New Foundry In the Process W I P

[AndrewB]

So guys I know its been a while between posts but I've been pretty busy lately been chat modding for people on twitch throwin the ban hammer at problem chat trolls and what ever else.  The never ending game of WHACK A TROLL LOL.  Too much fun doing that.  How ever I've recently got my foundry in the works.  Its simply a 5 gallon steel bucket you know the ones you can buy on Amazon lol for like 11 bucks or what ever.  I drilled out and had to cut out a hole for the air pipe to go in.  I still have to drill the holes in the pipe for the air but I think that will be sideways.  I do have the air pipe raised up a bit higher than normal so I could get a nice big bed of coal underneath the crucible.  I know its rough looking but I opted to go with the Kaowool and Refractory I think that should be a good enough barrier since the refractory can take heats of up to 3000 degrees.

[AndrewB]

Okay so random quick question on this.  Would it be wise to fire cure the refractory and at the same time temper the crucible while I'm fire curing the refractory?  I was considering going that route because it would just kill two birds with one stone and I wouldn't have to waste any coal doing that.

[Alan Longmire]

Probably not a bad idea since the refractory will take a long time to cool down and your crucible is SiC, and thus more resistant to abuse than plain clay or clay-graphite.

[AndrewB]

I was contemplating on that one Alan because I just didn't want to waste any of the charcoal I have because I have one shot at the moment to fire cure and temper the crucible so I figured it might be a decent thing to try to kill off two birds with one stone the only thing I really have left to do is get the air intake fixed up I'm not sure if I'm going to drill holes or just leave the hole open at the end of the pipe not sure what would be the best option at the moment so I've been waiting on that.  I've also got to get a 1 inch to 2 inch adapter for the pipe so I can hook the dryer pipe up to it ffrom the fan.

[AndrewB]

So update note I will be smelting cans and aluminum pieces in NO time this little foundry was cheap to make and in expensive.  It just took me a while.  But I will say it works considerably well.  I did temper my crucible in the same go.  No melting on the bottom, it didn't even crack.  I did heat it up slowly.  It is cooling down currently so next time I'm ready to fire this thing up I should be able to smelt with absolutely ZERO issues.  So I've just successfully killed off two birds with one stone.  Worked well.  I will also say I am using over the counter LUMP bbq charcoal for this.  It still got incredibly hot with forced air into the foundry.  The pipe will heat up quite a bit at the end but thats not a big deal, there is also no need to drill holes in the pipe what so ever.  The crucible seemed to heat up fairly evenly all around.

So in the end I think I'm going to have a blast using this thing I've just gotta acquire the sand and clay..  Thanks for all the advice guys.

[Jerrod Miller]

Just a reminder that you are looking at melting aluminum, not smelting.  Terminology in this case is important, as those are 2 surprisingly different things.  

[AndrewB]

Yea I  get my terminology mixed up quite a bit LUL bit melting would be correct for some reason I was probably thinking Smelting LUL.  I'm still considering blocking the end and drilling holes in the pipe I may get a more concentrated air flow on each side.  I'll just have to wait for the pipe to cool off to do that.

Edited August 23, 2019 by AndrewB