I am new to Corvettes and this forum. I keep seeing things like Billet grilles, Billet badges, etc. for sale. Is "Billet" a Manufacturer or a style or something? Thanks.

 

Billet is a peice of machined metal. The link below is an example.

http://westcoastcorvette.com/p-855-c...es-chrome.aspx

 

In the Corvette world Billet usually refers to a solid block of aluminum that is carved by various methods (usually computer controlled) to produce a finished product.

So normally Billet refers to the method used to create the part.

 

A product which has been machined from a solid piece of metal.

 

Metalworking. a comparatively narrow, generally square, bar of steel, esp. one rolled or forged from an ingot; a narrow bloom.

 

I once needed a piece of aluminum round stock, something i could of bought at home depot in 4 ft length. I only needed about a 5" piece & some fool wanted an arm & leg for this 5" round stock.
He said this was a billet piece that's why so expensive. This guy was ignorant. I wound up buying from home depot 4' of it, for less than he wanted for 5", cut with saw & had 3' 7" of billet left.
.. ..
.

 

It's a loose definition, but in the past, when referred to as billet, it meant the metal was a higher grade and hardened.
There's no rules, so basically anything machined out of a chunk of metal is now called billet.

 

"It's a loose definition" is an understatement...and a lot of sand cast parts (valve covers, air cleaners, breathers, etc), mostly made offshore, are referred to as billet since people will pay more for that descriptive sales gimmick...

 

This is the true definition of billet.

In the steel mill, an ingot is poured from a ladle, it is stripped from the mold and hot rolled into a bloom. The bloom is then hot rolled in a rolling mill to a billet. The billet is then hot rolled into a commercial shape, round, square, etc.

"Billet" refers to the solid piece of stock a part is machined from.
To go a step further, any rolled stock is considered forged, as it is worked as it passes from roll to roll in a rolling mill, whether it is hot or cold rolled.

Somewhere, someone latched onto the "billet" term and it has stuck.
And that concludes today's lesson.

 

What's Billet?



Billet is a term tossed around frequently and loosely in cruiserland, but many people are confused about what billet actually is and why it's usually expensive. We recently heard of a proud cruiser owner who (when responding to a question about a bolt-on accessory) said, "That's not aluminum; that's billet." Clearly, some confusion exists here.

A quick trip to the dictionary tells us that a billet is simply a "bar of metal." Billets can be made of magnesium or steel or iron or lead, but because of its light weight and relatively low cost (compared with other light metals such as magnesium and titanium), aluminum works best for cruising applications. However, since pure aluminum is a fairly soft metal, the aluminum most billet accessories are machined from is actually an alloy of aluminum and other metals.

The folks at Jardine tell us that one of the most popular alloys found in motorcycle parts is 6061-T6 aluminum. In the 1950s the Aluminum Association adopted a four-digit numerical classification system for aluminum. The first digit, the six, states that this alloy contains aluminum, magnesium, and silicon; giving the alloy good formability, corrosion resistance, and strength. (If the first digit were a one, the metal would be more than 99 percent pure aluminum.) The zero means that special controls to limit particular impurities within the alloy were not incorporated (not a concern in motorcycle applications). The final two digits identify the particular alloy within the aluminum, magnesium, and silicon group. The -T6 designates aluminum alloys that have been thermally treated and artificially aged for additional hardness. So, to sum it all up: 6061-T6 aluminum is a light, strong, corrosion-resistant alloy that is ideally suited for motorcycling.

Since billet aluminum parts start their lives as blocks of aluminum, the finished parts must be carved from these blocks. Cobra's manufacturing engineer took us through the process of turning a boring block of aluminum into a part that is ready for the chromer or polisher. When Cobra develops a new part, all of the measurements are taken from the OE part that is being replaced or from where the new part will be mounted. The measurements are then turned into a 3-D wire-frame model on a computer. At this point, styling touches that influence the look and feel of the part can be previewed without cutting a single piece of aluminum. Once the part has been completely designed, the engineer creates the cutter tool list and the carving order that will result in the completed part (like a sculptor progressively removing aluminum from the billet). Cobra's new Valkyrie radiator covers shown above are a good example.

Yes, much of a piece of aluminum billet ends up in the recycling bin after a milling machine has extracted a part from within it. Unfortunately, aluminum chips return only pennies on the dollar of the cost of billet aluminum. That fact and the expensive, computer-controlled machinery required to precisely cut each part explain the higher cost of billet accessories. So, if billet parts are expensive to produce why not just die-cast the parts? Simply put, die-cast parts are made from aluminum poured into a mold, therefore it's difficult to achieve the uniform structure, strength, and flawless finish found in top-quality billet parts. Billet-look or billet-like parts are usually cast items dipped in chrome.
Now, when someone refers to a part as billet, you'll know what they think they're talking about.

 

 

Quite correct and very well put! The only thing that I would add is that die-cast contains more impurities and/or lower quality metal ratios than poured or forged billet.

 

When someone buys something from you and they don't pay, then you bill-it.

 

the true meaning of billet:
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It's a piece of metal
.
I hope this clears up any confusion
.

 

Ain't that the truth. It has become one of the more commonly mis-used terms out there nowadays. Caveat emptor!

 

Billet=cheap casting. Nothing fancy. No all of a sudden chrome/shiny exterior.

You can however go back and forge it, but then it'd lose the bling title attached to it.

Moral of the story, if someone is hawking billet like it's the king, chances are they think that alloys are worse than pure metals.