Originally Posted by
clengman
I think magnesium is really prone to corrosion. I think the trick is to find a good durable surface treatment to prevent that. I'm sure they must have something worked out. Wonder what it is.
Yes, I have a magnesium-bodied router. Every few months I had to clean off the oxidation until finally I coated it with lacquer. After a few years, the manufacturer (Bosch), switched to aluminum because of this issue.
Originally Posted by
skidder
It should work, just get the alloying and engineering correct for magnesium's peculiar properties. A lot of aftermarket car wheels are made from magnesium. Remember the old air-cooled 4-cylinder Volkswagen engines? The blocks of those were magnesium.
And when you had an engine fire, these things burned spectacularly.