July 23, 200718 yr I know this not blacksmithing but it is working with metals. I have a friend who wants to do some backyard aluminum and brass smelting and casting. Does anyone have any internet links on how to building backyard, small, smelting furnaces using propane or natural gas?? Thanks This one will really get his neighbours nervous Brian
July 23, 200718 yr I stumbled acrosss this page in my endless persuit of knowlege... seems to be a pretty good starting point for back yard metal casting.melt metal, home metalcasting, backyard metalcasting Good luck!!
July 23, 200718 yr No backyard metalcasting is pretty tame with propane or NG---its when he tries thermite as his molten metal source *then* his neighbors will be *very* *very* nervous!
July 24, 200718 yr Author I better not mention thermite to him. It will only breed some unhealthy inquisitiveness - although he will probably figure it out on his own - I don't want to be the source of his neihbours' misfortune. It took a delegation of neihbours for him to clean up the bits and pieces of three Land Rovers he had in various stages of dismantle I bring Land Rover parts home a few at a time and install them as time permits and discard the old ones on garbage day. My friend brings home complete Land Rovers and salvages bits from several to build one. He only has a 2 car driveway so his and his wife's daily drivers get preferred spots there and the Land Rovers collect on the lawn. And he is impulsive. That's a bug reason not to tip him off about thermite. Brian
July 24, 200718 yr Author I stumbled acrosss this page in my endless persuit of knowlege... seems to be a pretty good starting point for back yard metal casting.melt metal, home metalcasting, backyard metalcasting Good luck!! This looks great. Thanks a million. Brian
July 24, 200718 yr No backyard metalcasting is pretty tame with propane or NG---its when he tries thermite as his molten metal source *then* his neighbors will be *very* *very* nervous! Truth is, nothing but thermite will do when you actually want to smelt the backyard. Frosty
July 24, 200718 yr BTW "smelting" is reducing ores into metal. Melting is melting metal for casting. Thomas---who has done both types.
July 25, 200718 yr In reference to melting aluminum, I found something that worked when I was bored. I welded two pieces of angle iron together (1/8") and welded a piece of 1/4" plate on the bottom. It was welded so that it was watertight (or metaltight in this case). I also weld two handles onto it. This was a very bad idea, make sure you use tongs, if at all possible, as it not easy to grip one of the handles for very long, even with welding gloves on. Anyway back to the melting. I made a fire out of driftwood (I was along a creek) and walnut (very fun to chop with an axe) on top of a large stone (probably about 2' x 3 1/2'). I just set the so called crucible on top of the coals, and let it sit there for about 45 minutes-hour and melted pop cans, and one ball of aluminum foil. If you melt pop cans, the ink on them will catch on fire, and probably makes some extra impurities in the aluminum for you. Anyhow thats my two cents. -Hollon
July 27, 200718 yr I got into blacksmithing through casting. Gotta do something with all that spare heat while the bronze melts. Anyway for melting brass and bronze you need to have a graphite crucible for aluminum you can get away with a section of steel pipe. It is a good idea to have some heavy leather boots, gaiters, aprons and gloves. A face shield is must for splashes. It is good to uses welding goggles as the inside of the furnace is at around 2,900F. I pour bronze at 2450F on the pyrometer or when the inside of the furnace is a steady white color. I never liked casting aluminum because if you get it to hot it just sort of goes away so you need to watch it very close. Casting is fun but not a s fun as banging iron.
July 27, 200718 yr I went the other way and used my forge for casting small parts for knives out of copper, bronze, brass, silver(both 925 and fine), etc. What I used as a crucible for melts of a few ounces was a stainless steel coffee creamer. Learning to build a fire so as to not scale a hole in it is a skill and for my best set up I reused a heavy one 4 times before it got scarey thin---I also bought up all them cheap SS creamers at the fleamarket.
July 28, 200718 yr Just out of curiosity, what does everyone use for molds? I didn't actually make anything in a mold, I just poured mine out on a rock... But if you make them, what could be the materials for making them? Would plaster of paris work? or would it spar from moisture? Anyhow this is something I was wanting to learn about, but don't know where to start.
July 28, 200718 yr Maybe I'm blind, but that blueprint seems not to exist... I looked and there was BP0105 and BP0107 but no 106, and then I did a search of the whole website with no luck, so perhaps you can get a link to it for me?
July 28, 200718 yr Hollon, the Blueprint does exist, I somehow missed turning it to the on and viewable position. Thanks for reminding me. BP0106 Lost Wax Casting
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