Ceramic blanket or refractory cement, or both?

[Third_Placer]

Hey fellow forgers! Total newb here and I've been doing a lot of research. Nonetheless, I'm building a small foundry, and I was wondering should I use a ceramic blanket (kaowool), refractory cement, or both? Also I was going to go for a charcoal powered foundry. I mostly plan on casting with aluminum bronze, and bronze. Is the charcoal power good enough to melt copper and aluminum? Also what's the estimated melt time of both metals in a ceramic lined foundry vs refractory? Fuel consumption, etc. Anything would be greatly appreciated. Forge on!

[ThomasPowers]

Have you asked this over at alloyavenue.com (used to be backyardmetalcasting,com)  a series of forums dedicated to foundry work?

Note you may want to tighten you questions up a bit; for example: estimated melt time: is that for a nanogram or for a ton? Is that for a large system burning fuel at a high rate or a small system burning small amounts slowly?

It also appears you haven't done much research: "Is the charcoal power good enough to melt copper and aluminum?"  Well charcoal was used to melt metal for thousands of years, I don't think it suddenly stopped working.  Of course historically this was real charcoal not briquettes which are engineered to burn slower at a lower heat output. (You probably know all of this already; but the way your query was worded makes one nervous as foundry work is much more dangerous than smithing.)

If you are going with a solid fuel foundry I would suggest a cast refractory or refractory brick lined system.  For a propane foundry I would suggest kaowool with a thick cast or brick liner.

For someone just starting out may I commend to your attention the Gingery Foundry like found at  http://www.mibot.com/foundry/intro.php

Lastly you do know that you don't need to melt copper to make Al bronze?  Copper will dissolve into molten aluminum quite well; we used copper wire for greater surface area.

[Third_Placer]

No derp, what I meant by the charcoal foundry, is I meant does it work with kaowool, as I've seen a lot of mixed reviews on the ceramic. About how the fibers burn off and irritate their lungs.

And the last question was supposed to be, which insulator does it better? Ceramic or refractory. And what I meant about melting copper, was because the aluminum bronze is usually 88%-90% copper and 12-10% aluminum.

[ThomasPowers]

Well I don't know enough to help this guy; especially with the the HUNDREDS of types of refractories compared to the various densities of Kaowool.

 I can say that you should line your kaowool so that fiber  exposure is not an issue.

And reiterate that Alloyavenue might be a better location for what you are interested in.  

SL&TFATF!