Metal Casting Zone

Can I use stainless steel to make a crucible for aluminum only?

I wouldn't see why you couldn't.

I use 316 ss crucibles for aluminum and brass and bronze they have been holding up just fine.

You can, but the stainless part does nothing to help you. At temp, the oxide layer that makes it "stainless" goes away, so it adds nothing to the longevity of the crucible. Mild steel or black iron would hold up just as well. If you can find one, a cast iron pot will outlast anything that you could weld up out of steel. The carbon content and crystal structure of cast iron helps it resist the corrosive effects of molten aluminum. Steel works, it just wears out quicker.

Im not so sure about that odduck, I had used a piece of steel pipe and it quickly erroded away and would flake apart into the melt, where the 316 does this also it is to a much lesser extent.