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Aluminum melting
Phantom:
--- Quote from: unfy on September 15, 2015, 12:45:26 AM ---Quote from: Phantom on September 14, 2015, 02:32:46 PMIs it just me ....or when Unfy posts one of these and then talks about safety. Like me does everyone else look around for Minions ? Quote from: Mali on September 14, 2015, 03:48:23 PMNo, I agree. Unfy talking safety does make me wonder sometimes. Bite me, you two 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 ---
It's a Dirty Job.........but someone has to poke you from time to time :o :laugh:
unfy:
It was time to try again.
Went to thrift store, picked up a couple steel / stainless things to make crucible out of. Also cut a 14oz propane tank in half.
Went through two crucibles and they both had blow outs.
No, I'm not jabbing them with anything.
No, I didn't press the cans down into the pot.
I'm a bit at a loss. I *might* try again tomorrow, I dunno. Getting a bit discouraged as to what I am doing wrong.
addenum
Off to the hardware store to build the 'king of random' furnace. Maybe the melts are taking too long which is causing problems.
Mali:
--- Quote from: unfy on September 19, 2015, 02:37:29 PM ---Went through two crucibles and they both had blow outs.
No, I'm not jabbing them with anything.
No, I didn't press the cans down into the pot.
--- End quote ---
Perhaps the heat isn't high enough to quickly melt the metal so you are keeping it at heat for too long? Or maybe the crucibles are too thin for the heat you are using?
unfy:
--- Quote from: Mali on September 19, 2015, 04:58:00 PM ---Perhaps the heat isn't high enough to quickly melt the metal so you are keeping it at heat for too long? Or maybe the crucibles are too thin for the heat you are using?
--- End quote ---
Too thin is a possibility, but I don't think so. The bean can lasted a little while, the first crucible today lasted a good 45-50min.
But, 50min ... that's like, 2-3 times too long compared to videos, hence thinking that maybe it's too long / need to insulate / whatever. With the crucible being in direct contact with the coals, they prolly take a lot of abuse, while the aluminum is slightly insulated.
Also, I never really got to the point of where cans would just disappear directly into the Al pile, even with a decently melted pot cleaned of dross, it was still kinda "meh". So I'm really thinking a 'better' furnace would really help out a lot.
The King of Random / Plaster of Paris bucket furnace - he got all his parts from Home Depot btw :D
I had stopped at menards to pick up some stuff (it's by work, etc) ... the metal pail they have is 12qt not 10qt. Went ahead and grabbed the pail, 1x12 black iron pipe nipple (it'll be directly in heat, so no galvanized plz), pvc & adapter, play sand, u-bolts. Also nabbed a 3" pvc coupler for the lid hole (instead of drilling it, although I believe I have a 3" hole saw). Didn't see any 2.5qt buckets. The Bellevue Menards also doesn't appear to carry the 25 lb bags of PoP. Weird. Site and App says they do, but it aint there.
Went to Home Depot in Papillion. Wandered around a bit, found some buckety things, and noticed a 2.5qt blue bucket. Kinda near it, found the 10qt steel pail and grabbed it as well (will return the 12qt). Wandered around some more, looking for PoP (and maybe 'fire clay'). Didn't have much luck, pulled up the App. Stuck 'plaster of paris' into it, and clicked on the 25lb bag.
What were the other suggested items from the app ?
The 2.5qt bucket.
The 5qt wide mouth bucket.
4" U-bolts
Play Sand
etc
I actually started laughing in the store.
Papillion had 2 bags of PoP, I bought one. They didn't have the 5qt wide mouth bucket. I'll just use some kind of substitute.
I am *really* tired (been up 20hrs or so)... gonna prolly just do the furnace build tomorrow while at work casting bullets and try aluminum again sometime throughout the week or next weekend.
I have a SS cup thing that is a bit on the skinny side of things but has a decent thickness, but it might work as a crucible. A second thrift store hunt netted some pewter for lead alloy, but no other crucible possibilities.
I'll prolly also grab another bean / soup can as well.
Walmart did have an 18oz SS camping cup that was fairly wide mouthed but not very tall.
edited to fix some typos ... also, I appear to not have a 1-3/8 hole saw so will add that to my shopping list tomorrow
unfy:
So.... the build has started, and has been taking far longer than expected... mostly because of me and not having the tool(s) I thought I did.
Anyway...
10qt pail, blue bucket. Used sand as my filler, it was heavy enough it didn't try to float as much as video's did.
I did the 21/21/15 mix as suggested in King of Random's youtube video - but my play sand was already wet so.... I ended up adding some extra plaster to help thicken it a bit more / quicker.
The mix was in a 5 gal bucket to begin with, after I had all the chunks broken up and was mixing it for a bit, poured it into the 10qt pail. It was taking a long time to begin to set, so I kept mixing it. From a tactile view, this seems really important - continuing to mix it up until a bit before it's ready to set helps to keep the plaster / sand mixture more homogeneous. Otherwise, the sand will just settle at the bottom.
The lid was a 10" plant / pot thing from garden section of menards. Cost a buck. The middle was ... I believe a 1 liter diet pepsi bottle. The middle section of this bottle is 3" in diameter, making it good as a middle form. Used some packing tape along the inside to tape it down (stop leaks, keep it in place, etc). The bottle is flimsy, so heads up on shape.
I mixed this as 10/10/6.5 since the sand was already wet. I ended up with about a half gallon left over. I wonder if this means my lid isn't as thick as the videos or what. Then again, my bucket is also fuller than the videos. Shrug. It set quicker due to less water, which is nice because mixing it in the bucket before pouring it into the form is easier than trying to keep it agitated in the form. The nuts in the U bolts are holding the bars about in the middle of the plaster. I tried to keep the u bolts lifted so the bare metal wasn't exposed on the bottom of the lid. We'll see how well I did after a while :).
It's about time to remove the bucket and maybe drill the hole.
addenum: the pepsi bottle was used instead of the 3" coupling because the coupling has an OD of like 4".
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