower]

[lazlo]

would someone please explain the turm billet to me

It means bar stock. For reasons I've never understood, the term drives some older machinists insane.

[MotorradMike]

A billet is a chunk of ordinary metal that is processed in to something of unimaginable Coolness and Value by the marketing dept before it goes to the manufacturing dept to be made into something that may, or may not, be worth a dam* in the real world.

From reading here I've come to accept most of this as well.
"Billet" sounds cooler than "solid" so the Orange County Chopper guys use that term.
In defense of others; "Billet" means not cast, not formed from sheet, but machined from a solid chunk.

As I understand it, Billet is pure refined metal so you wouldn't get billet 6061 for example.
Billet would be the material used for the manufacture of the various alloys and treatments that result in 6061, 7075 etc.

I've only heard the term applied to Aluminum, nobody thinks "Ingot" is cool.

[topct]

Extrusions are made from "billets". If a product is made by machining it is made from "solid". But "solids" can be made from billets.

There is a picture of billets here,

http://www.kaiseraluminum.com/customers/products/extrusion-billet/

Those billets would not be of any use as far a machining goes, they are in an "as cast" condition. They have not been through any of the treatments needed to make them machinable.

There are many names used in the industry to describe various forms and the billet word has managed to find itself used a bit out of it's intended place.

[Forrest Addy]

Whither "billet" is always an entertaining topic. Billet has several defintions.

One definition of "billet" refers to an intermediate step in hot rolled metals production between the cast ingot and the finished rolled shape - that is, an intrmediate stage in rollled metals production. It may also be called a "bloom" but the distinctions escape me at this stage of the morning.

"Billet" is a nice choppy, manly sounding word that must mean something strong and durable. Therefore it's been adopted by hucksters to deceive the after-market automitive crowd. Two fundamental truths of marketing are "they will never know the difference" and "there's a sucker born every minute", Car guys are noted for ignorant enthusiasm. "Show me" and every day skepticism is not part of their make-up. They are sheep; they follow any leader and emulate their postures, enthusiams, lust for witless girlfriends, prejudices, lamentable habits, and tasteless humor - and careless speech. If a race winner touts for pay a purple anodized alternator bracket made of genuine aircraft grade aluminum billet, car guys will rush out to buy it.

Well, I'm oversstating it a little for emphasis but there is a perception. Car guys will pay for a miles of sizzle if it leads to an inch of steak. Put another way, they spend a lot of time and money fixing up a perfectly good cars to the point of undrivability to impress people they not only don't know or care about, who, in another setting, might prefer to avoid.

"Billet" in this contex is a buzzword used to inflate the apparent value of components "machined from the solid" (actual technical term) from, plate or barstock as opposed to items cast or forged to net shape then machined to finished dimension.

Same with "aircraft grade". The aircraft industry uses many materials available on the commercial market for good reason: they are excellent materials whose properties are will known and widely understood. However the aircraft industry has a huge QA imperitive. They don't buy a truckload of remnents to make aircraft parts from. They buy from reputable suppliers. Part of the purchase is the documentation tracing the material back to lot and bactch number, the analysis, phystical and chemical tests, heat treatment, and other tests and conditions. In other words, "aircraft grade" refers to material thats been certified. Any particular part in any particular aircraft can be traced back via the paperwork to thei original materials etc it was made from. This ensures reliability or in the case of failure tracibility to the original materials. I have never, ever seen a cert associated with any car part stock or aftermarket so "aircraft quality" in the absense of certs is a bogus claim too.

Car enthusiast magazine writers use these terms and automotive aftermarket advertized really pound it: "billet" and "aircraft quality". Stuff made from "billet" and "aircraft quality" is somehow better than stuff made from plate or barstock. It isn't really. It may be a perfectly good product well worth the money but describing tham as made from "billit" or "aircraft quality" doesn't make them better. If I was a purchaser I would be inclined to be more skeptical. Is the seller being deceptive? Why does he mis-use the word "Billet"? WHere are the cert to support the claim "aircraft quality"? Is he hoping I in my ignorance would buy this purple alternator bracket thinking it will lead to faster ET's prettier girls, the admiration of yokels? Maybe I should clean up, detail, and paint my stock alternator bracket. It's just as strong and about the same weight.

But then I'm 70 years old and skeptical. If I was 20 again, I would probably be calling stuff "billit" too.

[tdmidget]

It means bar stock. For reasons I've never understood, the term drives some older machinists insane.

You are absolutely wrong. A billet is not a finished good. It is an intermediate step in metals manufacture. Billets are what steel bars are rolled from. They do not leave the mill except to go to another mill for rolling. Aluminum billets are what an extrusion press consumes. Again, they are not a finished product.
Answers like yours are what causes the confusion. The retard hot rod crowd loves to claim that their trinkets are machined from "billet. They mean from solid, which is not the same thing.

[loose nut]

I was taught that a "billet" of any metal was a bar, cast or extruded, that was then hot forged to compress and align the grain structure to make it stronger. After that the "billet" would go on to further processing.

[Peter.]

I'm pretty sure that the common-useage term is going to eventually be adopted alongside the technical definition in due course.

Much like my old metalworking teacher at school who would go mad if you referred to a drill bit as a drill bit - "they are 'drills' and they go in a 'drilling machine'" he would say. If you called it a drill bit a second time you'd get sent out.

[tdmidget]

I'm pretty sure that the common-useage term is going to eventually be adopted alongside the technical definition in due course.

Much like my old metalworking teacher at school who would go mad if you referred to a drill bit as a drill bit - "they are 'drills' and they go in a 'drilling machine'" he would say. If you called it a drill bit a second time you'd get sent out.

I like your old teach already.

[Mcgyver]

Extrusions are made from "billets".

that is exactly right. Insofar as AL goes, within the metals supply chain 'billet' is a particular size and shape the metal is put in, whatever alloy, as it trades between refiner and extruder. That's all it is. Making it anything else, regardless of alloy, is at best done in ignorance or worse trickery and snake oil vending. Ignorance shouldn't cause offense, we're all ignorant of many things....it's the constant use in the later categories that annoys those in the know.

[lazlo]

Originally Posted by lazlo
It means bar stock. For reasons I've never understood, the term drives some older machinists insane.

You are absolutely wrong.

You're the older machinist I was referring to

From the Spring edition of "As the Billet Turns":

http://bbs.homeshopmachinist.net/showthread.php?p=641233

There are dozens of technical definitions of billet that contradict Forrest's description. Billet just means a block of metal that wasn't cast or molded.

Machining an engine block from billet aluminum is the same thing as machining an engine block from a block or bar of aluminum. Cracks me up that folks get their panties in a wad over "billet."

From ToolingU:

A small, semi-finished piece of metal that is rectangular, circular, or square in shape.

From AmericanMachinist:

What does "Billet" mean?

A billet is simply a solid piece of material that is shaped into it's finished form by machining. Most finished products are either cast or molded into shape. A billet is a raw block of material.

Or good old Webster's:

Billet \Bil"let\, n.
(Metal.) A short bar of metal, as of gold or iron.

[chevy3755]

well i have gotten into several heated discusions at car shows regarding aluminuim billet......it is suppose to be something speacial and with that come a higher price tag......I said bull......it is just a chunk of whatever metal.....and then machined from that.......just my 2 cents.....