October 15, 20178 yr I completely understand. My current job keeps me late enough most days I can't get to my steel or get to the scrap yard or most other things I need to do for the shop.
October 15, 20178 yr It is worth saying that when buying make sure you get the right kind of Silicon Bronze. C655 for example has some zinc in the mix. It would REALLY stink if you went to all the trouble to get what you think has no zinc and still get a case of the flu. C655 - Silicon Bronze Cu 81.0 - 85.0% Sn 6.3 - 7.5% Pb 6.0 - 8.0% Zn 2.0 - 4.0% C873 - Silicon Bronze Cu 94.0 Min. Sn 0% Pb 0.09% Zn 0.25% Fe 0.20% Al 0% Si 3.5 to 4.5% Mn .8 to 1.5%
October 15, 20178 yr Yes, buy a zinc free alloy, there are I don't know how many and some or many have zinc in them! If I need some I ask my bronze caster friend and he lets me dip into his trimmings. I stopped fantasizing about alloying my own bronze a long time ago. Not because I didn't THINK I could do it but the paycheck job kept me out of town most of the time and I never got around to it and now I can bum some or take a class. Frosty The Lucky.
October 15, 20178 yr I've made 90:10 bronze (which was a common one used quite a long time ago....) As mentioned degassing the copper melt and keeping O2 away from it is a major issue. One thing about recycling brass (and applies to most other metal ALLOYS), the best alloys for casting are ones that are used to cast things. All sorts of other alloys for deep drawing or bearings or for forging; but they tend to not cast well. So if possible find alloys (things) that have been cast for remelting and casting. Beware of possible hidden internal spaces that can hold water! In the class I took we would sledge things down to small nibblets and heat those way over the transition temp of water before adding to a melt. As mentioned you lose zinc as you bring the melt up to casting temp when you do brass. For small melts here in America there is a handy metered source: the modern pennies are copper coated zinc. I have a container where road kill damaged pennies go just for that use! (I have also taken a class on the casting of brass without damaging yourself or your friends or neighbors.)
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