First ingot from home made forge

[Lorgar]

First aluminium ingot

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Isn't he cute

Finally got to fire up the new home made forge today. Finished it days ago but s**ty Melbourne weather put a stop to using it.

Went the DIY option. This is it... First picture open, second with a lid (still to be cleaned up a bit) to trap heat around the crucible but let me drop metal in for melting, or hold in for forging.

Made of plaster of paris and sand mix in a galvanized steel bucket.

Blower is made from a hair dryer just the fan and the body, no heating element and fed power by an old hard drive power supply.

Crucible is a coffee milk jug.

Casting the ingots in a muffin tray.

Fuel is charcoal briquettes heat on the bbq, light with gas torch then just fed air by the blower.

Forge

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forge lid

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forge blower

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crucible

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Not bad for $60 of stuff.

Bit of fun doing it all, super satisfied to cast the first ingot.

More to come

Edit: Here it is in action. Just dropped the ali bars in after the crucible began glowing.

[Lorgar]

Didn't say... Forge is cold in the photos obviously. Will post back with some of it in action next time I fire it up.

[Noisydad]

Well done! The first steps are a bit daunting but no one started out an expert and my self taught apprenticeship is continuing and slow. A price of rusty steel pipe with a bottom welded in, a pouring spout hammered in and lifting lugs welded on makes a good crucible for Al. Needs to be rusty to protect the steel from molten Al which will dissolve clean steel with prolonged exposure. I've used one for twelve years with success.

[newsteadvic]

Looks great. What is the project you are aiming to cast?

[Gwion]

Hey. Good one!
Slowly working on a similar project for blade making.

One word of caution. Make sure that Gal bucket doesn't get hot and ensure excellent ventilation. If burnt, gal can give off lethal fumes!!!!

Hence i'm using a stainless rubbish bin, $30 from Bunnings, for the outer case of mine.

[Guliver]

How many cans are in your ingot?. Just presuming your using cans.

[on_one_wheel]

Nice work.

I spent some time in a big aluminum foundry 20 years ago and among many things one thing that sticks in my mind is the extreme explosive potential with molten aluminum if it comes in contact with water, foundries have been leveled by such accidents. Be carefull with that.

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[franc]

You get that heat out of a bucket

[Lorgar]

A price of rusty steel pipe with a bottom welded in, a pouring spout hammered in and lifting lugs welded on makes a good crucible for Al. Needs to be rusty to protect the steel from molten Al which will dissolve clean steel with prolonged exposure. I've used one for twelve years with success.

A heavier crucible is definitely on the list.

I found the thin milk jug passes the heat too quickly. To an extent it's going in the bottom and out the top, the sides are relatively cool which I expect will hinder melting larger quantities.

If I can find someone to weld a pipe for me that would be fine, otherwise I have a small fire extinguisher which I'll saw the top off of to make a one.

[Lorgar]

Looks great. What is the project you are aiming to cast?

I really started on this just to give it a try. Saw a video on YouTube of a 'soup can forge' and thought it was neat.

Not into casting my own ammo. Going to give a few curios a go... Thinking a chess piece, a shot glass, that sort of thing with the aluminium.

Heating steel to forge a blade is a definite.

[Lorgar]

One word of caution. Make sure that Gal bucket doesn't get hot and ensure excellent ventilation. If burnt, gal can give off lethal fumes!!!!

I wasn't aware of that, thanks.

On the plus side, have only been working outside with this and will continue to do so in future so no worries there.

[SendIt]

You get that heat out of a bucket

The sand is what's trapping the heat, rather than the bucket.

Force feed the hot coals lots of oxygen with the fan and watch the temperature rise.

[Lorgar]

Nice work.

I spent some time in a big aluminum foundry 20 years ago and among many things one thing that sticks in my mind is the extreme explosive potential with molten aluminum if it comes in contact with water, foundries have been leveled by such accidents. Be carefull with that.

Thanks OOW.

Will be sure to keep the water bottle far away

[hootshoot]

Isn't he cute

What's his name?

[Lorgar]

How many cans are in your ingot?. Just presuming your using cans.

I did to start.... Not sure using cans in future though.

Maybe I just didn't have enough but on my initial burn to cure the forge I put 6 or 7 cans in. There was about 2 tablespoons of liquid aluminium and a fist full of debris. Paint, ink, whatever else is in a can.

More crap than aluminium making it hard to see what was happening. For the first real run I picked up a aluminium tube from Bunnings for $2. 1 tube = the ingot you see there.

There is a smelting place near me that sells various metals including aluminium in crude bars intended for machining. Going to save up a bunch of cans and see how it goes, and check out that place for buying some cheap ali in rough bars if possible.

A few people doing chuck-outs for council collection here at the moment. Picked up an aluminium shower rod and curtain rings from the side of the road so that should keep be busy for a while

[Guliver]

You may be able to purchase scrap aluminium from your local scrap dealer.

I used to buy useful materials from one in Seaford, purchase price was just the scrap price plus a bit, can't remember exactly but it was cheap. I've bought scrap copper wire and odds and sods of aluminium in tubing and other things that were useful to me.

[ailar]

Pretty damn good for the few bucks spent

[keen]

So how hot can you get the sucker?

Looked up aluminium is 660c melting point, pretty high for a bucket

How high can you go?

[lole]

FYI some pretty cheap ones on ebay if they're suitable.

Stuff like this, $29 for the largest. Search and it'll come up with latest listing.

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[Noisydad]

Automotive scrap is a way better source of Al than cans as they have to much surface area (for crud) for the volume of metal you get. Extrusions are only a little better. Been using a pistons, heads, manifolds etc. for a better yield.

[Lorgar]

Automotive scrap is a way better source of Al than cans as they have to much surface area (for crud) for the volume of metal you get. Extrusions are only a little better. Been using a pistons, heads, manifolds etc. for a better yield.

Yeah the cans were not worth using in my (novice) opinion.

Need to formulate a list of likely sources for materials and check a few scrap yards to see if any will sell direct.

[Lorgar]

While I think of it, any suggestions on which casting sand to get Noisy?

[rainwalker]

Very impressed you can get those temperatures out of a few nick-knacks from Bunnings.

[Lorgar]

So how hot can you get the sucker?

Looked up aluminium is 660c melting point, pretty high for a bucket

How high can you go?

Just judging by the colour of the crucible glow (after Googling to see what means what) the base of it is about 900c. That's quite concentrated in about the bottom 1/3 of the forge but it's obviously a lot cooler in the upper 2/3.

One thing I've found helped is there is a small raised semi-sphere of plaster/sand at the bottom of my forge about 3/4 cm high. I've sat a circle of steel wire mesh on there then fuel goes on top creating a little void underneath it. Lets the air circulate better and gives it some run up to hit the ash and blow it out the top.

Because of the raised handle on my existing crucible I couldn't close the lid properly during my first burn and was loosing heat. I've removed the handle now so I can close the lid properly but still need a thicker crucible as discussed.

With the tweak to the base with the mesh, the fixed lid setup and a new crucible, I should be able to get around 1,000 - 1,100 max I expect.

[greyghost]

Automotive scrap is a way better source of Al than cans as they have to much surface area (for crud) for the volume of metal you get.

Radiators would be aluminium too?

Always see them lying around.

[Noisydad]

You can cast Al directly into ordinary red brickies sand (and I have) but add 5% (by weight) Bentonite. It's a type of clay and comes in 25kg bags - get it farm supply stores. It's used as a stock feed additive but we can use it to improve the stickiness off the sand and 5% coal dust (from foundry supply places) which will improve the surface finish of the casting. Mull it all together in a cement mixer with 4-5 big old chunks of scrap steel (50mm bar for eg.) and just a little water for an hour or more. you also need the sand just damp enough for the mould to stay together when you draw the pattern out after rapping to loosen it.

[Chronos]

Not sure using cans in future though.

Maybe I just didn't have enough but on my initial burn to cure the forge I put 6 or 7 cans in. There was about 2 tablespoons of liquid aluminium and a fist full of debris. Paint, ink, whatever else is in a can.

More crap than aluminium making it hard to see what was happening.

FYI aluminium develops an oxide "skin"

on such thin items as cans there's a lot of surface area (oxide and other surface contamination) for the volume/mass of the item

the oxide surface layer on aluminium has a much higher melting temp than the core of the material (thats what makes it more difficult to weld than steel) so your thin material will have more waste than thicker sections

try and get the highest volume to surface area offcuts you can, stuff like aluminium flat bars and solid bar will be more efficient to smelt than cans and thin stuff

Chronos

[anthillinside]

Sounds like Noisydad's been there, done that, got the tee shirt
Automotive scraps a good source, pistons are good, heads if you can handle them.
Avoid extrusions, they normally are alloyed with Magnesium, Zinc or other stuff.

[hootshoot]

Radiators would be aluminium too?

An aluminium alloy at least. Depending on the mix may or may not be useful.

[roob]

It's a type of clay and comes in 25kg bags - get it farm supply stores. It's used as a stock feed additive

They feed them clay?