Metal Casting Zone

Ok I did it! In a campground in Texas.....I got a large earthenware flowerpot and a bag of charcoal, I already had a bunch of cans. I evacuated one of those green disposable propane tanks, and cut the top off. I made a pouring spout and painted the inside with a stove cement graphite mixture- my crucible. After cutting a 2" hole in the side of the pot I discovered I did not have the fan I thought I had. so I stoked up the charcoal (natural not briquets) in the flower pot. I put a few cans in and within minutes they were melting -just with a wind blowing in the hole. Then lesson #1---The flower pot split - couldn't take the heat. Transferred the coals and crucible into an open mesh charcoal burner, and in an hour I melted about 50 cans!!! Poured it into a square muffinn pan and got my first ingot....and a lot of slag.
Now I have to go buy more beer so i can drink to celebrate and get more cans - this foundry stuff is hot dry work.
It was crude but I managed a pour, and got rid of a bag of cans, my wife is delighted and surprised - until now she was a non-believer...
Cant wait ti get home and get my furnace built next month.
Sparky

That has to be a first!!! "Campground Casting Canadian Cowboy in Texas"

Couldn't you get your wife to let you use her Blow dryer? They work great, my wife get's a new one about once a year because I burn her old one up. I don't mind especially after one of her old ones shorted out and blew fire and sparks onto her head Luckily her hair was wet, so no damage, but OOOHH the language.

Congrats. Nice work.

Yeah, a hair dryer is all you need in terms of forced air. My first crucible was also a cut-open propane bottle. Since then I have "moved up" to a pipe-nipple-with-end-cap because when I was pushing the upper limits of my little furnace, I melted out some brazing in the propane bottle and lost my melt to the fire!

I keep a thrift store serving spoon (stainless steel) on hand for scraping all that nasty dross off the top of the melt.

Also, I've heard that beer cans are made out of almost pure aluminum which isn't always the best for casting, but great for bulking up your other alloy - so you might try some alloy from an old lawn chair or whatever other aluminum scrap you can find and maybe avoid some of the problems of pure aluminum - whatever they are. The alloy looks like regular ol' aluminum, but supposedly has some other metals in there that improve the castability and/or strength.

Have fun!

Thinking of building a furnace?

The homemade version is not as good as the manufactured stuff so I recommend that you buy the refractory. The furnace requires 1,598 cubic inches of refractory to complete it. The brand that I've have good experience with is called Kast-o-lite 26LI. It is rated to 2,600 degrees F. and is good for melting aluminum, brass and/or bronze. Two 55 pound bags are needed to fill the furnace and you'll have a little left over. If you intend to melt brass/bronze regularly then go with a refractory rated to 3,000 degrees F. This refractory is more dense so three bags are needed to fill the furnace (you'll a little left over)

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