Melt Copper with a Hair Dryer and Grill Charcoal

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Where I get my crucibles: amzn.to/3WtGoFG
amazon affiliate link*
Today I'm back to melting copper at home. It works! Sorta. Melting stuff with charcoal works pretty well, but melting COPPER with charcoal doesn't work quite as easily. There are a lot of cool things you can do with copper, however, like alloy it with aluminum to make aluminum bronze. That's a thing.
I'm using the mini metal foundry that i rebuild with castable refractory cement I got at the home improvement store. He said it can melt copper, and he was technically correct. The best kind of correct. But it's not easy. Would not recommend.
To that end, i'm about to build a propane burner and a bigger foundry furnace with better insulation. So, yeah, bring on the blue flames.
Mailing Address:
1818 Milton Ave STE 100 #1973
Janesville, WI 53545-9998
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#metalcasting #foundry #meltingmetal

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Опубликовано:

23 мар 2017

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Комментарии : 209

@PaulsGarage Год назад

Where I get my crucibles: amzn.to/3WtGoFG amazon affiliate link*

@nutsandbolts3729 6 лет назад

Paul, your “channel “ I read somewhere , may be one of my all time favorite channels. Definitely worth the watch. Thanks for putting up the videos.

@PaulsGarage 6 лет назад

Thanks! I'm glad you like the videos :D

@rcpi9336 7 лет назад

Man I love your videos Paul

@PaulsGarage 7 лет назад

Thanks! i'm glad you enjoy them :D

@Steviepsp2000 2 года назад

Thanks, Paul... Very Informative And Full With Humor To Learn From You... Keep It Up...

@hoangky1240 4 года назад

Thank you Paul.

@thefourthtuxzt3078 6 лет назад

Ive found that using coal/carbon from my firepit or even just the ash itself to rub into the sides of the ingot mold helps alot with sticking

@allappleaccess 6 лет назад

I love your channel and I think it is amazing

@PaulsGarage 6 лет назад

Thanks!

@maximedube-limon5632 2 года назад

Frome Québec. Like your vibe and idea !!

@davedennis6042 6 лет назад

Very impressive video. Forge ahead, man :D

@JTBivens 3 года назад

lol first vid of yours I have seen. But you are hilarious and I very much enjoyed it! :)

@neelshah8762 3 года назад

I know this is 3 years old, but I saw your baking tray and had a tip. To keep aluminum from sticking to baking trays, I spray graphite lubricant into the molds. Just the $5 can of Blaster graphite spray you can get at the hardware store. It works great, and I didn't go through baking trays nearly as much. Also, the aluminum doesn't cool down as fast, which is nice because there isn't as much porosity in the metal (any dissolved gas has more time to escape). I haven't started melting copper yet, but copper melt shops use graphite to coat their molds. So it should work well with copper too. Blaster graphite might be a little too thin to last long, so you might need to find a thicker graphite.

@tseirhctub 4 года назад

I was going to do this, but think I will go up to propane. Thanks for the info!

@taitelennox4514 7 лет назад

great video by the way

@khalilmunir3071 6 лет назад

Hy today I finished making my cement foundry it looks gud

@gplechuckiii 7 лет назад

I love watching your videos. You get such joy out of discovery. Go look into getting a 100 lb tank. You can pick them up for next to nothing. And around where I live it cost about 35 bucks to refill and will last you awhile.

@PaulsGarage 7 лет назад

Glad you enjoy the videos! :D it's a lot of fun to try all this stuff for sure. I'll look into that, $35 for 100lb sounds like a pretty good deal

@ThePeterDislikeShow 2 месяца назад

I tried the charcoal trick with tin and bismuth but I find it actually makes the slag worse by burning and making the temperature of the pot so much hotter.

@DennisHicks78749 2 года назад

I took a class at Austin Community College on hammer forging copper. Funnily enough, the process is actually called silver smithing, not copper smithing. The class name was Silver Smithing, but all we used was copper. I also took Jewelry fabrication, in which we used silver and gold. The closest we got to silver smithing silver in jewelry fab classes was box making, which was pretty fun. You could pour copper into wire molds and draw wire. You could also put those smaller pieces through a mill and make sheet. But I like the ingots and am thinking of getting into casting copper into ingots and maybe some cool shapes. Ironically, I never took the jewelry casting class because I like fabrication better than casting.

@nandlalchoudhary2579 4 года назад

really a great video it inspired me a lot so i also thought of making it but had a doubt that can i melt steel using a charcoal powered foundry please help me out

@moltenmadness7847 6 лет назад

You should put a lid from a tin to put over the crucible to reduce oxidisation and increase heat

@johnminacapelli9315 5 лет назад

You could try anthracite coal instead of charcoal in your furnace. It burns extremely hot and clean, can get it at some tractor supply stores in bags.

@jagboy69 7 лет назад

Ditch the charcoal paul. Get going on a propane burner and use that welder to make yourself a set of lifting and pouring tongs. I run waste oil personally but propane is easier for short small melts. Quit calling that damn thing a foundry. It's a FURNACE! Your garage/shop is the foundry. Keep up the good work. It's fun watching you progress. See ya over at the avenue.

@PaulsGarage 7 лет назад

You must have read my mind, a propane burner and some lifting and pouring tongs is what i planned on starting this weekend!

@cryophile 6 лет назад

I most definitely need to convert my furnace to propane. I also don't have proper lifting tongs.

@cryophile 6 лет назад

worldtraveler Does waste oil actually end up being free?

@boltonky 5 лет назад

I get all of my waste oil free, best is to go to small auto shops/ post on facebook /auto wreakers. It would really depend on how often you use it, i typically filter it to get big bits out as worse thing is when your oil burner is on then starts spitting flaming oil everywhere cause its jamed

@bigboy501son 2 года назад

@@PaulsGarage Lump charcoal burns way hotter than briquettes. Lump can burn in the range of 1,400 to 2.200 degrees F.

@theshadowponyp1469 7 лет назад

Hey, nice videos Paul :). Love it that you also mention the difficulties with your projects in an ironic way, and don't allways make it sound easy (king od random style ;)). I've watched his videos too and started my own foundry project. Curently i've done aluminum but i want to get into copper and bronze (and cast a sword). A few tips from a fellow melter and engineer: - if you want higher temperatures, you need better insulation. Go for thicker walls and better insulating materials (Plaster and Sand ar better than refractory cement, even if they are less durable) If you want a quick solution, cover your foundry in ceramic wool ;) - if you want a bigger foundry try this: i've made my foundry out of a 12 kg propain gas container. You might get on for free if the certification date has expired. You cut off the top with an angle grinder and you even get a lid complete with handles and all ;)

@PaulsGarage 7 лет назад

Yeah the refractory cement isn't insulating much at all. I'm planning on building a bigger furnace very soon (starting with the burner first) and that will probably bee refractory cement like mizzou surrounded with ceramic wool like you mentioned. It's gonna get really hot in here :P

@renegadesurvivalist_9041 7 лет назад

I saved up for a electric smelter that is big just big enough for my 4kg Crucible. It gets up 2200 degrees in 10 minutes. I plan on testing it out this weekend

@renegadesurvivalist_9041 7 лет назад

Also I planed on doing exactly the same thing you are and making aluminum bronze

@PaulsGarage 7 лет назад

+skullking awesome! Let me know how it works out, aluminum bronze looks like an awesome metal. Be sure to keep track of what percent is aluminum and copper.

@renegadesurvivalist_9041 7 лет назад

Paul's Garage well the mixture II planed on using will be about 90-93% Cu and 7-10% Al per 453.5 grams "about 1lbs" (according to Wikipedia that is called bronzital). I'm using a scale to measure it out both the metals and taking a percentage of the weight to get it right.

@theshadowponyp1469 7 лет назад

Hey, congrads Paul, you have beaten Grant Tompson "The King od Random" to melting copper apparently ^^. He did his first copper melting video a week ago. If this isn't a great incouragement to go back into melting stuff (hint, hint ;)). Also you were more successful than me so far. I tried melting copper the same way you did (coal and air) and somthing did definately melt because i've got a huge chunk of copper stuck to the bottom of my crucible but when i tried to pour it nothing came out^^. I'm currently trying to aquire the parts for Grant Tompsons propane burner build on a budget, but it isn't so easy where I live^^ In the mean time, i'm working on the air flow of my existing furnace. Preheating the ingoing air with the fumes would be great but I haven't come up with a good idear for this, that doesn't include melting my hairdryer. xD

@rubiconoutdoors3492 4 года назад

How many pours do you think you get out of the crucible?

@philiprizek6384 3 года назад

Pretty sure you can get that flux in dry powder in smaller jars or you just heat the rod up a little bit you dip it in then the rod is fluxed or you can get fully flexed rods but that was back in 98 when I was in high school

@danielengland5 7 лет назад

Try using some grill tongs to pick up the crucible and pour. It works great for me.

@PaulsGarage 7 лет назад

good idea, i'll try that with my grill tongs. Copper is denser than iron though so this one gets pretty heavy!

@iplayloud2 6 лет назад

I use charcoal AND vegetable oil. Made a small injector with a mini brass pipe in the blower tube. Makes tons more heat. All hell breaks loose when the veg oil or diesel hits the charcoals..

@PaulsGarage 6 лет назад

huh, that's an interesting idea. never thought of combining fuels.

@Slumberjacksix 6 лет назад

Interesting.

@taitelennox4514 7 лет назад

Yaaaay! Melting copper! time 4 more puns!

@philiprizek6384 3 года назад

I have at least one piece maybe two and a half feet three feet I want to say 10 inch diameter asbestos pipe would that work good for the lining of a forge and can I use asbestos as a crucible I know how to filter air you know pretty sure I know how to put a switch in a extension cord to run a blower on it so I can shut it off from far away

@patsbodyshop 2 года назад

If you take acetylene and put a coating of carbon on the inside of the muffin tray it’ll keep the copper from sticking also.

@mrgreenswelding2853 7 лет назад

i have tried copper in my charcoal foundry and it was hard. i did get something but it started to solidify before i got the crucible out.

@PaulsGarage 7 лет назад

yeah similar thing happened when i tried. I think copper requires an insulated furnace and maybe a longer lasting fuel like coal or even a gas burner

@ELDIESTRODIY 7 лет назад

at 4:00 you have a ghost on your shop that hammer don't stop wandering 😲😲😲

@PaulsGarage 7 лет назад

+EL DIESTRO DIY I have no idea what caused that, but I think I have to move now lol

@jad4148 7 лет назад

good videos man and funny comments. can you make melt iron i am really trying to do that in a while i tried a lots of thing but it's really hard to melt !!

@PaulsGarage 7 лет назад

+Jad S to do iron you need something like a cupola furnace or something very well insulated and an oil burner. I've heard of people using forced air propane burners for iron too, but oil burners are probably better. Check out "fair weather foundry", he does iron.

@jacklong2399 7 лет назад

if I could give a suggestion I would build a small oil burner they put of a lot of heat with little fuel and they are vary simple. I run my foundry with one and I melts within minutes.

@PaulsGarage 7 лет назад

+Jack Long I considered that, but the close proximity of my neighbors means I need as smokeless and scentless as possible. Propane is great for that.

@OmarSlloum 7 лет назад

please try making bronze swords!

@PaulsGarage 7 лет назад

+Omar Salloum I will! I was just reading up on those, did you know the blades were attached to the handles on some of them with rivets? It's crazy. I guess it worked though.

@niclas8591 7 лет назад

Propane is easier and quicker. Waste oil burner has the benefit that you can get free fuel for it from your car when you change the oil. If you befriend the guy who does the service on your car, you can potentially get a limitless supply of furnace fuel.

@PaulsGarage 7 лет назад

Yeah waste oil seems pretty awesome, but the smoke and i assume the smell might not be great for the neighbors. I already have propane for my grill and i can get it 24/7 locally. It's not free, but it'll be available.

@intjonmiller 7 лет назад

FYI, it's not that the charcoal oxidizes preferentially, using up the oxygen. It's that when it oxidizes it produces carbon mon- and dioxide, which prevents the oxygen from getting to the charge. It's a "charcoal cover".

@bigmr1055 7 лет назад

i second waste oil as a fuel source, can burn pretty hot if you get the fuel air mix right... keep up the great work :)

@PaulsGarage 7 лет назад

Waste oil sounds pretty awesome, there are some people using it to melt iron and everything. My only concern is the smell and smoke, i live in a somewhat dense neighborhood and smell and smoke might not make for good neighborly relations. I'll probably go propane. I can get propane 24/7, even if it is more expensive. Most of my 'waste' oil is the stuff that leaks out of my van onto my driveway, probably not that easy to retrieve that and burn it lol. Plus i already have propane for my grill.

@chriscoplan815 4 года назад

How do you use waste oil? I have around 100 gallons

@danielthegermanguy8978 6 лет назад

You need an arc furnace Its just the best smeltery, it can melt steel and even rock

@gramursowanfaborden5820 5 лет назад

my project next summer will be a parabolic solar smeltery that concentrates the power of the sun onto what i want to melt.

@josephcruz2950 3 года назад

What kind of cupcake molds y’all use I searched them up amd they are made of aluminum and tin which all have lower melting then the metals I’m melting

@PaulsGarage 3 года назад

These are steel. But I would recommend not using cupcake molds, make a small ingot tray with angle iron or something. Angle iron is a lot thicker, less likely to braze the copper in place

@nusratdidyouknow Год назад

Can you let me know that how much the time does it take for melting with any mixture like you added that charcol

@PaulsGarage Год назад

No idea, there are too many variables to be able to guess a time.

@claytonrealist8868 6 лет назад

You can get boric acid at your local dollar store (for about a buck) in the form of roach proof or killer. Cheap stuff to use.

@user-fr8jg8pv4d 6 лет назад

Its great! How much time it takes to smelt copper in this way?Is it possible to melt iron in this furnace?

@PaulsGarage 6 лет назад

+Nur Alam Howlader took maybe an hour to get to melting temp, constantly refilling charcoal. This set up won't melt iron. I wish!

@Theo_C 2 года назад

I can melt iron in my furnace similar to this but I used anthracite and no crucible, just chucked in some cast iron and a pool of it formed in the bottom of my furnace

@KurNorock 3 года назад

"Vice grips are not a good tool for moving around a crucible." Good thing you got those Channel Locks then.

@herpmahderpflurpledumunumu7080 7 лет назад

there is a goddamn ghost playing with your hammer at 4:20

@PaulsGarage 7 лет назад

I need to find an exorcist i think. A ghost moving my tools around is gonna get pretty annoying, I hate losing tools. Especially to restless souls.

@ieatbatteries9998 4 года назад

4:20? Must be the weed ghost

@turck_2410 7 лет назад

heat up the muffin pan when u pour liuquid metal so the metal don't look like crap

@Kamal_AL-Hinai 6 лет назад

Turck_24 lol

@mrmonkeyman412 7 лет назад

Also, the reason most briquettes are slow burning is because lime is added. I'm not sure if it's added to the lump briquettes you are using. My forge feels like it doesn't get as hot with lump briquettes, but it get fierce with the regular lump charcoal. I dunno.

@PaulsGarage 7 лет назад

I'm sure the lump briquettes i used also had lime. they got pretty hot, hotter than normal briquettes, but they still left the powder and junk behind that normal lump charcoal doesn't. I definitely didn't look back when I switched to propane, although I do still have quite a bit of regular lump charcoal left. I suppose i could find a use for it.

@JaydenH 7 лет назад

Niceee

@tuxedohampster3843 6 лет назад

try using eucalyptus or mesquite wood chips as charcoal they burn hotter and longer than brickets

@PaulsGarage 6 лет назад

Sounds like they would smell better too.

@christopherevridge455 4 года назад

Burn the coating out of the pan, or even better,use cast iron, heat the iron before pooring, should also heat muffin pan before pooring, gives you a smoother button or ingot

@philiprizek6384 3 года назад

I have a great source for loads of free charcoal depending on your area you can go right down to the local tree down and go look off to the side and their ash pile rake with a square nose shovel square 5 gallon bucket and/or square trash can

@user-bg7co9mf7t 7 лет назад

Yey

@mrmonkeyman412 7 лет назад

Borax is boric acid. The reason your mortar/refractory mix (they are really the same thing) is that you used too much water. The instructions are really wet, as you saw. You need to get it to be the consistency of a light peanut butter, that way the mix will be much more homogeneous and easy to manipulate.

@PaulsGarage 7 лет назад

I think you are exactly right. When i mixed the castable refractory cement, it was soupy. I poured off the watery junk on top, and used the thicker stuff to make the lining of the bucket. Then, i added sand to the soupy junk i poured off and made the lid. Now, the bucket lining is still 100% intact, the lid is flaky on top. Looks like the thicker stuff held up much better. Dropping the lid probably didnt' help, but the top surface flaking off is happening all over the top surface, about 1/8" thick. Under that looks like normal sand, no cracking, so the lid is holding up fine, it just looks ugly.

@EmilReiko 5 лет назад

Are you sure that not fire briquettes? You will get alot more heath with proper charcoal

@armonnaddaf5326 4 года назад

Interesting how hammer flips at 3:54

@paulpfeifferjr6054 6 лет назад

Paul, I am a fan of yours! Bronze is an alloy of copper and tin. just sayin'.

@chaoticchem 5 лет назад

Bronze is a loose term for many different alloys. The other ingredients besides copper can be either be tin, nickle, phosphorus, silicon, aluminum or a mixture of many of any of them.

@Bionicokura 7 лет назад

how was the aluminum bronze made?, the copper is pure or a alloy?

@PaulsGarage 7 лет назад

+bionicokura there are different mixes, just copper with 5-10% aluminum is normal. The copper usually is pretty pure, but there are tolerances for some contamination

@Bionicokura 7 лет назад

Paul's Garage ,thanks for the reply, i am also starting with this awesome hobby, ussualy lost wax metal cast in copper and aluminum, some vids about this are coming on to my channel. you make a great job , congrats, (:

@littlekingcobrasden4217 7 лет назад

Paul, Just curious, I have only seen the texture your ceiling has in two other structures. ( both in illinois, one of them was my grand mothers house before she died ) I tried replicating it in my house more than 8 years ago and failed. recently had a tree fall threw my roof and would like to try that texture again, hopefully with better success. I live in Texas and a friend said he would help me if he had a good photo to study and knew what the texture pattern was called. ( I had a difficult time describing it to him.) wondered if you might could assist with photo & / or name of texture seen over your head @ timestamp 3:13? Ps, you show good forge videos and share tips I had not thought about.

@PaulsGarage 7 лет назад

+Little King Cobras Den I don't have any information about the name or anything of the texture, it was there when I moved in. The previous owner also didn't know anything about it (I know him) when I asked. It's done is plaster or textured paint or something, but I don't really know. If you send me an email or message or something wth your email I can send you some photos of it for reference.

@littlekingcobrasden4217 7 лет назад

ok, cool, how do I find your contact info that I may email you? all I know to find on youtube is this comment area.

@PaulsGarage 7 лет назад

+Little King Cobras Den if you go to my channel page (I think by clicking my name here), then go to the about page, there is a button with email.

@littlekingcobrasden4217 7 лет назад

hope I did it correct. just sent email. (A Cobra is 1 lil King)

@kuigalaxy5226 7 лет назад

i found a sh*t ton of copper pipes in the woods like those u have :D

@PaulsGarage 7 лет назад

+Kui Galaxy nice! Free metal is the best kind of metal :D

@kuigalaxy5226 7 лет назад

yes it is i was so happy when i found it, tmr i am most likely going to melt it with my friend and make some cool objects like weapons :D

@1pcfred 7 лет назад

Yeah a lot of people move on from charcoal. Waste oil looks pretty promising to me. If you can get a supply of waste oil you might consider it. There is someone on RU-vid with the name Oil Burner that has some videos up. He's really big for safety too. So you should check his stuff out.

@jagboy69 7 лет назад

Gudday viewers, how the devil are you? How would you like to have him as a neighbor?

@PaulsGarage 7 лет назад

Thanks! i'll look that up. I was considering waste oil, but i'm not sure it will work out too well in my neighborhood. I'm trying to fly a bit under the radar here and all the waste oil furnaces i see appear to smoke a bit

@scottandersen2770 3 года назад

Guys I need help. I am brand new at this. I built a furnace out of a propane tank, and built a good torch. I couldn't get things hot enough to melt copper, so I added an air blower to it and now it will definately melt copper wire in about 10 minutes. My problem is that when I turn it off, take the lid off, lift the crucible out of the furnace, it hardens before I can get more than about 1/4 of it into my ingot molds. What am I doing wrong? Why is it hardening so quickly? Any ideas? Thanks.

@PaulsGarage 3 года назад

Copper radiates heat very quickly. About the only 2 things you can do are 1: heat it up a couple hundred degrees hotter, and 2: move faster. Be safe and good luck!

@joshrudelic1860 7 лет назад

If you use the propane torch the king of random made, copper melts insanely fast

@PaulsGarage 7 лет назад

His looked pretty fire-tastic, but the air control was a bit janky. I found a much simpler design on backyardmetalcasting.com, video to come.

@joshrudelic1860 7 лет назад

i don't even use the air control and i melt copper, brass, and aluminum just fine.

@mxkko 7 лет назад

You need more air for higher temperatures.

@PaulsGarage 7 лет назад

Yeah i cranked the air at the end to get the copper liquefied. It works better but burns so much faster.

@bilbo_gamers6417 2 года назад

If you can get a foundry to hold a yellow heat, easily achievable with coal (ive accidentally melted more than a few steel parts in my time forging lol), then I'm sure it wouldn't be hard to melt really any cuprous alloy with a bit of time, right? And, if you can get cast iron to yellow heat, you can blow oxygen on it and it'll speed up the melting process. I am interested in making steel by blowing oxygen through pig iron, like in a blast furnace. It seems like nobody has done this though. Is it possible to do that with a foundry like this? You Can melt steel. You just need better fuel, better refractory materials, and better insulation. It is also very dangerous and requires tools for injecting oxygen into the melt. It is expensive and, at the end of the day, cast steel requires a significant amount of working to have the grain be condensed enough and then displaced enough to be strong enough to use it as a hammer.

@PaulsGarage 2 года назад

No idea about steel, but this set up was used later to melt cast iron. There's a video somewhere. It was less than a half hour to go from cold to molten iron. I dont know if it would get that extra bit hotter for steel, but steel casting had more issues that I probably couldn't solve easily

@bilbo_gamers6417 2 года назад

@@PaulsGarage What sorts of issues?

@marmac567 3 года назад

Im amazed if that was copper,,,, mines is almost blinding white before it melts,,, only my aluminium melts at dull red...Its not easy smelting copper,, much respect to those cavemen who did it 4000 years ago with goatskin bellows and mud crucibles.

@Rj-nh1df Год назад

How much energy was used when using hairdryer

@PaulsGarage Год назад

No idea, it was just on blow, no heat

@andrewbenoit5208 3 года назад

What did you make your furnace top out of??? How well has it held up??

@cryophile 6 лет назад

My perlite/castable refractory mix didn't work well. I'm not sure why.

@PaulsGarage 6 лет назад

Huh probably depends on lots of factors, ive never tried it myself

@cryophile 6 лет назад

Paul's Garage there are lots of gaps between the lid and the furnace, and the lid is developing cracks. I'm thinking of getting some of that cement that comes in tubes so I can seal everything up. It's also possible that my charcoal was too fine. This is annoying, because I was really looking forward to melting things down again.

@THE-BIG-JP-REILS 6 лет назад

How much stuff can you stuff in a stuffie until you stuff enough stuff

@PaulsGarage 6 лет назад

+THE-BIG-JP- REILS depends how much stuff is in the stuff and if the stuff is melted and stuff first

@thecrudelab3204 6 лет назад

where did you get your copper???

@PaulsGarage 6 лет назад

+Otago Harbour Fishermen scrap from my dad's attic. Lots of old rotten copper pipe from back in the day when water lines to refrigerators were copper. Copper lines die here from the water, so we replace them with plastic.

@thecrudelab3204 6 лет назад

Paul's Garage lucky

@explosevgamr5349 7 лет назад

what does the flux do/ what is flux

@PaulsGarage 7 лет назад

+explosev gamr flux can do a couple things, sometimes it makes the metal more fluid so it runs into the casting better, sometimes it helps remove impurities, some like cover fluxes prevent air from getting to the molten metal. Fluxes are different depending on what metal you are melting.

@24finder67 6 лет назад

Can charcoal really heat to over 1000 degree?

@PaulsGarage 6 лет назад

Yep, just needs forced air. Charcoal briquettes for grilling are designed to burn cooler and grills restrict air to prevent burning your food, but in a furnace with lots of airflow they burn super hot

@mrbutter8770 7 лет назад

anyone else notice the shaking hammer at 4:10

@PaulsGarage 7 лет назад

no way! i didn't see that before!! my garage is haunted!!!

@h-land2109 2 года назад

i see that you are using grill charcoal dont use that it contains lime therefore it burns at a lower temperature so use natural charcoal and it will melt way easier

@thecrudelab3204 6 лет назад

hm... im not sure thats how oxidation works...

@kovona 6 месяцев назад

Your furnace is probably too small for your crucible, it can't burn enough fuel to heat the crucible to copper melting temperature. Copper needs a lot of heat energy to melt, more than even smelting iron.

@jasonkrohn5416 5 лет назад

Fun fact aluminum from cans is in fact not pure aluminum, for it to be pure it would need to come straight from a smelter where it is made from alumina ore. There are actually a lot of different alloys used to make cans depending on the customer such as H2E which is very soft or H19 I don’t really know what that means or what any of the rest of them are because I’m NOT a metallurgist. I do work for Alcoa and we make aluminum so that means I know something right? Probably not but I know just enough to fake it well. 😂

@PaulsGarage 5 лет назад

Yes that's correct, I made this a long time ago and didnt know what I was talking about. I have since learned cans contain a good amount of manganese and other stuff, but the point is the alloy lacks silicon required for good castings. 👍

@shriterk8995 6 лет назад

You know it's kind of funny to think that 4 thousand years ago people melted copper in a camp fire, and here is a man living in the 21st century is struggling to melt copper, seems about right

@PaulsGarage 6 лет назад

+Shriter K they didn't use camp fires for copper, usually earthen kilns. Dirt is a fantastic insulator

@suddencucumber5994 6 лет назад

isn't it more practical to heat up the crucible first, and only then throw in the copper? it would melt quickly, and not oxidize (at least that works with aluminum).

@PaulsGarage 6 лет назад

+Sudden Cucumber I did it this way because the place that sold me the crucible claimed it helps reduce thermal shock to the crucible and extend life. Your way might be quicker.

@KaiArt-se7br 4 года назад

how many minutes to melt 1kg of copper

@PaulsGarage 4 года назад

Too many variables to give you a time. With charcoal it takes forever, though

@redson1985 5 лет назад

How long to melt that amount of copper?

@leonidasmiglioriniplaster 6 лет назад

I think this coal you use is not good for casting because the coal I use with a very powerful air source I can reach extremely high temperatures in the range of 1500 degrees Celsius because it melted my stainless steel crucible with extreme ease and stainless steel melts at 1450 degrees Celsius I am now using a cast iron crucible and I melt copper with it I can fill the crucible because the copper melts very fast because the crucible gets yellow from hot and I get stuffed and it has 300mL.

@taitelennox4514 7 лет назад

is your pool melting?

@taitelennox4514 7 лет назад

your a pool expert

@PaulsGarage 7 лет назад

nobody likes a frozen pool, that's for sure!

@Locreai 7 лет назад

charcoal does work fine with a real blower,

@soupcansam8957 3 года назад

It will burn hotter with lump charcoal

@gabrielhall6690 6 лет назад

Hey, I can't seem to get my smelter to melt copper. It's not a super small or large smelter and I'm using a steel crucible which I've seen people use before. The most amount of melting I get is is crumpling up, but barely even melting.

@PaulsGarage 6 лет назад

+Gabe Hall copper is tough, lots of it can oxidize easily. What are you using for fuel? Anything like a gas burner needs to be set to run neutral or slightly rich. Also steel might not be a great idea for a crucible for copper melting

@gabrielhall6690 6 лет назад

Paul's Garage I'm using propane. Then I tried a mix of stone coal and propane. That didn't work too well. But I figured out a solution. I'm a welder so I hooked up two carbon rods to my welder, made a crucible from sand stone and melted the copper and made some bronze. Not very cost efficient and not very capable of making large quantities of bronze.

@rafaelgalaz9513 3 месяца назад

Someone watched the king of random haha

@rexczi6299 7 лет назад

0:24 they mesure it in gold

@LoZerofolle96 7 лет назад

your furnace's walls are so thin try to put around the bucket some glass wool

@PaulsGarage 7 лет назад

Thats a good suggestion, i'm probably going to use kaowool insulation for the next furnace i build soon.

@stephen33 5 лет назад

If you get osage wood it might get a bit hotter than oak charcoal.

@PaulsGarage 5 лет назад

Osage is good stuff, hard to come by this far north though

@stephen33 5 лет назад

@@PaulsGarage well maybe in the future. I could send you some. Its everywhere in the midwest. Infact I have a nice sized log of it that has been laying around my house.

@PaulsGarage 5 лет назад

Osage makes for some great bows, ever tried making a longbow from the stuff?

@stephen33 5 лет назад

@@PaulsGarageI haven't ever made a bow. I couldn't tell you if it's any good for it. I have made a handle from it. It's the toughest hammer I have.

@PaulsGarage 5 лет назад

Osage is great for bows, it behaves like english yew, allowing for narrow limbs, unlike most hard woods. Also it's super tough, great for hammers for sure

@andrewvogel5344 5 лет назад

Paul those are channel locks buddy

@ItsMe-io5bl 5 лет назад

If ure using them bricket squashed together shite charcoal try some natural lump wood charcoal, so much hotter. i went wrong using them bbq brickets, plus lumpwood burns a lot cleaner

@PaulsGarage 5 лет назад

I went for propane in the end, much better

@ItsMe-io5bl 5 лет назад

@@PaulsGarage Cheers for reply, i feel privileged to get a response from the actual author! I figured ure now on propane by watchin more of your vids, it does seem the way to go and maybe my next move too...keep up the good work.

@Toadsage82 7 лет назад

why don't you start meeting aluminum and copper with propane power furnace. it would make your fuel consumption much efficient and reliable. plus it would burn hotter

@PaulsGarage 7 лет назад

I'm planning to switch to a burner and a better insulated/bigger furnace pretty soon, just doing research and planning now.

@gonefishing5415 7 лет назад

Well, I guess you know by now

@edgeeffect 6 лет назад

Y'know they managed to melt plenty of copper over charcoal in The Bronze Age, so it's doable.

@PaulsGarage 6 лет назад

+edgeeffect yeah they usually used a kiln with forced air, something buried under a mound of dirt. Dirt is an excellent insulator, cement not so much

@thecrudelab3204 6 лет назад

hey bud you know copper sulphate is sold for much more of a cheap value that copper metal so you can electrolise it ant get PURE copper metal and sulphuric acid :D

@PaulsGarage 6 лет назад

sounds fun, but i don't have a set up to separate copper from copper sulfate. Sulfuric acid would be fun, though :D

@thecrudelab3204 6 лет назад

yuh... i was trying that a cupple of times and it didnt work mainl because i can only make super dilute sulphuric acid or my mixture wont work coz i used a soder that had iron in it ... D: so i guess i need to buy some but nz dosnt sell any

@thecrudelab3204 6 лет назад

@SomethingtoappeaseGoogle-1024 6 лет назад

Root killer sells for $13 and has half a pound of copper in it. Nice try 👌

@phoenixcampagnuolo8375 7 лет назад

using real smithing coal might make it easier, using a hair dryer on low can melt steel no problem

@PaulsGarage 7 лет назад

+phoenix campagnuolo I tried to find some locally but I couldn't, unfortunately. I might get some in the future, though. I built a propane burner and I'm making a new furnace but I'm keeping this one too.