How to easily melt aluminum chips - quick tip - LMSAT

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Quick tip on how to reuse chips from machining aluminum. I found that dumping them in by the handful was kind of a dumb way to do it. So I came up with the idea to pack them into aluminum cans first, then throw the can in the crucible while it is in the foundry.
Worked out pretty nicely, even though it is very tedious melting down these small chips.
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Опубликовано:

5 окт 2024

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Комментарии : 42

@curtisb4903 5 лет назад

You could just wrap the pieces in aluminum foil instead of the beer can. That was my plan, but I like your idea too. I will have to try both and see what works for me. Excellent first poor Good Sir!

@letsmakesomethingawesometo8266 5 лет назад

That is a good idea, I'll need to give it a try.

@kentuckytrapper780 4 года назад

Make your crusibal out of a small propane bottle, put the chips in aluminum foil make balls,drop'um in. Great video.

@bradjunes1610 3 года назад

great TRY FROM A PROFESSIONAL---SIR.

@markfryer9880 5 лет назад

Just a quick note about using a metal crucible. Basically it will contaminate your aluminium Permanently with iron oxides. So if you value your aluminium then make the effort to get a graphite crucible.

@letsmakesomethingawesometo8266 5 лет назад

That is a good tip, I wasn't aware of that, but it makes sense.

@HeinrichsMade 2 года назад

Funny I totally just did this today for an upcoming video. I had aluminum fins from an evaporator coil. Putting them in cans made it so much easier.

@letsmakesomethingawesometo8266 2 года назад

The first time I did it without putting it in a can, half of the chips just flew around and out of the foundry.

@umahunter 3 года назад

Another idea I had was to make a metal funnel that I could set at the top of the crucible and once it has some molten aluminum just pour chips in and push them in as they melt

@letsmakesomethingawesometo8266 3 года назад

That is a good idea, the airflow from the foundry burner loved throwing small chips anywhere but into the crucible.

@umahunter 3 года назад

@@letsmakesomethingawesometo8266 yea I haven't done a ton of stuff as I don't have a proper set up but I did rig something up cause I wanted to experiment with melting down cans and I found once I had a lil pool of molten aluminum and I kept it nice and hot it was much easier to slowly keep feeding scrap into the molten pool then simply starting from scratch I put a good chunk in first to get a small pool going then started adding scrap to that I think the other way was so slow because of all the air and surface area of all the small pieces once I build my proper foundry I'm gonna experiment some more with a metal funnel

@ediesedgwick4462 3 года назад

Just turn the gas down when you're going to add more metal. And make a cover for the crucible.

@umahunter 3 года назад

I thought of doing the same thing since I've got a ton of chips I was thinking of just turning a ram and packing them in some cans with my shop press

@letsmakesomethingawesometo8266 3 года назад

I wonder if that would work better than this method. The air gap between chips seems to increase the melt time.

@MaxMakerChannel 6 лет назад

How much do you spend on fuel? I have 2 big boxes full of Aluminium scraps. I would like to pour them into a big chunk as a blank for my CNC. Not sure if it is worth the effort though vs buying new.

@letsmakesomethingawesometo8266 6 лет назад

I had to buy a brand new tank of propane for this and spent $47 on that (refills are $18). I'm not sure how much of the tank I used, but earlier this year we ran a foundry for 6-8 hours on a single tank. Heads up though, cast aluminum isn't as nice to machine as extruded alunimum. It is brittle and gummy. I wouldn't make blocks for blank stock, it is more beneficial to cast the entire part and only mill parts of it that require precision.

@MaxMakerChannel 6 лет назад

Thanks for the tip! I probably sell it for scraps then.

@olfoundryman8418 3 года назад

@@MaxMakerChannel See my other comment. A proper cast aluminium alloy - as distinct from melted down junk like chips - does in fact machine very well. But it is difficult to get big chunks solid enough - just go buy the bar stock needed, not cheap but not a disappointment either..... Martin

@BestExperiments 5 лет назад

Woow so quick

@maxamps45 3 года назад

Is the melted aluminum is as strong as it was before machining? Is there cracking and porousity? I wanted to turn my scrap aluminum in something I can machine.

@letsmakesomethingawesometo8266 3 года назад

It definitely isn't as strong as raw aluminum stock. Depending on how well you cast it, it can be pretty solid with low porosity. I've machined cast parts with good success. I'm pretty sure you can anneal the cast part for better strength, but never looked into that process.

@ColinMakesAllTheThings 5 лет назад

This was awesome! Over on Alec Steele he has been having a hell of a time with casting.

@letsmakesomethingawesometo8266 5 лет назад

I'm almost wondering if he builds that in for the drama. He really likes stretching things into 15+ part series. I'm going to try investment casting soon, I've only done sandcasting so far.

@ColinMakesAllTheThings 5 лет назад

You might be right about that! Make of video of the investment casting! Would love to see how it goes!

@markfryer9880 5 лет назад

@@letsmakesomethingawesometo8266 Check out VegOilGuy he has been really going into investment casting and using a 3D printer for a lost PLA method. Great way to save time and money on the learning curve.

@letsmakesomethingawesometo8266 5 лет назад

@@markfryer9880 I've been in the process of doing lost wax and lost pla casting. I found his videos recently after I started the process, I'm doing it way more low budget than him...using my foundry as a burnout kiln and don't have a vacuum pump. Hoping to put together some videos of the very low-end of investment casting. I have just to work around the weather since I do all my casting outside.

@dougdew5264 Год назад

Was there any milling coolant on your chips? If not, what do you use as a coolant when milling aluminum?

@ManCrafting 6 лет назад

Damn. This auto started and I thought it was Tim Sway. 🤣

@letsmakesomethingawesometo8266 6 лет назад

Nope, it's just me 😎

@darkunicorn1208 5 лет назад

Use salt and graphite crucibles to get the most out of the melts. Youd actually be quite surprised how much is lost in slag.

@letsmakesomethingawesometo8266 5 лет назад

That is something I'd like to upgrade. I built this as cheap as possible since I dont cast very often, and the cost of a crucible would have doubled the budget.

@nursakinah8430 9 месяцев назад

May i know what type of salt?

@davidduncan3659 3 года назад

I’ve been looking for a decent shredder

@letsmakesomethingawesometo8266 3 года назад

These all came from machining aluminum. Precious Plastics has a good video on a DIY shredder. It is geared towards recycling plastic, but could probably be modified for aluminum.

@Jasonthehammer 4 года назад

Is it true that most scrapyards won’t buy homemade ingots??

@letsmakesomethingawesometo8266 4 года назад

I've never heard that before, but I also never take anything to the scrap yard (it's a minor problem 🥳)

@automategames 4 года назад

why dont you just make a funnel/ a funnel cut in half thats made of steel so you can get close to the crucible and let em drop in.

@AustinSlack 6 лет назад

Dude that was your first pour? Have you done this before? I don't know if you watch a channel called How To Make Everything, but he has been trying to melt and cast for a long time and well... has been failing quite a lot. Maybe he needs to watch this and get some pointers lol.

@letsmakesomethingawesometo8266 6 лет назад

It was the first pour with my setup. I took an amazing sandcasting workshop earlier this year and have done maybe 6-8 pours in my entire life. It isn't too difficult, the tricky part is making the pattern correctly to get a decent pour. But if we are thinking about the same HTME video, I think he was trying to cast obsidian, which may be a whole other ballgame. Maybe I'll do a full video of the start to finish process, that'll give me another excuse to fire it up again! I just need to think of some things to cast that I can sell in the upcoming holiday season.

@AustinSlack 6 лет назад

Let's Make Something Awesome Together yeah, that was his most recent attempt I think, but he did try to sand cast aluminum at one point to make a minecraft sword.

@markmark2222 4 года назад

what I needed melting aluminium works ?? I mean sand what kind of sand. aluminium what is that white white color powder ? I like to fix my car part which I cannot afford so I'm just seeking help I hope I can make that part by myself hope it's not a crime to ask you help to tell me in this way

@letsmakesomethingawesometo8266 4 года назад

I use a product called "petrobond". It isn't cheap, amzn.to/2WPyQiI. If you are only doing a one-off part and not a lot of casting, look up "DIY Greensand". It isn't as nice to work with as petrobond, but it is significantly cheaper.