Metal Finishing Military Specifications List

A. You might get a copy of the Metal Finishing Guidebook and Directory (if you deal with plating, you could probably one anyway).

A. www.dodssp.daps.mil/ ==> https://quicksearch.dla.mil
Chris Jurey, Past-President IHAA
Luke Engineering & Mfg. Co. Inc.

Wadsworth, Ohio



Ed. update Nov. 2022: The address of that site changed at least 4 times over the years since Chris wrote this; but we are maintaining the correct current address in red.

A. Dear Frank,
You can register for free at assist.daps.mil/ ==> https://quicksearch.dla.mil
Good luck, they usually give you a big PDF to download.
Regards,
Jake Koch
G. J. Nikolas &Co.,Inc.

Bellwood, Illinois



Ed. update Nov. 2022: The address of that site changed at least 3 times over the years since Jake wrote this; but we are maintaining the correct current address in red.

A. Try STINET, defense run website that lists and has available current MILspecs, FED specs, etc and also lets you know if any have been superseded and by what.
Brian Terry
Aerospace - Yeovil, Somerset, UK


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Ed. update Nov. 2022: We don't believe that site, if it exists anymore, offers access to MILspecs anymore; but see the next posting.

A. Here is a link to the website maintained by the Dept. of Defense where you can download all the specs you want.
http://assist.daps.dla.mil/quicksearch/ ==> https://quicksearch.dla.mil
Type in the document that you want exactly as it appears (e.g. MIL-F-13926) in the Document ID box, OR type in the number of the document (13926) in the Document Number box. The second option will give you a list of all available versions of the mil-spec.
Good Luck!
Angelo Vangel
- St. Louis, Missouri


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Ed. update Nov. 2022: The address of that site changed at least 3 times over the years since Angelo wrote this; but we are maintaining the correct current address in red.

A. Well, since you asked nicely--
First, the web source for US military specifications is most easily found by typing "ASSIST QuickSearch" into Google, or I guess any other search engine. You'll get the ASSIST Quick Search webpage, and when you type the number into the "document number" box (pretty intuitive) you get a list of matching specifications. Clicking on the icon on the left gets you a pdf file of the specification. Some of the gibberish you listed is covered, but you'll still need a stiff dose of interpretation.

MIL-F-13926 [on DLA] is a general specification for Manufacture and inspection of fire control materiel. It was made inactive in '95, but the Department of Defense (DoD) still uses it for older programs. Here you'd want to read through the base specification, revision B, as well as amendment 5 (which incorporates amendments 1 through 4). Could the 3-125 be the tap size noted in Table III?

COLOR WHITE # 27875 OF FED-STD-595 refers to a color chip found in Federal Standard 595, which is a big book of paint chips. It's not available online, since monitors are so different. But all it does is define a color- if you want that color, buy it from your paint supplier. Yeah, you may have to call around to find a paint supplier who deals with govt specs, but it is possible.

MIL-STD-8 revision C dealt with Dimensioning and Tolerancing, and was superseded by ASME Y14.5. Any machine shop should be familiar with Y14.5, and you can buy a copy of that from ANSI at www.ansi.org.

CD 1015-1035M SOEC,QQ-S634 refers to cold drawn 1015 or (through?) 1035 carbon steel bars per Federal Specification QQ-S-634. I'm not sure what the SOEC stands for -- could that be some kind of misprint? Anyway, QQ-S-634 is cancelled- use ASTM A108 as the procurement specification.

FED QQ-B-650 [on DLA] covered BRAZING ALLOYS, COPPER, COPPER-ZINC, AND COPPER-PHOSPHORUS. It's cancelled, so use AWS A5.01 AND AWS A5.8, the American Welding Society specifications for those.

is a 63 page document on Finishing of metal and wood surfaces. Great bedtime reading- it's a real page-turner.

MIL-B-7883 [on DLA] was cancelled in 1996. The ASSIST website says "BRAZING OF STEELS, COPPER, COPPER ALLOYS, NICKEL ALLOYS, ALUMINUM AND ALUMINUM ALLOYS (FUTURE ACQUISITIONS SHOULD SPECIFY ONE AWS C3.4, AWS C3.5, AWS C3.6 AND AWS C3.7 )"

MIL-H-46354 [on DLA] covers an optical instrument headrest. That's gotta be another real hoot

MIL-STD-190 [from DLA] covers identification marking of rubber products.

MIL-B-15894 [on DLA] was cancelled and superseded by ASTM B176. That specification covered brass die castings.

Finally, FED QQ-S-763 [on DLA] is a specification for stainless steel bar. It's been replaced by AMSQQS763, but the replacement reads the same as the original. Also, you can still buy stainless steel bars certified to QQ-S-763.

Hope this helps- again, all of these Military Specifications are available for free from the ASSIST (Acquisition Streamlining and Standardization Information System) website. Good luck!

Lee Gearhart
metallurgist - E. Aurora, New York

A. After thinking this over, you may really not want a MIL-SPEC, rather, you may want the QPL (Qualified Products List)
Thomas Scott
- Neptune Beach, Florida
December 18, 2009