Metal Casting Zone

Ok ... ran the furnace this Saturday. It was my daughters 3 year birthday, my mom's birthday too! (Don't ask what year she celebrated ... she may be reading this! ) Anyways, what better way to celebrate than to set something on fire!!!

So I preheat my newly hack-sawed FatBoy propane crucible in the furnace.
I'm not sure on how much charcoal to use ... so I made a nice bed of it in the bottom. Set the crucible on the charcoal. Poured more charcoal around the crucible to stabilize it from falling over. I dropped an AL nail into the crucible so it wouldnt be a completely dry run. I turned on the blast and controlled the speed with the router speed controller.

Wow that thing got hot! The crucible was glowing bright yellow orange in about 5 minutes. Then there was hiss/flash sound .... (like flash powder burning) ... there was a visible white flash also. The next thing I knew, I had a gaping hole in my steel crucible.
WHAT HAPPENED???

Here is a pic. You can see the hole and a little shinny hardened droplet of Aluminum. I've also made sure a that a new FatBoy tank was in the pic for comparison.
http://i589.photobucket.com/albums/ss333/firestix/Crucible.jpg

Too hot. Turn down your air blast, and if you can't, make a dump gate for excess air. You made what was in effect a cutting torch, and burned the steel in the crucible. Yes, charcoal will do that. Odds are, if you had more aluminum in the crucible, it may not have failed as fast, the aluminum would have been a very effective heat sink. You don't need much air at all, a hair dryer will do it for a furnace of that size.

Ahh ... that makes sense!
Thanks ... I'll post video of the first pour.

congratulations on your first melt!!! lol lol
atleast you know you can get the heat up

great to see you having a go!! "mistakes are only made by those that try" fill the crucible with metal ! the metal is only thin and will bern out very quick. start with a slow fire and "bring it up to heat"

PM me with you address and ill send you a 304 ss crucible. Youll have a little harder time melting thru it.

ok Fire stix, All done. Ill put it in the mail tomorrow
hope you dont mind the nut, the tab on the bottom is a pain in the butt, no only welding around it but also when you go to hook it...

that looks awesome ... what's the dimensions?

Its 3.5" x 6.75" but you will only be able to fill it to 5.5"

thats great! what about the lifting tool and pouring iron? second thoughts it would make a great welding project.