Nice safe pour. Smooth, deliberate body movements. No wasted motion. Good use of safety gear. Well designed work space. Great video. Thanks for posting.
Almost like magic...the foundry segment of my metal shop class in high school was my favorite part! And, I was pleasantly surprised to find out in later years that a person could do stuff like this at home, with homemade equipment!
Finally someone using the proper safety procedures! So tired of seeing guys wearing flip flops or sandals when pouring. My personal problem is my choice of crucibles. I keep blowing out the bottom. I've used cut in half blow torch and lantern propane tanks and I guess my heat is too high cause I've had to salvage two good sized loads of molten aluminum from the bottom of my foundry.
Thanks for sharing. I'm just starting out on casting and learn much just from watching. Degassing, removing slag, and your cunning latch over top of the crucible so you can pour with confidence
I had that problem for awhile. I "fixed" it by making my crucibles from 1/4" walled pipe. I know it was a little excessive and they do take a little while to heat up, however they hold heat well, and I have yet to see one leak. I would have bought a clay/graphite one, but money my budget is a little tight.
@VideosofSeth The fact that you're doing, is far more important than the scale at which you are doing! I have no doubt that you will improve and refine your setup over time. The one in the vid is at my friends house, I will be constructing a new setup soon at my new place.
Very nice. Have you ever thought about using solar concentration as a heat source? It's only a matter of how much surface area to converge to get the desired temp. You can even use household mirror, all though it takes a LOT more because of lower efficiency, but you can get tons of it for free on CL. Is that container just normal steel? Do you recommend any sites for learning more about this? I'm very interested.
I would of put legos or action figures all around that and make them look like they're working,lol. This vid is soo much better to considering what you are making.
@scottiblasto You can use a basic flower pot (one without a hole in the bottom of course). I would be wary of a coated crock pot, but it wouldn't hurt to bring it up to melt temperature and see if it can withstand the heat. You could do this with a propane torch.
i wonder how much aluminum bullion is worth. you have an awesome set-up sir. looks like a fun hobby and if this is a way of earning a living then congrats on that too.
@Microglia1 you can take an existing part and use it for a pattern, but the new one will be slightly under size. You can create a pattern by carving a material such as wood, wax or foam and taylor it to your needs.
@TheNLguy you can use fine brick dust (go to any jobsite with a brick saw and get the sluge, than dry and sift it mix it with candle wax and fine sand. build your form and bake it the wax will bind it and get you a perfect result. after baking you can even engrave designs into the surfaces or serial nummbers let it cool before you engrave. good luck
Petrobond sand. The aluminum is various chunks of scrap I collected, like water pump housings and stuff. We developed a carburator with replacable jets to go with the blower. We recently switched to a Hybridburner.
@IzrailGhazi Dross contains oxidation from the metal, whether it be aluminum, brass, or Iron. Basically that means it is as useful as rust. Could be a nice paper weight on a desk somewhere.
@IzrailGhazi yes, it is mostly aluminum oxide. its a very good abrasive material and has a super high melting point, so many people use it to build foundries
@8MADJACK the outside layer on the can with the color i think causes impurities... if you melt small batches, there's often a layer that forms on top of the melted metal that you can scrape of with a spoon...
awsome! what did you use to line the furnace, because I know concrete would decentigrate at that temperature. I'm trying to build one myself, but every time I think I can find the right materials for a reasonable price, it just gets more complicated.
I'm pretty sure the same furnace can be used to cast magnesium since its meting point is 10 degrees C lower than aluminum. However I'm terribly unsure of the quality of the result due to corrosion of the magnesium the heat (it is a whole more reactive than aluminum under practical conditions). Though that stuff is hard to get especially in the southern hemisphere and its expensive too. Though it is much lighter than Al so if anyone has success do report!
You don't need to be old to do stuf like that, I'm 19 years old and I've build an oven and I'm starting to cast things now, but If you do decide to do it be very sure you have safety equipment and that you atleast can be 98% sure that the thing isn't going to blow on you. See that your information comes from a reliable source.
@scottiblasto I do ceramics all the time. A ceramic bowl has a temperature range of 2200+ degrees. That is what I was going to create my cruicble out of. Ceramic material is brittle. So it won't take being dropped or any kind of shock. It will need to have thick walls. The problem with metal casting is the temperatures rise so quickly. You would have to heat the bowl up slowly over a longer period. I am going to be pouring brass metal (1750 degrees + )
@fishnriver Actually, it's my friends furnace, He built it. I helped tune it with the original "carberator" type mixer we came up with. Now it uses a Hybrid burner. I plan on building one for myself soon and will document it when I do.
@scottiblasto the answer is no.. The moisture in the ceramic can,usually does expand/explode in the tiny bubbles that are present in the material.Because ceramic is pourous,it absorbs moisture,start it off dry,tho,you will have different results ;)
@FarceTheory I'm not using cans, but if I was I'd just melt them. I'm not sure what you mean by "responsibly" . Don't breathe the fumes. I don't think there is a plastic lining in soda cans anyways.
dont melt cans, you'll get more aluminum if u take the cans back for the 5 cents, and buy scrap aluminum. Plus cans are coated with varnish, so theres tons of slag. Try finding broken ladders or aluminum doors. Junk yard is easiest place. good luck
are you de-gassing at 1:20 and if so what do you use? i also would like to know your idea on what a good starter crucible would be, and where you got that wicked awesome crucible presented in this video.
cool. could you have one of these in your house? What's the smoke levels like when the metal is melting in one of these things, would an open window or, say, a sunroof be enough to deal with the smoke?
@Microglia1 This forge will not do steel. this furnace is at my friends house and has evolved over time, it was not built/purchased at one time, no cost estimate. most of what you see is home made. As far as safety, the setup is built with safety in mind, it is isolated from the dwelling, the stuff around it is a fence and a shed. Safety equipment is worn when operating. I recently moved and am going to build a new setup. I might have a better idea then....
I would suggest that you use clay graphite for lift out crucibles. They are stronger at high heat than silicon carbide. One, such as you have, is more typically used in a tilt pour furnace. Silicon carbide is quite fragile compared to clay graphite. The screen face shield you have is a bad idea. Although it keeps away the heat, aluminum from a steam explosion, will go right through that. A person at Federal Mogel Corp. was blinded when he used a screen without safety glasses below it. The screen merely dispersed the metal into fine droplets. We use clear plastic shields, though you could also use a tinted one. You might also think of using a fireproof apron, such as leather or kevlar. In a steam explosion of aluminum, you could severely burn your private parts without that protection. I could not see your boots. Use a kick off boot. Sometimes aluminum can get past your spats and into the boot. A kick off boot will keep the third degree burns to a minimum, if you get it off right away. Wear wool or cotton socks only. Nylon melts and then sticks to your skin. You should consider painting your pig molds with something like Mica Wash from Springfield Coatings or bone ash, which can be bought at some garden supply houses. Mix them with water and put on with a brush. Wait till dry. Pouring the aluminum into an uncoated pig mold results in iron contamination of the aluminum. It also reduces the life of the pig molds and sometimes results in the pigs sticking in the pig molds. Be sure that the pigs are completely dry before pouring metal into them. I always pour the first metal into a pig very slowly and at the edge, to help prevent a pig from blowing. Sometimes pigs will blow just from condensation of moisture in the air. When they do blow, it sounds like someone fired a shotgun. The metal goes extremely fast and long distances. We have what looks like stars stuck to our ceiling. Ours is made of tile, so it doesn't set the building on fire. Although we try to be extremely careful, it always seems like new guys want to learn for themselves. We always stick handles from old scrap runners and gates into the top of the pigs when they are just starting to solidify, to make them easier to pull out of the pig mold. We mark our runners with the alloy number to keep alloys from getting mixed up. You are pouring way too hot. From the color, I would guess that you are close to 1600 degrees F. Typically, you should be pouring around 1300 to 1350 degrees F. At those elevated temperatures, you will end up with a lot of hydrogen porosity. Those degassing tablets you use will not help much at that temperature. The hotter the metal, the more hydrogen it will hold. The hydrogen comes from moisture in the air, or from the combustion products of your fuel, reacting with the aluminum. The aluminum is so electro negative, that it will strip oxygen from water. The hydrogen that is released, dissolves into the aluminum and comes out when the metal drops below 1250 F, producing small bubbles throughout the casting. You can help prevent hydrogen pickup by using a cover flux, such as EcoFlux 145 from HA International. Put this on top of the metal as it is melting. We degas our metal with nitrogen or argon, using a hollow graphite rod, a hose and pressure regulator. Bubble the nitrogen or argon through the metal for around 5 minutes before pouring it. We use type 1 graphite rods from Pyrotek. You should be using a drossing flux which you stir into the metal, before pouring. That will pull out a lot of the oxides that are in the metal. As you mentioned before, do not melt magnesium in this type of furnace. You most certainly will set it on fire. The 5000 degree plus, flame blowing out of the crucible will break the crucible, melt the furnace and set anything near the flame on fire. If you were using a propane tank near the furnace to fuel the burner, chances are that the propane tank will blow as well. You do not have the right protective gear for that level of heat. Magnesium needs to be melted in special furnaces and you need to have a steady flow of nitrogen across the surface to keep the air away from it. In the 1950s, several aluminum foundries in Detroit started pouring magnesium. All of them burned down by 1960.
+8MADJACK You probably will not see the porosity unless you machine the parts with a carbide or diamond cutter. I'm in the business, so my metal has to be high quality.
for your parts did you have a hollow mold? or filled with styrofoam or parafin? if you use wax, does it contaminate the metal or burn off? if you werent using soda cans, where does the slag come from? (i know auminium we see everyday is usually alumnum oxide).. and the big quesiton.. where do you get a crucible? and wha tcould you use as substitute.. i can make my own tongs.. (by the way.. could yo uget one of these hot enough to do iron or steel?)
@8MADJACK i wouldn't even worry about that. that furnace should be hot enough to pretty much clean burn any plastic. should be hot enough to cause even the fumes to break down chemically into elements.
@8MADJACK Ohh ok,kinda like a bigger version of the lil things jewlers use for gold and silver.If they degrade over time,where do you buy them from? I have just been using a piece of steel pipe with a plate welded on the bottom,you can see these in my video.. There just a bit too small for some of my castings. Also have you ever heard of folding a small aluminium foil packet of baking soda,or some sort of soda(foget exactly) to the crucible to degass ??
What material is the bowl you melt the iron in made out of? I wish to replicate this process with a home made furnace. Also any recommendation on the brick type to build the furnace out of? ty
I want to add if anyone is concerned with metal going through clothing. Just misting lightly with water will cause any metal to be deflected. As soon as metal hits water it will form a layer of steam just like water droplets on a very hot pan. It will have almost no friction.
That's looks WAY too hot for aluminum.Excessive heat breaks down the alloy and ads to dross and gas problems. 356 & 319 can tolerate over heating somewhat but the high-end alloys like 713 and 535 are poured dead cold(barely showing any color at all).I have a silicon-carbide crucible for brass and bronze but use soup cans for aluminum - the soup cans aren't refractory and conduct heat very fast. You can only use a soup can once but they are cheaper to use and easy to replace.
@ba470 Well, with a homemade kiln there could be any number of reasons why it wouldn't work. It has to be very efficient at holding in the heat. Both how it's made and what it is made out of would be important. If you tell me more about your kiln, I or someone else might be able to help you figure out what's wrong. The gas that you use is also an important factor, as some gasses burn hotter than others. What gas are you using?
i dont think that chunk he put in was aluminum. prolly borax or sum other flux to pull the dross out. nice setup...those cope and drag frames musta cost a fortune
@thornax1 that sludge is impurities you do not want getting in to your mold, looks like hell if they do, and the finished product is weaker, you could re-melt if it is a valuable metal like copper gold or silver, but in something like aluminium its just scrap and not worth the cost of re-melting it
@SKoGoMoney thanks for the answer, so in your opinion (cuz you seem to know your stuff about this particular thing) what would be the 1) best thickness and material, 2) the cleanest metal, for the least amount of smoke? Is propane the cleanest, or is it just cleaner than charcoal (and what do you think of using more primitive methods like bellows?)
Could you give me some extra information about that degassing powder, where do you buy it ?or what it is? Is it possible to get it out of usual resources with a simple proces or something?
@insanezy I plan on more stuff in the future, I'm currently building a new shop and foundry setup at my new place. It won't be too long I hope, shooting for this winter to do more foundry.
