Hi team!
Relatively new to the hobby, and I'm hoping to ask for a few insights by a few of you learned gentlemen!
The Context:
I'm quite fixated on creating as much of my tools and equipment myself as possible (not including safety gear, for that only the best I can buy). I've got quite a collection of Aluminium cans. I live in a relatively small apartment, so no room for a workshop just yet, and most of my foundary needs to be portable so I can transport it to somewhere that it's safe to actually work with molten metal. More than that, my scope of projects is quite limtied due to space constraints. But what I can do, is melt down all these cans into ingots, so they're easier to store, and ready to work with when I have space for a proper work space!
The Goal:
As said before, for my first project I'm planning to melt several hundred cans down into Aluminium ingots. THe reason I've chosen this project is because, well, the cans are there. I already have them. And that means that I effectively have a source of cheap metal that I can use for my next few projects, that I won't shed a tear over if I mangle or waste. I just need to make them easier to store, by changing the shape of them into ingots.
The Forge:
I'm building a small mini forge. Because it's so small, and I don't have the space, budget or no-how (yet) to build something bigger, I'm trying to improve the efficiency of this one before I test it with my first melt. It'll be hot enough to melt Aluminium, but not much else. It's also going to be running on propane, so I'm very concious about keeping forging times to a minimum due to fuel concerns.
The Questions:
I'm looking for some insight into things I can do to increase the amount of Aluminium I actually reclaim from these cans, and reduce the amount that's lost due to Oxide forming. Right now my plan is to create a small pool in the bottom of my crucible by way of balling up some Aluminium foil. I then intend to slowly feed cans into the pool, until it's big enough to pour. I intend to use salt as a flux to try and keep the metal from mixing with the slag.
Prior to the melt, I intend to crush my cans up. I've read that reducing surface area reduces waste. In addition to crushing the cans, would it be worth my time to cut the crushed cans even smalled with a pair of tin snips? I'm aware it's labour intensive, but I could do it while catching up on some much needed Netflix viewing, and besides, I'm in this for the experience, so some extra time doesn't really bother me. I was thinking if I cut the crushed cans even further, I could not only reduce surface area, but also pack more into the crucible and hopefully reduce the total time it takes to melt, and therefore hopefully reduce the fuel used.
My next question is in regards to the slag. My understanding is that it's essentially a waste product, but one with very high heat resistance. Would it be worth saving a bunch of it in a tub, and then adding it to the refractory lining of my next forge? If it's not going to melt in a forge hot enough to melt Aluminium, then it's not really worthless, is it? Would adding it into a refractory lining of a future forge be beneficial? The way I see it, I could cut it in in small amounts to reduce future material costs. It doesn't actually take any additional time to just throw some into a 9l storage tub before I dispose of the rest, I'm just wondering if it's worth it.
My last question is on quenching. Once I've cast my Aluminium ingots, I see a lot of people online putting them in buckets of water. Does this actually do anything when only casting ingots, or is it just a way to cool them faster and let them be handled with bare hands sooner? Since I'm just converting this metal into ingots for easier storage and transport, I'm not particularly concerned about the properties of the metal; they'll all be remelted eventually anyway.
Thanks in advance for any insight you can all offer! Hopefully I'll be posting my own write ups of how it all went soon!
