Homemade DIY Metal Foundry - How to Melt Aluminum and Create a Motorcycle Part

Making a homemade metal foundry or forge has never been so easy, in this episode we are going to make a foundry to melt aluminum and make a motorcycle piece.

Step 1: Watch the Video

To make the mini forge we'll need some sand, some refractory mortar and some water then a few other tools and parts that you'll find in the video.

The metal foundry project is powered by a propane torch. By the end of the episode we'll have learned how to make a metal foundry at home.

Step 2: Preparation for the Furnace

- mix the sand, the refractory mortar and the water

- pour the mixture in the bucket

- prepare the lead mold

- pour the lead mixture

- let dry

- make a hole for the propane torch

Step 3: Watch the Video

The second video documents in detail the testing of the furnace and explores a few dues and donts.

Step 4: First Test - Casting Ingots of Purified Aluminum

We'll use our metal foundry for casting some aluminum ingots, in our case we'll melt aluminum to make some motorcycle parts, specifically footpegs.

But before we are going to start our freshly homemade melting furnace for the first time and we are going to make some aluminum muffins. We'll also test our diy crucible and see if you can use it for melting metal. We'll start with some aluminum chips left over from the cnc machine but we'll have quite a surprise... stay tuned. What did we do: - Run first aluminum melting test with cnc chips - Testing operation temperature and furnace heat resistance - Cutting recycled pieces of aluminum for repurposing - melting aluminum in backyard foundry - skimming the impurities - casting aluminum muffins

Step 5: Watch the Video

In part 3, the final chapter of #TheMetalFoundryProject, I'll try to make the actual motorcycle part by designing them and using a polystyrene mold for casting.

Step 6: Mold Making and Part Casting

I'll test one of those hot polystyrene wire cutting devices to design the mold that will be buried under the sand for the melted metal to take the place of.We'll do a couple of tests and we'll put the ultimate test our homemade mini forge.I'll finally get some aluminum casting for my motorcycle!

What did we do:

- design the shapes of the parts

- transfer of the design to polystyrene

- testing a hot wire polystyrene cutter

- preparing the pouring channels

- packing of the sand around the polystyrene mold for casting

- pouring of the molten aluminum in the casting mold

- parts clean up and sending

- installation of the casted part onto the motorcycle