Metal Casting Zone

The Ferro-Silicon helps make the pour more fluid, it's just to help replace any Si that is burned of during the melt. The Fluorspar is the flux, it will lower the sulfur content and help remove other impurities. Lime stone out of your driveway would do about the same thing, just make sure it's dry before you drop it in the melt.
The carbon on top is to help the slag form and keep Oxygen from contacting the melt. I do the same when I melt Brass. You could use powdered charcoal for this, too. I think some people use glass but, for me, that usually ends up a big mess in the crucible.

thanks for the info

Jammer wrote:
The Ferro-Silicon helps make the pour more fluid, it's just to help replace any Si that is burned of during the melt. The Fluorspar is the flux, it will lower the sulfur content and help remove other impurities. Lime stone out of your driveway would do about the same thing, just make sure it's dry before you drop it in the melt.
The carbon on top is to help the slag form and keep Oxygen from contacting the melt. I do the same when I melt Brass. You could use powdered charcoal for this, too. I think some people use glass but, for me, that usually ends up a big mess in the crucible.very interesting info. ive been experimenting with charcoal on top of the melt and have been wondering if its worthwhile. i have noticed that the metal seems easier to pour (more fluid). apart from that im not sure.

I am interested in this too. One day that is my goal... to be able to pour iron.

It's finally starting to warm up here, I'm coming out of hybernation.
My son is chomping at the bit, he wants to melt some Iron. His name is Aaron so he thinks he can change his name to Iron, he's 14. We are breaking off smaller parts of an old printing press to use in the furnace.

I could bust the whole thing up. I wonder how long it would take me to melt 3000 pounds of Iron.

this will be interesting. the iron in the press. has it got a nice fine grain?????

It seems to be some very nice cast iron. I used it on the first melt. I'm mostly using thin sections that are easy to break up, I think they may have higher silicon for flow. Some peices are only about 1/4" thick. I took off a gear cover today that's about 20# all very thin. It's what you see in the picture to the far right hand side.

i think the iron in that cover would be nice and fine. ive noticed on some broken cast iron toys i have which are only about 1/8 thick ,the grain is so fine that i have to put my "extra thick" glasses on to see it!

Congrats on your first iron pour. here's some useful information (hopefully)

For iron flux you can use limestone, or oyster shells (both calcium carbonate). I'm not sure how you'd go about adding them, as i've never done iron in a crucible furnace. Probably just layer a bit into the crucible with your iron.
I'll double-check on the ratio and post that later.

It is extremely important to use flux when doing an iron melt, otherwise you'll end up with alot of crap in your metal that can make brittle spots, surface imperfections or block the flow of metal all-together when you pour.

The other obstacle in using a crucible furnace for Fe is the necessity of the carbon monoxide reaction in the reduction of iron into its molten state.

In a traditional cupola or cupolette furnace, coke serves the dual function of providing the heat and adding carbon into the mix.

at the molecular level, the iron reaction is basically as follows:

the coke reacts with oxygen from your blower to create carbon monoxide, and the carbon monoxide then reacts with the iron to liquefy it, the byproduct is CO2

the limestone in the mix will bind with impurities, principally silicates, and will float to the top as slag.

the problem with a crucible furnace, is that you don't get the natural addition of carbon from the fuel, and therefore get an incomplete or insufficient CO reaction to melt the iron. This could be easily overcome by adding some powdered graphite to your melt.

on another note, wait till your iron is cool before you demold it. if you bust it out too early you'll get white iron. white iron is bad, super-hard and is nearly impossible to cold-work, it'll ruin your tools.

The addition of Ferrous Silicon will also help the structure if the iron form a more uniform structure as it cools, which will make it less brittle, and easier to work.

keep us posted on future melts.

cooooool!!!