Have we discussed foundries?

I needed something to do while taking a break from cutting sheet metal for my powerwheels project (carpal tunnel.. not fun) so i went on youtube to look for bad ideas. I then made a small metal foundry in my garage. With it, i created a puck of aluminum from some scrap Al sheet and a chunk of cast aluminum from a destroyed washing machine:

I poured it into a muffin tin that i totally had permission from the missus to destroy.

The Al melting and pouring went well, though i'm slightly confused about fluxing and degassing. The sand casting book i read was a bit heavy on the sand molds and stuff, and very light on the melting section, so i'm still mostly confused.

The Al melting would have been exciting, except it came after a failure to melt copper. Copper has a much higher melting temperature, but it has the benefit of me having a e36m3-ton of it. How do i get more heat?

For my foundry design, I basically followed a youtube video called "Making the mini metal foundry" or something similar. Mine is a bit bigger because the bucket at menards was a little bigger. I'm using hardlump charcoal for heat, hairdryer for added air. The main problem i had was getting hot enough before running out of fuel. The crucible (bottom of a fire extinguisher) is a bit bigger than it should be and i can't fit much charcoal around it, so by the time i get it and the copper inside up to yellow-hot, it runs out of charcoal inside and i have to open it up and add more. During this and the light off it cools down to red, then the process starts over.

I got a smaller, actual clay graphite crucible, so i'm hoping it will allow me to fit much more charcoal around it. Also i hear the steel crucibles tend to have a short life before they get leaky. Has anyone done much of this? Any tips?

I just wnat to make small stuff that looks cool, i'm not going to make anything load bearing/pressure holding. There might be a bunch of little detail pieces for the jeep project made out of all of this Al i have laying around, but i'm not done cutting out all the sheet, so i'm not going to get ahead of myself. I do kinda want to use the copper for a few xmas gifts, though, so i would like to get some successful copper melting action.

Aha, so that's what you were up to.

Following

I used to hang out in a foundry when I worked at my uncles restoration shop. Some impressive stuff that they would make and then I would polish and install on some customers car.

My great grandfather worked in a foundry his entire career pouring valves at Crane Valves in Chicago.

I have my dad's report cards from Lindblom High School in Chicago from 1950-1953 and he took a semester class titled; "foundry".

I poured aluminum belt buckles in 1976-1977 at the foundry we had at our high school in metals class.

I think there is an app on the ipad for a foundry for kids today.

my late nephew used to have his own foundry in the back yard of my sister's house. He loved to make things out of metal. He was only 14 when he went, so do not be too hard on the kids, there are some out there doing stuff we love

Like to build something like this for a backyard foundry:

https://www.youtube.com/embed/NbvgTYotK8E

Researched before, there is tons of info online and YouTubes for the DIYer. Castable refractory in a JY steel shell... 30 gal grease drum? There are plans for propane or NG burners. Don't berkeley around, purchase the crucible. Fab your own tools.

Muffins first but the goal is plaques and maybe license plates in aluminum, bronze later. 3-D router come in handy there.

Too busy now, be a great retirement project tho.

If you have a lot of aluminum and are bored, do this. Really cool!

https://youtu.be/IGJ2jMZ-gaI

I think z31maniac has one. Shoot him a PM. I also have a copy of the Metal Casters Bible I'll send you for the cost of shipping if you want.

I've been kicking around this idea for a long time. Just waiting for the right enabler to push me over the edge. I think I may have found my newest winter project now.

In reply to Toyman01:

PM incoming, thanks!

I tried again today to do some copper in my new, smaller graphite crucible. It started melting, but the hard lump charcoal blows sparks and chunks out the opening of the foundry (I hear this is normal), some of which falls in the crucible which contaminates the copper in the bottom. I got some briquettes advertised as "better airflow, higher temperatures" to try again next time. I read the briquettes burn cooler and slower and don't blast sparks everywhere, but perhaps the hotter burning ones with more air can be made hot enough to met copper. If not, I can still use them on aluminum.

Speaking of aluminum, I did a bunch of watching of YouTube, specifically a guy called "MyFordBoy" who casts miniature steam engines for train models that actually work. It looks like he uses washing soda for degassing (removing dissolved hydrogen) and a salt mix (lite salt) as a flux for aluminum. His castings look good so I'm going to try copying that process.

Today all I got was a small, nasty lump of molten copper from some old pipe, and a few more muffins of aluminum. Still far from the muffins of copper I want, but I know I can melt it at least, so all I need is some refining of my process I think.

In reply to RevRico:

If i can help with the enabling like a good member of this community, check this out:

https://www.youtube.com/embed/hHD10DjxM1g

Also, the recently released companion video:

https://www.youtube.com/embed/l2FuvKTyRMQ

And as someone who just built one, i can tell you it really is as easy as the video makes it out to be. For aluminum. Still working on the copper, but aluminum melts like butter and in short order, too.

I'm one of the last shop teachers in my district who still does casting. I intend to build my own foundry before I retire.....

I drop a salt pellet in the aluminum before melting. I bought a bag of water softener salt - enough to last a millennia, one pellet at a time.

Once it's all melted, I just "cover" the aluminum with Borax, then push it down to the bottom with a fab'd pusher-down-inator. It will bubble.

Then I scoop all the crap out of it with a fab'd scooper-out-inator.

Seems to work fine, but I don't cast engine blocks.

A cautionary note: moisture is the devil here. Make sure you pre-heat anything before you plunk it in the molten aluminum. You're looking at close to 2000°. Water doesn't have a sense of humour there.

If you're using Green Sand (as opposed to Petrobond Sand), you need to make sure the sand is not too wet as well.

I love casting.

Thanks for the tips! I have borax and water softener salt, though the softener salt is currently occupied in my softener... I need to buy a bunch more anyway. I saw some videos using table salt, and losalt (mix of table salt and some other salt) though i don't know the reason for the difference.

I do not have a scooper-out-inator, just a spoon. I need to make a pusher-down-inator and probably a crucible-lifter-pourer-inator as well...

I don't plan on doing engine blocks or really anything load bearing or liquid containing in any way. All mainly smaller stuff to look at and be shiny. I like shiny things.

I have a box of petrobond sand, got a pretty cheap price on some of it. Cheaper than some green sand by the pound, though i really haven't done anything with any kind of sand casting. I went with petrobond basically because it was cheaper, i saw a bunch of people using it successfully, and i figure it removes one variable (me not knowing how to mix sand).

Also i love how this isn't as painful as hand cutting sheet steel. The jeep project is going slowly, about at the rate i can cut out parts without my wrists trying to kill me. I'm thinking the hood hold down hooks and maybe small details will look really nice in polished aluminum

I don't know much about foundries but maybe burning anthracite would get you the temperature for copper.

I hadn't thought of that, but that's a good idea. The lump charcoal got hot enough but it spewed so much junk that it filled the crucible with crap on top of the copper. I saw another video where someone uses briquettes to do brass, and copper isn't much hotter. I'll give that a go first and look into anthracite. All this charcoal I'm buying is gonna force me to buy a charcoal grill!

I did buy a small grill grate I could put on top of the foundry, but a lot of metals give off fumes when they melt and when impurities burn. I bet I could cook over it when I'm not doing any meting, though, just don't crank the air or I'd have crispy black steak!

In reply to Rufledt:

I watched those videos last night. I'm setting up an Amazon shopping list...

All this talk with charcoal though has me wondering if I could just put a crucible inside my charcoal chimney. I don't have thermometers and reasons, just anecdotal evidence that the chimney burns hotter through design, and looking at the plaster/sand foundry, it seems similar enough in design, even having a big area to push air into to raise the heat... I'll have to give that a shot when the snow goes away.

Just a hunch i shouldn't do this stuff inside.

This while thread is very relevant to my interests... I feel the need to subscribe.

Rufledt wrote: I needed something to do while taking a break from cutting sheet metal for my powerwheels project (carpal tunnel.. not fun) so i went on youtube to look for bad ideas. I then made a small metal foundry in my garage. With it, i created a puck of aluminum from some scrap Al sheet and a chunk of cast aluminum from a destroyed washing machine:

You my good Sir... sound like you need a "Beverly Shear". Tin snips is not for us old folks!

On a separate note, how "Neighbor Friendly" is this forge stuff? I go to considerable effort to fly under the radar with the car hobby and that includes both sound and smell that could irritate anyone.

Check out Brian Oltrogge on the YouTubes, too. He has some very good casting videos in which he breaks down the process nicely. Really, it will just make you want to buy Petrobond and skip Sodium Silicate altogether.

I've slowly been collecting the parts for a propane powered furnace, but the electric one that The Art of Weapons kid made peaked my fancy. Especially since electric heat is about 50% of my day job and most of that setup would be free to me.

Ho..leee...crap...how have i not seen this thread yet.

http://www.alloyavenue.com

Everything you ever wanted to know about backyard metalcasting. Its the only other forum on the net that I would put up against GRM in terms of the quality of the audience. Really great people who want nothing more than see strangers succeed at a common passion. I post there a lot (not so much lately, but over 3600 posts...I like casting)

Read this: ONLINE FOUNDRY TUTORIAL BOOK - This is that forum's s how-to tutorial that basically could get you up and running, using pretty solid techniques, from nothing. Covers everything from foundry design, fuel selection, tooling, PPE, process and precautions. It was written by an engineering student who has done some incredible things - converting an S10 to a total EV is just the starting point - he is one of us in spirit.

Now, some bragging...

My Foundry - I probably have a total of $25 in this ...Scrounging is your friend. Knowing the best sources is even friendlier! I prefer using a 60:40 mix of Kerosene and Waste Motor Oil as fuel. Once its hot enough, theres nearly no smell, the fuel is almost entirely combusted, and whats left is actually not much worse than a diesel truck.

Liquid Aluminum (using previously cast scrap is a sure fire recipe for a good pouring alloy)

a MAF Adapter I made for a cone filter in my G20

Some links to more of my shenanigans

My Burner Adventures
Building a nearly free ultra-hi temp furnace
Makign your own Refractory Crucibles

As part of our machine shop class in college (to become a shop teacher) in 1965 we had to make all the castings for a bench grinder which we would machine and assemble over the course of the semester.

The patterns were already made, but we had to ram the flasks, melt the metal(aluminum) and pour the castings.

That grinder is still running just fine today.

In reply to NOHOME:

If i'm an old folk, then i'm in real trouble! I think my problem is mainly due to living on a computer for my whole life up until the point that i now spend 55+ hours a week with screw drivers and stuff. The benefit is this job i have seems to pay well enough i could save up for a decent beverly shear before too long. I do most of the cutting with the electric shears but those can't do the detailed stuff. Plus they take out a 1/4" strip so i cant make a 'cut' without making a 'strip'. Still, they work pretty nice for what they do.

The mini foundry would be quite neighbor friendly with charcoal briquettes i think. The hard lump charcoal i got shoots showers of sparks out the top, but the smoke level is near imperceptible once it's fired up. The sound is barely louder than the hair dryer I use. The air rushing through inside makes a mild jet engine type noise, but honestly the hair dryer is the loudest part. Sounds like someone blowing leaves really far away. I haven't noticed a smell, but it probably akin to a charcoal grill but without the tasty, tasty steak smell.

In reply to Burrito:

I liked that video, too. Good idea using electricity, i bet there isn't nearly the amount of cleanup required.

In reply to 4cylndrfury:

That's amazing! I've been reading through alloyavenue.com for a little while trying to figure out what to do and it has been extremely helpful so far. I should probably sign up for that. Looks like you have quite a nice set up there!

In reply to Hal:

I hadn't thought of using castings to make tools, but that opens a lot of possibilities! Watching some videos of people milling their castings makes me want to get a lathe, but one thing at a time. I don't even have a welder yet!

I've wanted to try this for a while myself. I've been hoarding some scrap aluminum and other metals for when I finally try it.

Hal, I love that grinder - great job! They dont build em like they used to