Tyler Murch Posted August 16, 2007 Share Posted August 16, 2007 At our last blacksmith's guild meeting, there was a short and simple demo on aluminum casting, and it made me want to try it. I knew somebody who had several old ladles from an ironworks shop that went out of business long ago, and I bought four of them. So far I have done one casting. It WAS going to be a bowl. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bipolarandy Posted August 16, 2007 Share Posted August 16, 2007 wow, that thing is awesome!, what ever you did, id try to repeat it, thats a great form... -andrei Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted August 16, 2007 Share Posted August 16, 2007 So have you found a battery powered clock face that fits in it? Woodworking mags and stores often stock them---that's too nice to just remelt! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tyler Murch Posted August 16, 2007 Author Share Posted August 16, 2007 Grand idea Thomas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bentiron1946 Posted August 16, 2007 Share Posted August 16, 2007 That is a fantastic accident! Some of the best art comes about that way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Finnr Posted August 16, 2007 Share Posted August 16, 2007 Polish the high spots, mount it on a slab of walnut, put a name on it and sell it for big bucks. Seriously it ROCKS!! Finnr Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sdalcher Posted August 17, 2007 Share Posted August 17, 2007 melting metal in a home foundry, backyard metalcasting, metal casting It is an awesome site, and has a lot of good basic knowledge and how-to. I dabble in foundry work also and it is a great complement to forging ability. There are many projects that take a little from both skillsets. I currently use a normally aspirated propane burner, a few nights ago I experimented with adding a blower to juice up the flame. I severly melted my furnace refractory in just a few minutes of playing around. I have been using this same furnace for over a year with very little degradation of the refractory till that fateful day :-) I am currently working on a waste vegetable oil burner, with a propane pre-heat built in. Propane is really great, but gets kind of expensive if you are forging/casting on a regular basis. Thanks Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted August 17, 2007 Share Posted August 17, 2007 Looks cool. If you don't want to repeat the effect don't get it quite so hot next time, 1,100f is plenty. In high school we got our best results when the pour looked bright silver and was almost chunky. I don't recall what we used for flux but it was pink; I believe borax will work but check before you try it. Stir the flux in gently and scrape off the dross but don't get crazy you'll never get it all, Al oxidizes on contact with air. Frosty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tyler Murch Posted August 17, 2007 Author Share Posted August 17, 2007 Why Frosty? The texture came from what it was poured on to. The top side is smooth. Borax works. Borax all the way, baby!!! I've welded stainless just fine with it too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted August 18, 2007 Share Posted August 18, 2007 I wasn't referring to the texture but the color. The picture looked like it was badly oxidized on my screen. Some pics come in clear as a bell others don't. Anyway, seeing as it isn't oxidized then disregard what I said. Frosty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tyler Murch Posted August 18, 2007 Author Share Posted August 18, 2007 Frosty, what does Al oxide look like? Salami, You're not really supposed to grind aluminum because the dust can be extremely flammable mixed w/ iron oxide dust. But you know me, I do it anyway!!!!!!!!!!! I guess I live on the edge..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metalmaster1766 Posted August 18, 2007 Share Posted August 18, 2007 al oxide can be many colors, most sand paper is al oxide, black, white, blue, the fuzzy coating on aluminum that has sat for a long period of time is aluminum oxide, it looks white, gray aluminum casting, when melting it, the slag that forms on top, if refined can get the oxide out, back when i started melting it i used mostly cans, all the surface gets a coating of oxide on it along with all the other junk (paint and dirt) you can use a flux to keep the melt from oxidizing, i use mortons lite salt, anyway, i saved a bunch to get the oxides out, it involved a lot of salt to seperate the good metal from the slag, then you soak the slag in water and boil it off to free up the salts and oxides, it comes out looking like a dark gray powder, or maybe black is a better color, id hafta get someone else to judge the color as im a bit color blind im going from memory too, there is more to it than what i just put down but its not tough to do, we have covered the topic many times over at the BYMC forum Ron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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