General Categories > Non Gun Stuff
Aluminum melting
unfy:
--- Quote from: Mali on September 14, 2015, 10:01:35 AM ---Unfy,
I haven't had time to try this approach, but this video seems to make a pretty good crucible and foundry that would work better for you:
... snip ...
He found 38-45 cans creates 1lb of aluminum to be sold or used for casting.
--- End quote ---
38-45 cans seems about right going with the 30-50% loss number.
Fire extinguishers were on the list of possible crucibles.
Stainless cook wear is apparently on the list as well.
Car exhaust is another fine possibility that I've not dug into much (mostly due to how do I easily cap one end ?).
Fence posts are a no no (galvanized typically).
What I'll be trying next is one of the blue 14oz propane bottles for torches. Make sure it's empty. Remove the valve while it's underwater. Make sure it gets filled with water so that there can be no gas in it etc. Free to cut with grinder / hacksaw.
Why propane bottle ? I have one. It should fit nicely in the fire chamber. Should be big enough for soda cans. It's not as thick walled as a black iron pipe nipple. And looking at pictures, it's not as thick as a fire extinguisher either. But - I have a spare propane bottle damnit :P.
The coffee cans as air chamber and fire chamber survived with no problems by the way.
A lot of this would be solved with a welder and stock metals, which I don't have access to.
Concerning furnaces & such - there are ALOT of videos out there. There are ALOT of ideas. The ideas about the different insulation is a mix of what they had available, what they wanted to try, and cost stuffs. The different refactories also all have different service lifetimes (plaster of paris is on the shorter end of that list, by the way).
A charcoal base is cheap to build and cheap to fuel for quick one offs. It produces the most ash, which then leads to the most dross / slag / whatever you wanna call it. The amount of air movement also increases surface oxidation of the molten aluminum.
Propane torch + plaster or some other refactory can be built cheaply as well ($60 should get you something decent, $30 is prolly bare bones). I will be building one of these eventually, just for the experience of it. Also seems like less of a hassle than charcoal to use. Oh, it's cleaner than charcoal (concerning crap in the aluminum etc).
Electric - initial heat / warm up takes longer. There's not a huge amount of air flow so there's less oxidation. Electricity is cheap. The build is more complicated, and more costly as well. You're tied to a generator or wall outlet.
--- Quote from: Phantom on September 14, 2015, 02:32:46 PM ---Is it just me ....or
when Unfy posts one of these and then talks about safety. :o
Like me does everyone else look around for Minions ? ;D
--- End quote ---
--- Quote from: Mali on September 14, 2015, 03:48:23 PM ---No, I agree. Unfy talking safety does make me wonder sometimes. :D
--- End quote ---
Bite me, you two :P
I know y'all just giving me a hard time, but the insistence on safety is prolly why I can post here about some the weirder things I do :P
But, at any rate, after I get a few melts down (and there is no snow on the ground) - I'd be willing to show and tell with folks so they can try it out as well.
If I build something that takes a propane torch, I'll post about it as well.
unfy:
Here's the crucible, and the bit of stuff that was in the bottom after cutting it out, etc. There's still a little bit of steel on the puck on the sides.
The bottom didn't leak, but the sides blew out.
The big obvious hole in the side you see in the first couple pics are from when I was actually hitting the side of if afterwards to just clean it up some. It acts just like a can that you recover from a campfire.
The bottom wasn't in too bad of shape compared to the rest of the can.
The puck I'll either keep as a momento or clean up the bit of steel that's still on the sides of it... and re-melt later. It's a hefty little puck. Dunno if that's a good thing or bad, but I swear I see plenty of good metal in it.
Mali:
--- Quote from: unfy on September 15, 2015, 12:45:26 AM ---I know y'all just giving me a hard time, but the insistence on safety is prolly why I can post here about some the weirder things I do
--- End quote ---
And it is the reason I pay attention to what you talk about. Experimenting is great as long as you can live to tell about it.
Some of the greatest disasters have started out with "Hey y'all watch this!" others with "Hold muh beer." :D
unfy:
Cut up the air chamber to get out the glob of stuff in it.
1.41 pounds of relatively clean looking aluminum came out of the bottom of the coffee can.
See pictures. Pencil for scale.
Mali:
How heavy is it and how many cans did it take to get this?
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