Aluminium Foundry

This is my second Ible of my homemade foundry. My first one was my :
Mini Charcoal Furnace.

In  this instructable I will explain how I made my second bigger foundry yet again mostly constructed from scrap I collected and recycled it into something more usefull.
The biggest advantage of this design is that it has a very strong body made from an empty gas cylinder and the best part is that it will last for a long time, the only thing that might have to be changed or repaired is the inside refractory.
 As I wrote on my last ible my aim is to create some aluminium sand casting of differrent objects.
At this stage I piled my aluminum ingots and did a few experiments with my foundry, some successful others went wrong which I have learned from. It is really exciting to create some new aluminium object knowing what it was in its former "life" cycle.
I will also try and explain a little bit about sand casting to my knowledge.
I am no expert it is all based on my hobby experience so I  hope you enjoy it.

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A few Saftey words: Coming  into contact with fire and boiling melted metal can be very dangerous so always work safe using proper full body protection including respirator mask against toxic fumes and dust from mixing refractory materials. Never melt in a wet area or near water, if water comes into contact with the boiling aluminium it might "blow" in your direction.
The info in this instructable is based on my experience. 
I disclaim any responsibility for any resulting damage, injury, or expense.
All use by you of this website is at your own risk, work safe.
_____________________________________________________________________

Step 1 Cutting the gas Cylinder

First I made sure the cylinder is empty then I drilled 2 holes. One hole to fill the cylinder with water the other as an air hole which also makes it easier to empty the water and to fill it again. After all the gas is gone I marked where I want to cut and used my small grinder for that job. When I cut the cylinder I had it full of water, just to be on the safe side. It took me less then 10min to cut the cylinder handle, top nozzle and cylinder top including grinding the rough bits of metal. It is a good idea to mark lines over cutting so later on when welding the lid will fit well.
When using a grinder it is recommended you wear eye and ears protection.


If you dont know what you are doing take it to a professional. Mis-use of pressured gas cylinders can cause injury and even fatalities.
This not an instruction or a guide how to do it, I am sharing with you how I used a gas cylinder based on my own experience and knowledge.
Anyone who attempts this he/she will do it on their own risk 
I will not be liable for any injuries in anyway.

Comments

[bherrboldt]

Again you rock. I have done 2 melts and poured 24 aluminum ingots. Im going to pour more tomorrow and then I think i will be ready to sand cast. Thanks again.

[thecheatscalc]

I've actually done the same thing (with a propane tank that is) Very nice job! I ended up scrapping most of it, because I couldn't get a decent enough mold to make it work. But I've never heard of petrobond. Then again, I built the whole thing for <$50 because I was on such a tight budget...

One thing I would recommend though is that you modify it a bit and put a propane burner in instead. Much easier than charcoal, and you have a more controllable heat. From the looks of yours, all you would have to do is insert a propane line into the blower pipe, and you're pretty much there. You would just need to add a flame holder, but that's fairly simple.

Very well done!

[chris.tk]

For decent molds, I would highly suggest trying out lost-foam casting. You can do it with junk Styrofoam and an X-Acto knife or something similarly sharp, and sand from your backyard. It's just about the cheapest and easiest method to produce fairly high-quality objects.

[rhulett1]

How long is the inlet pipe ?

Is the length critical ?

Is the flange important ?

Great job.....Roger

[EmmettO]

As for crucibles, I struggled with making a crucible for melting copper. It would melt through every steel crucible I made. I eventually found a site that sells cheap fire clay crucibles and thats what I use now. http://www.lmine.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=LMS&Product_Code=17703&Category_Code=economy_repacks

[nkudlesky]

i got mine for around $60 at foundry101.com and it comes with a lifting shank..

[Omnombulist]

Wonderful ible! I just finished making a similar furnace and will be adding a hinge after seeing how nicely yours worked. I used regular portland cement and cured it for 18 days before firing. It is pretty thoroughly covered in hairline cracks after 4 firings and the outside gets terribly hot. I am guessing I will have to recast the cement before too long and am interested in fire cement.
How well Is your refractory holding up? How many times have you fired it?

[bherrboldt]

All I have to say it thank you so much. I just built my refractory/foundry almost exactly like yours. All I have left is to get ahold of some refractory cement and Im in business. This is awsome. You rock!

[cendit]

I can´t see if the refractory partially blocks the air inlet. I'm asking in case that is some kind nozzle, because the area reduction. Thanks

[magiccowy]

My dad recently got several dead lawnmowers from junk heaps.
I repaired the oldest one and we are restoring it but he tore the rest apart for the pistons and such that he uses to make statues.
The rest of the mowers were set to be thrown out but I grabbed a large amount of aluminium pieces. Just testing my furnace i threw a chunk in and it melted beautifully and was quite strong when I later pulled it out.
I recommend saving them and smashing the cast base into smaller pieces as well as the tougher engine pieces.

[gunspyop2]

cool

[rredmon]

Great instructible!!

you might find this interesting. It's a link to a catalog website that has all sorts of antiquated methods for making things at home. pretty interesting. This page particularly deals with a book that you can order that shows you how to make a crucible.

http://www.lindsaybks.com/dgjp/djgbk/cruc/index.html

[Kevanf1]

Excellent ible. Trouble is, now I don't know whether I want to make a stove for my workshop or a furnace suing the old gas bottle I have :)

I have a question if I may? Do you have any problems with the surface of your castings? I need to make some aluminium moulds (for pouring molten lead into for fishing weights) but they really have to be nice and smooth. Any ideas how I can achieve this?

Take care.

Kevan

[NutandBolt]

Thank you I am happy you liked my ible. The best way to decide is which one will be more useful in the long run. Most of my  castings are very good. I had of course some casting gone wrong but usually the reason is running out of aluminum, bad mould construction, porosity (small gas deefects, air holes) or just doing some experiments. I am using petrobond sand for my moulds and it's great sand to work with and to get very high quality finish.
You are welcomed to visit my blog I have a few projects using sand casting. I believe you can get very good results using this type of sand and you can make a mould for many fishing weights in one pour.
Just one thing and this is up to you to decide, I wouldn't melt any lead at all,  Lead is a poisonous metal and can cause serious health problems especially among children. Link:
Lead health effects
 If you have any questions I will be happy to answer thanks again.

[Kevanf1]

Hiya mate. Just noticed something, I am not 'suing' any old gas bottles :) I will be using them of course...

Anyway, Petrobond sand. Any idea what makes it special as opposed to ordinary sand. It sounds like a trade name and it's not one that I know of here in the UK. I was thinking of using what we call silver sand. This is a very fine and very clean sand that is used for children's sand (play) pits. It has to be fine, soft and ultra clean because of this. I'll add fuller's earth clay to this to create my moulding sand but don't yet know in what quantities.

Lead. Yep, nasty stuff but then so is aluminium fumes. Lead casting is quite common still over here in the UK and I will only be doing it outside. There are still an awful lot of houses that have lead water pipes ours included. Having once been a plumbing and heating engineer I can tell everybody that the danger from lead is real but very much overstated. It's bad if you ingest it in anyway and that does indeed include fumes, hence my proposing to cast the weights out of doors, it's safest that way.

Thank you for the health warning though it is appreciated :)

Take care.

Kevan

[NutandBolt]

Petrobond vs green sand. petrobond is oil-bonded casting sand, theoretically you can leave the sand in a closed container and it will be good for use years later. Also the final casting will be very high quality. The downside: it is expensive in comparison to green sand. Play sand is also good but you have to make sure you make a good mix ratio of the play sand+Bentonite(clay)+water (not too much water). Petrobond is available in the UK and is mostly sold in foundrys and less in hardware shops such as B&Q. I know that because the petrobond I have is made in the U.k. I am not promoting products but this is the link of the commpany   in case you want to have a look.
:-)

[Kevanf1]

Fantastic :) I'll e-mail the company and ask if they can give me a list of stockists (local hopefully as we do have the odd foundry still dotted about).

Thank you and take care.

Kevan

[mista.v]

Would it be possible to use extremely strong industrial epoxy to stick the pipe in if we cannot weld? Or maybe solder in some places of it and then fill the rest in with cement?

[NutandBolt]

If you mean the inlet vent hole I dont think epoxy will take the heat, we are dealing here with temaptures over 1000C. You also dont want to use material that will melt and might realse toxic fumes. You can use metal screws with angle brackets that way you dont need any weld.
Another simple option is using card board or plastic cylinder  to form the inlet hole, after refractory is set take the cylinder out.
In my image I drew blue line that represent metal angle brackets and the red dots arepresent metal screws.
Hope this will be useful to you.

[Ken Chevy]

Be careful of the brackets or any other parts that are cadmium plated.  It gives off a poison smoke/gas fumes when heated.

DANGER:

Cadmium is extremely toxic even in low concentrations.  The fumes given off by zinc is toxic also when heated.

Lots of materials around that we need to be careful we don't breath the fumes it makes when we are heating it.

Once it is burned off, you are probably okay.  Just remember to not breath any of the white smoke/fumes.  They are toxic/poison.  If they never get heated hot enough to smoke/cause fumes, there shouldn't be any problems from using cad plated parts.

Great instructable!

Ken

102410 2029

[NutandBolt]

Thank you for your tip that is very important. I prefer when I do my work with the furnace usually to use respirator and in general to melt aluminum parts with no paint or other impurities.
Is there any way to know when melting coated object if the paint contains cadmium?
Or the best thing is just to melt clean parts such as car pistons act' ?

[absolutekold]

It has been my experience that using the cleanest metal you have is generally the best bet. Not just for health considerations but also some of those impurities can be absorbed into the metal. This can ruin a casting and be very difficult to diagnose the true nature of the problem. If you have no choice than to melt a questionable piece then take all steps necessary to ensure your safety and after the melt remember to mark the ingots. After a little trial and hopefully less error you will become familiar with how different coatings look.

[imbignate]

Firstly, what sort of sensor are you using for a temperature gauge, and where is it mounted?

Second, what are you using as a mold for the ingots? They're all a nice standard size and very professional.

Third, this is awesome.

[NutandBolt]

The sensor I used is a simple and trusted multimeter that I got on Ebay. All that is needed is to set the multimeter setting to tempature and place the tempature wire in the furnace.
As for the ingots, I am using metal muffin tray (not teflon). All you have to do is pour the molten metal into it and you get a nice aluminum muffin. You can also make a container for the ingots DIY style like the one I welded from metal angles. I am using it to make slim ingots for my pipe cruicble.
Thank you.

[DIY-Guy]

Nice technique with filling the gas cylinder with water! An elegant solution to the problem of flammables. 

A professional iron worker once told me that cast iron cookware works well for a crucible. There are a variety of pans, pots, "dutch ovens" and other styles to choose from. Maybe there are cast iron muffin pans waiting to be found at a junk sale.

DIY-Guy

[NutandBolt]

Thank you, That is correct I heard the same thing regarding cast iron cookware used as crucible the only thing is finding the right size that will fit into my furnace ;-)

[paqrat]

I have been warned about using cast iron cookware if it has not been cleaned of all rust. If I understood correctly, what I was told is the combination of rust and molten aluminum can form something akin to thermite (possibly thermite itself?). If this is the case it could be very dangerous.

[absolutekold]

Ferrous oxide (rust) and aluminium do make thermite. Although the exact ratio's are industry secrets for each company they boil down a lot of rust powder and a lot of aluminium powder mainly for surface area considerations (occasionally it is doped with magnesium to help things along). At any level of rust build up on a pot that doesn't affect it structurally I don't think you have much to worry about. I've never had a problem. but if your worried put the offending rusty item in the smelter with it going full bore for a few minutes (be careful cause this smelter can easily melt cast iron if you are using charcoal ... I speak from experience of loosing an entire melt to this whoops(!?!)) by the time the pot has a barely visible glow in normal light there will be no more rust on it.

[TANZMEISTER]

Check out the book by David Gingry. Then you can make your own cast iron cricible

[bears0]

just so you know it's Gingery, not Gingry. :-)

[TANZMEISTER]

Details, details. And I suppose you want a crucible instead of a cricible?

[Culturespy]

Really excellent work. Have you ever tried adding ceramic powder to the aluminum? You can make very durable objects that way. I've seen the end product but don't know how it was done.

[NutandBolt]

Thank you, I never used ceramic powder and to be honest its the first time I hear about it. What purpose does the powder have when adding it to the aluminum? I will have to google this one.

[xarlock667]

I have had few issues with smoke, and I use charcoal. Just start your furnace like you would your grill and give the coals a few minutes to really be hot, then turn your air on, and it will blow the fire out for a few seconds... THEN BOOM! It cuts on and sounds like a small rocket engine, and there is NO smoke.

I did have issues with  smoke when I used painted aluminum, or impure aluminum. Be careful with that, and use a higher quality, like cracked engines, transmissions, etc... SODA CANS ARE THE WORST! Try and avoid them as much as you can.

[Bad Maxx]

Just an FYI "Aluminum" engines and transmissions are not pure aluminum.
Manifolds, cylinder heads, blocks, internal engine parts etc are made from aluminum alloys. (as is nearly every piece of aluminum you might encounter*)And they vary drastically in composition and purity of aluminum.

319.0 Alloy composed of (in weight percentage) 90.50% Aluminum (Al), 3.50% Copper (Cu), and 6.00% Silicon (Si) and is used in manufacturing Manifolds, cylinder heads, blocks, and internal engine parts.

332.0 Alloy which contains silicone (for high temp applications) and several manufacturers are adding ceramic fibers for more tinsel strength is used for Pistons

356.0 Alloy 91.13 % Aluminum (Al),0.25 % Copper (Cu), 7.00 % Silicon (Si) 0.32% Magnesium (Mg) 0.35 % Manganese (Mn) 0.35 % Zinc and 0.6 % Iron (Fe)
Cylinder heads, manifolds are often made from this.

A380.0 Alloy 86.70 % Aluminum (Al),3.50 % Copper (Cu), 8.50 % Silicon (Si) and 1.30% Iron (Fe) is often used for Blocks, transmission housings/parts, fuel metering devices

383.0 Alloy 87.00% Aluminum (Al), 2.50% Copper (Cu), and 10.50% Silicon (Si). Brackets, housings, internal engine parts, and steering gears are often made with this alloy.

B390.0 Aluminum-Silicon Cast Alloy: 73.45 % - 75.45 % Aluminum 16.0 % - 18 % Silicon (Si) 4.0 % - 5.0 % Copper (Cu) 1.5 % Zinc (Zn) 1.3 % Iron (Fe) 0.50 %Magnesium (Mg) 0.50 % Manganese (Mn) 0.10 % Titanium (Ti) and 0.10 % Nickel (Ni)
Ring gears, die cast valve bodies, compressor housings in pistons, and internal transmission parts are often comprised of this alloy.

As for just grabbing "aluminum" scrap from an engine or elsewhere and melting it and expecting to get pure aluminum ingots, with the exception of aluminum beverage cans, it is not going to be pure and could be far from it...

Aluminum soda and beer cans however are extremely pure, close to 100% I believe some aluminum can smelters guarantee 99.9% pure by weght. It is also the only way a consumer is usually exposed to a pure* aluminum product, everything else is an alloy.

*Pure aluminum is entirely to soft to be practical in applications other than beverage cans.

[85rocco]

The only other common source for pure aluminium that I'm aware is aluminium electrical wiring. They use pure aluminium for that because even small amounts of impurities dramatically increases it's electrical resistance.

FWIW, I do a little aluminium casting too, I use alloy car rims as my base material, they're easy to come by for little or no money and it casts beautifully.

[Bad Maxx]

I'll take your word on the wire, never dealt with it, but it makes total sense. As for the alloy rims, it always amazes me to see them sold for less than their scrap value, and from my experience it happens very regularly!

[Gaark]

Wowww Maxx, this has to be the most excellent comment I've seen here!

[Bad Maxx]

I appreciate the kind words, it was a day I was laid up and had some time on my hands so went a bit overboard lol.
Hope it helps someone.

[davIRE]

http://www.webelements.com/aluminium/