after making my small crucibles i needed some slightly bigger.
i bought a no2 clay graphite pot but i dont want to use it! anyway... i had some gouging rods i got to make a carbon arc furnace (still researching) so i ground them up! i also had a small container of graphite powder (50 grs) so... i soup tin of ground up firebrick... 1/3 of a tin of ground up graphite rods......1 can of fireclay... 3 teaspoons of potash and 50 grs of graphite powder mixed as a clay!! i formed these up by hand just piching the "clay" between my fingers. i als did a "standard" fireclay/grog mix for comparison.
im most impressed but i think more graphite is needed. i broke one! the xxxxxxxbrass tap slipped as i was topping up!i will regrind it...add more graphite and clay...
these castings are heavy 1.4 kgs each ...each casting was a crucible full!
the clay pot... i didnt try it with brass but tried aluminium in it! i only had it in the furnace for 6 minutes and the metal was melted.
upon cooling the pot split in two! it was very hard to mold it and mix kept "splitting" so i wasnt surprised when it split in two!
on the other hand the graphite "clay" was like putty...very smooth and easy to work. i plan to make some big 4 inch ones for aluminium in the future.
I just haven't had anything that big to pour yet. I will have to use one for a verticle flask pattern I've been working on.
