These copper bars are SOOOO bloody cool I thought I would make another 1. This one is %10 bigger than the last bar and hopefully the next one will be %40 bigger at over 10 Pounds;)
Love the beer keg furnace! If youd like a smoother top face on your finished ingots, run a small "weed burner" torch over the top as it freezes in the mold, so the face is the last part to actually freeze, thus acting as a full sized feeder. Placing your preheated mold on a chill block or plate to make it freeze "bottom up", as well as polishing the mold interior will work in conjunction with the top heating to minimize post mold finishing time
John John thanks mate I appreciate the comment 👍🏻I always try to make sure my video quality is pretty high , nothin worse than watching a vid your interested in and it being a bit dodgy . Cheers for watching buddy.
I think copper is the most beautiful metal. The color is so much nicer than gold, even. Course I'm married to a red head-I have a thing for copper colored hair too, so that might explain things there. Great pours!
That's one heck of a nice copper bullion bar mate, solid!. It's funny how an inconspicuous and rather abundant metal like copper can be made into impressive items. Keep up the good work mate😎👍
tharealsteven cheers bro👍🏻yeah I'm glad my brass supply has nearly ran out and I'm back dabbling with copper, copper has always been my favourite metal (apart from gold or silver who the heck can afford that nowadays)thanks for ya feedback budfy🍻
I wish I knew how to do this when I was younger and my grandfather was alive. He would have really enjoyed this he scrapped the first 25 years of my life there's no telling how much Copper Brass aluminum and other metals we took to the scrap yard would have been much easier had we melted it down to bars
Yeah matey there’s nothing worse when people don’t have something happening on screen I like to fill all my videos with movement of some kind and something happening. Thanks for watching my friend I hope you enjoyed it😁
Okay, I wanted to go back a bit and see what you were doing. It didn't seem like Devils Forge was in the fold here. Why doesn't it surprise me that you were using the top of a keg for a lid. LoL. (Jason's idea?) Your videos are MUCH better now. You've gotten quite good 3 years later. This was a nice size bar though. And THIS is about how long I thought it would take to harden in a mold. Yesterday you were flipping those coins and bars like pancakes. I am truly amazed by myself that watching things turn into molten metal would be so mesmerizing. I think if I lived in Pittsburgh Pa. Instead of NJ; I'd have grown up watching the steel mills melt their their vats into like I-Beams or something. Good job Quad D!
Pillobird Thanx matey👍🏻. Yeah she stays bloody hot for a long time . Maybe in a future video I'll time it from when I pour until it's ok to pick up with ya hands. That'll probably take well over an hour but I get so bloodying impatient 👍🏻. Thanx for watching buddy glad you enjoyed it🙂
Dural Metalurg yeah there definitely getting bigger & better for sure. I have a nice big 8kg clay graphite crucible but haven't made a lifter or pourer for it yet so that'll just stay on the back burner for now. Cheers for your continued support mate👍🏻
I also think about clay graphite crucible. I burned one more steel crucible, so I want something more reliable. I checked e-bay and now also think about 6 or 8 kg clay graphite crucible. Have you bought it there? A lifter or pourer can be a problem. I've seen how such stuff look but anyway I'm not sure what is the best and easier design...
Dural Metalurg yeah mate I get all my clay graphite crucibles off eBay . I got an 8kg one (I show that in my keg build vid but am yet to use it ) the 8kg is bloody huge maybe too big for what I'm doing but I'll still make a lifter and pourer eventually for it. A 6kg might be the go but at the moment I only have 2x3kg and the 8kg in clay graphite. I have a few steel ones left but as you know they could fail at anytime after a few uses. The pourer I use most is for my 3 kg crucible it doubles as a lifter and pourer but as the crucibles get bigger sizes their overall designs make it bloody hard to make a lifter and pourer in 1. My 3kg crucible has nice straight sides but the bigger ones have a more rounded base which makes it hard . 👍🏻
Thank you. Of course, I remember that video about the furnace and the crucible, just wanted to specify if it was ebay. I've found a good crucible on the domestic market. The only problem is the size. It's too big. The price is something about 22 usd. So, I think it'll be 6kg crucible, ebay and 32 usd. :)
awldune yeah it's amazing how much heat these bars hold and for how long , but when you look at the transformation they went through you gotta expect that I suppose 👍🏻👊🏻
+Paul's Garage yeah mate very simple just some scrap U Beam cut to length and some steel plate welded to the ends. I make sure to bend the walls of the ubeam out a bit so the ingot will drop out easily and it gives it that gold bar shape to it👍🏻
+darkmerchant1 Hell Yeah man I remember the first time I dropped my first ingot into water I loved it👍🏻😁. That’s usually the best part of the melt I recon .
Sure did mate I just wish I was there when It got emptied😬. In the Next couple of weeks I’m hoping to rebuild the keg furnace as my little furnace has since falling apart and is barely hanging on😞
Hey BigstackD, Love the videos, keep it up man! Have you considered getting a set of letter punches and stamping your ingots? I just started doing this, and it really makes them look like treasure!
James Beat hey buddy I do have a steel letter punch kit but it's a pretty small size ( I actually have some punched ingots in my next video and as cliche as it might sound I hit my bloody thumb doin them☹️).Ill will eventually get myself the larger punch set especially now that I'm getting back into the copper ingots👍🏻😁
hey buddy awesome video. try melting your copper down then when it's ready taken it out of the furnace and place your crucible in till it becomes glowing red slightly then put the copper back in to heat up again and then poor. it's such a smoother finish to the poor and the ingot looks cool when you take it out.
Something from the shed thanks matey glad you enjoyed it😉I have a hand held torch maybe I could use that to heat up the mold a bit more than I normally do . If I leave the copper out of the furnace it starts to loose heat instantly and your pouring window gets very small very quick. Actually Now that I'm thinking bout it there is enough room in my furnace to have the crucible and the mold in there at the same time so maybe I should chuck it in there for a minute or 2 before I pour👍🏻😁that'll get it nice and red hot. Righto it's settled then , next big copper or brass big bar pour I do I'll put the mold in to get it nice and hot👍🏻😁😯
awwww fantastic buddy. il look forward to seeing it. I actually have made a furnace with a keg like yours however it's works but is still in the production faze as you will see in my video coming up in the next few weeks. my fuel is just wood but it has a hair dryer on there so it boosts the heat in testy up. iv also done a test melt to see if it works and it melts aluminium no problem. I still have to cast the lid for it to make it more efficient so I can't wait for it to be finished. can't wait to see the next video buddy. take care
+Something from the shed . Cool mate if you ever upload anything on furnaces or melting let me know I'm always interested in those vids wether big small good or bad👍🏻
Actually I don’t take anything to the recycling yard I keep it all for future casting projects. I do this as a hobby not for profit so even if it cost me a few dollars here and there I don’t mind😁👍🏻
I just go up a series of different grits on sandpaper starting with an 80 grit flat disc on my angle grinder then I go 240 grit 600grit 1000grit 1500grit 2000-3000 grit then I buff it on my buffer wheel . Normally that will give an almost Mirror finish.
Something from the shed it ain't bloody quick mate that's for sure but normally around the 100 minutes . It gets up to 1000 in the first hour then takes another 45 mins to bump it up to 1100. I know that's a long time but it's only costing around $6 in gas to melt 10 pounds of copper so that's not bad. I could look at getting a 2nd burner to halve the melt time but I'm in no hurry. And frankly 1 burner is scary enough let alone 2 . 👍🏻
bigstackD that sounds awesome but I think your rite about the scary burner. I'm running forced air in to my wood fueled furnace and that's feckin scary as my bare ass lol. still I am stoked about upgrading to propane. I so can't wait.
+Something from the shed yeah propanes the way to go it's so much cleaner and instant heats always good . I have a handheld burner and normally I'll heat the metal in the crucible with that for a minute or 2 just before putting crucible into the furnace I have noticed it speeds up melting time a bit as your not waiting for the heat to transfer from crucible to the cold metal . Even a small bit of heating pre furnace would have to help a fair bit one would think .
+C Stone hey buddy I work on an industrial worksite and They have big scrap bins i usually check them out for the copper wire or talk to my electrician mates for when they're installing new machines they normally have some pretty good offcuts
it's also great your work site people let you get what you want out of the scrap bins. alot of industrial work sites around here seem to get real touchy about that sort of thing.
+MrLeonard55 hey mate this particular mold for these big copper ingots I made out of scrap metal from work , just a bit of cutting and welding. The other molds in other vids are graphite molds I get from eBay 👍🏻.
+Stephen Jones pretty cheap for me matey , I got the heat bricks from work for free (luckily as I have no idea on there value or where the hell to get them) and I got the keg donated to me from my mate. I only spent $23 on the refractory cement and $120 on a burner and gas regulator. And miscellaneous (tools gloves safety masks etc) probably about $60. So I was quite lucky getting the things I did for free . Thanks for watching buddy 👍🏻🍻🤛🏻
Ok I have a request... could you not put music in the next video many people think it’s annoying.... but over all great video man definitely earned a sub
Kamal AL-Hinai yeah man I just check the scrap metal bins every now and then. I've been collecting for years and have asked a few of my electrician mates if they have any off cuts I'll gladly grab em. I recon Itll take a bloody long time b4 I run out of scrap copper cables and pipes. I'll certainly have a BigStack then👍🏻👊🏻
Just wondering This brick was... 6 lbs. 10 oz. For $17.44 US? Approximately how long did the whole process take and how much gas did you use (cost) ? Is it really cost effective to do this? Not trying to put down what you do or be a smart ass. Just wondering if your making money going through the process.
Yes Todd I understand what you’re saying my friend this is definitely not a cost-effective way if you are taking these to the scrapyard but as I’m keeping them for myself and will never take them to scrapyard it’s a small price To pay . Its well worth it to me as this is my hobby . Check my latest video you will still see this bar on the shelf at the end of the video , I keep every bit that I make for future casting projects Or in this case an expensive doorstop 😁I just love doing this. But yes Definitely do not do this if you want to make money scrapping as with gas and time involved you would lose all profit. 😉👍🏻
Todd, we dont do this for a living. We do this as a hobby. Some people like to ride bikes, some like to spend their money on vacations. We spend our money on melting. People always put a price on things but they forget this is not a job. This is a passion. To answer your question. Unless you take those bars to a place that can scan the bar you wont be able to sell it. They will say you melted 30% copper and 70% metals.(example) Even if that is not the case. We melt to cast . The sky is the limit on what you can do with precious metals. I hope i answered your question.
Hey matey thanx for watching the links below for this heat gun👍🏻 rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com.au%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F272607042582
Definitely not my friend , maybe lead could be done on the stovetop but copper needs ridiculous heat around 1082°C to melt and even hotter to pour the copper.
Is there a email I could contact you with? I got something u might like. I got about 5 pounds or so of copper probably more. Scale says 5 pounds that scale is really old and has dead batteries
Matey i do have an email but if your not in Australia itll cost you upwards of $30+ to sent it overseas.i do in fact have easily 200 pounds of copper already so my suggestion to you would be to go to a local scrap yard and make yourself a few dollars matey.
Mina Nabil hey there thanks for watching, I'm using propane out of gas bottle and it normally takes me about 90 minutes to 110 minutes to melt about 4 kgs of copper, that seems like a long time but it only costs me about $5-$6 each time in gas so I'm pretty happy with that especially when your holding a nice big 1 of a kind ingot😆. Brass normally takes about 60-70 minutes for about the same amount at around $4 cost . Those prices are in Australian dollars 😉👍🏻.
Mina Nabil aluminium takes me about 20-25 minutes to get a nice big heap of molten aluminium I could probably do it quicker but what's the rush👍🏻😉costs me about $3 in gas
Thanks for the reply, I have been melting aluminium for the past few weeks but I'm using electric furnace that I built and I was wondering which is more efficient electricity or propane and I think that both are very close from each other I just melted a 1.5 kilo of aluminium yesterday and it took around 25 min to melt complete but I actually never tried to melt copper I think I will try that in the future anyway great videos man really helpful 👍👍👍
+Mina Nabil I started with an electric furnace but it was just drama after drama with it so I boxed it up and made a gas furnace and never looked back 😉. Gas for me is soo much easier I recon. Good luck on the copper melt, you could even try brass first as the brass melting point is about 150 degrees Celsius less than copper. Either way be safe melting 👍🏻
+it would be cool but this metal stuff doesn't interest the Missis and if it's not up to the standards of IKEA or HOME it won't make it into the house , although it could be used in the garage for something eventually I suppose👍🏻
Pierre Thibaud Bonjour . J'ai traduit votre message le meilleur que j'ai pu et il n'est vraiment pas profitable de fondre ces métaux car il vaut la même chose lors de la vente à la ferraille. Est-ce ce que vous demandiez?
Pierre Thibaud Je sais la valeur courante de cuivre australienne pour la journée où je filme la vidéo puis convertis le montant en dollars américains et Euroh merci d'avoir regardé mon ami
Hey there buddy as it is my hobby I won’t sell any of the things I melt or Mike. Some people say you can sell these on eBay for good money but I’ll just keep them for now. None of my metal will go to the scrapyard and all the small ingots I have made will be used in future casting projects. 👍🏻
