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Copper crucible help?


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I have a bunch of scrap copper and can justify using it, so I want to melt it down and mold it. Is there a special crucible for copper? Can i make a crucible? Can I put it (the crucible) straight into a coal forge? Should I put glass on top of it? Thank you!

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I have a bunch of scrap copper and can justify using it, so I want to melt it down and mold it. Is there a special crucible for copper? Can i make a crucible? Can I put it (the crucible) straight into a coal forge? Should I put glass on top of it? Thank you!

Read at least one entire book on casting first. 

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You would have been better of leaving intact and just smashing it into a block. By cutting it up really fine you have created a lot of surface area. Scrap dealers pay more for solids than fines/turnings because of that. Scrap wire is also bad for casting, and should be compressed into blocks before melting.

At the foundry I worked at we used ceramic, as well as graphite for copper based alloys. I would say a ceramic one going into a fire, as graphite deteriorates fast above 800°F without an inert atmosphere like we used.

Good luck, and be safe.

BTW, if I remember right we used Lithium as a deoxidizer just before pouring.

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The Dave Gingery books are good, read up first. Try that other site I won't name that talks about casting in the backyard...... Read up on the forums here. 

 

Best recommendation, find someone who's done it before....when ya screw up on a forge, ya can get burned. When you screw up on casting, ya can get horribly burned by molten metal, and/or get metal poisoning from inhaling fumes. And the usual warning to beginners, stay away from brass and zinc.

 

Oh yeah, and spend the money and get a good set of crucibles.  Don't muck about with making clay crucibles as a beginner.  They're tricky to make, you'll damage some in firing them, and don't know what to look for to tell if they're damaged. Plus if all that ain't enough, some types seem to come apart when you melt aluminum in them even if you've done everything right.  A good crucible is much cheaper than medical bills.

 

Overall, it's not that casting is so crazy hard, but there's a big learning curve and it's easy for a beginner to get hurt. Better to learn with an experienced friend.

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