The Lone Inventor's Aluminum Foundry

TheLoneInventor

Hi,

So you want to melt metal in your backyard huh?

I know I did. I had been visiting Backyard Metal Casting for many moons before I finally was able to gather the fairly simple supplies to put one together. By the time I did build it, I only got to fire it up a couple of times before winter broke loose.

I had been missing it, and I finally found my foundry again after the long winter. It was buried deep in snow almost since I manufactured it.

The supplies List:

1 bag of masonry cement
1 Metal five gallon bucket
1 metal pipe
1 blower and something to attach it to the pipe
1 small coffe can, or other tin can
Something to shape the interior of the foundry, I used a small plastic container.

Here's what I did:

1.) Cut a hole in the metal bucket near the bottom, that the pipe could fit through. I put the pipe into the hole, and pushed it until it was about three inches into the bucket.

2.) Mixed up the concrete, and began adding it to the bottom of the bucket

3.) Once the level of the concrete was about up to the pipe, I put the plastic container inside the bucket, (right over the top of the pipe) centered it, and continued to add concrete around it.

4.) While the concrete was drying, I found the blower, repaired it, and used a piece of styrofoan that seemed to fit over the blower opening to act as the "air flow guide". I cut a hole that was just big enough for the pipe to fit through, and then taped the styrofoam to the blower.

5.) Fast forward overnight for the concrete to dry, (it wasn't completely dry) I removed the plastic contaner and looked for the pipe.... Where is that pipe anyway? I had to take and chisle out a small bit of concrete to find the end of the pipe, as it had been buried by the pressure of the concrete.

6.) Once the airway was clear, I hooked up the blower to the other end of the pipe.

7.) Add charcoal, gasoline, and a lighter, WHOOOSH!!! Away she burns!

Notes:

I didn't use any refractory at all. This is because I was unable to afford or find a resonable solution. I was going to use perlite, however the garden section of most stores is slightly incomplete around November.

I didn't use the ultra expensive (like $80 a bag) "high temp" concrete either. Like I said just simple masonry cement, I think I paid about $4 for the 80 lbs. bag.

I have got to find a better crucible, the small tin can does great for a single melt or so, but to get serious I really need a steele crucible.

Even without the refractory, and the "properly expensive" cement, this thing works great. And how many foundries could I build for the price of one of the "expensive" type. If you ask me the whole point of doing something like this is because you have more time than money, and hey why spend a lot of money to have fun with your time if you don't have to?

Total cost: $5 - which is the price for the masonry cement. All the rest of the stuff I scrounged.

Well here are some pics:

This is the foundry and some molds are sitting beside it:

This is the foundry top view, as you can see, I affectionately named her "Betsy"

This is slag from the last melt, for some reason although aluminum cans are 100% aluminum, there is quite a bit of "slag" left over

This is the blower, it's simply a squirl cage fan with a piece of styrofoam taped onto it, and a pipe shoved through it. I tried to make it as air tight as possible, however it really gets to hot for aluminum anyway. (could be the cause of some of that excess slag)

Fire it up!

I used gasoline to ignite quickly the charcoal fuel that it uses.

First batch of crushed cans going in, and filling the entire crucible.

All those are now boiling at the bottom of the cruce, time to add more.

Just about ready to pour.

This is what the metal looks like when it's just been poured. You can't see it in the pic, but it's jigging like a bowl full of jello. I was actually talking on the cordless phone when I poured this one. I managed to make a good pour, take the picture, and not lag in the conversation. Hey, it's not rocket science. Cool

I have just pulled the cast from the mold... Doh! I broke the mold with this one.

Here you can see the cast from last fall, as well as the first one from this spring.

amuron · Inventor Joined: May 05, 2005 Posts: 28

This is really cool... I had never thought of making a foundry this way. Hmmm, looks like a great summer project.

Ron

Edgar · Enligtened Joined: Nov 15, 2006 Posts: 68

You guys should really take the "The Boy Mechanic" Adobe .Pdf free download, it has a complete how-to on Metal casting, and a lots more!

no8wire · Posted: Mon Dec 18, 2006 9:37 pm Post subject:

What about the fumes guys?
I did a lot of lead & gold in my younger days when no one thought of fumes.
Not a great outcome ignoring them.

Edgar · Enligtened Joined: Nov 15, 2006 Posts: 68

Well, it's all done outdoors, but I suppose on of those spray paint room's air exausts, on the smaller size, can do the trick, indoors.

Yes, fumes are dangerous, the temperature's dangerous, casting metal's dangerous...

And ain't that FUN? Laughing