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Melt Aluminum for $3 and some begging!
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The Sauce Can Foundry
This is a really fun project that doesnt take much time at all and once completed enables you to melt metal!
::Warning::This activity does involve fire and very high temperatures, so bring your common sense and competence along. You should engage in metal melting activities fully covered, wear leather boots, jeans, and a long sleeve shirt. Use eye protection and gloves over your hands.
Ingredients:
- 2 used Papa Johns sauce cans (just walk in and ask for a couple, early morning or early afternoon is usually when they prep sauce)
- 1 used bean can
- 4 inch diameter x 24 inch length Galvanized Oven Vent
- Blower with a power source
- A few screws or rivets
- Foundry stand (jackstands and a grate in my case)
Tools:
- Can opener
- Flathead Screwdriver
- Drill with proper bits
- Sheet metal bender (in my version)
- Tin Snips (scissors might get it done too)
- Hammer
- Sharpie
- Clamps
- Pliers
Supplies:
- Charcoal
- Cans or other forms of aluminum
- Welding Gloves
- Lighter Fluid (optional)
- Tongs or a coat hanger for holding the crucible
- Spoon with extended handle for dross Removal
- Eye Protection
- Somewhere to put the molten metal, I used a muffin tin.
If there's something in this list that you dont have or cant get then try and improvise (except on the safety stuff). The first time I made one of these furnaces the duct was made from left over rain gutters. And the blower came out of a microwave. Just give it a little thought and start building and see what you can come up with.
This is a really fun project that doesnt take much time at all and once completed enables you to melt metal!
::Warning::This activity does involve fire and very high temperatures, so bring your common sense and competence along. You should engage in metal melting activities fully covered, wear leather boots, jeans, and a long sleeve shirt. Use eye protection and gloves over your hands.
Ingredients:
- 2 used Papa Johns sauce cans (just walk in and ask for a couple, early morning or early afternoon is usually when they prep sauce)
- 1 used bean can
- 4 inch diameter x 24 inch length Galvanized Oven Vent
- Blower with a power source
- A few screws or rivets
- Foundry stand (jackstands and a grate in my case)
Tools:
- Can opener
- Flathead Screwdriver
- Drill with proper bits
- Sheet metal bender (in my version)
- Tin Snips (scissors might get it done too)
- Hammer
- Sharpie
- Clamps
- Pliers
Supplies:
- Charcoal
- Cans or other forms of aluminum
- Welding Gloves
- Lighter Fluid (optional)
- Tongs or a coat hanger for holding the crucible
- Spoon with extended handle for dross Removal
- Eye Protection
- Somewhere to put the molten metal, I used a muffin tin.
If there's something in this list that you dont have or cant get then try and improvise (except on the safety stuff). The first time I made one of these furnaces the duct was made from left over rain gutters. And the blower came out of a microwave. Just give it a little thought and start building and see what you can come up with.
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Overall, I think this instructable is a great introduction to 'forgery'
Second of all, like the guy below asked, the pizza sauce can will eventually start to melt/deteriorate from the high temperature. Correct me if im wrong, but if you have used it a couple of times you are probably noticing that. Just from my own personal experience, soup cans that i used as crucibles started to fall apart after like two uses.
And with free shipping it usually works out fairly economical!
make your own crucibles. there's also a bunch of fun kid stuff, like science project ideas, and a couple big books of all the crazy science stuff that didn't work through history. its pretty cool if you don't already know about it.
Metal Name Melting Temperature F°
Tin 450
Lead 621
Aluminum 1218
Magnesium 1240
Bronze Cu+Sn 1562
Brass Cu+Zn 1652
Silver 1762
Gold 1946
Copper 1981
Cast Iron 2300
Steel-High Carbon 2500
Stainless Steel 2550
Medium Carbon 2600
Nickel 2646
Low Carbon 2700
Titanium 3263
Iron 2786
Chromium 3034
Tungsten 5432
Carbon 6512
I stole it from HereHere. As you can see aluminum
melts at only 1200 degrees . (After finishing this I had to make sure that cans were made
of steel, wikipedia was ambiguous about it and several other sites so I took a magnet after
some cans we have here)
Most bean cans are made of steel with an inside tin coating (After finishing the above
chart, I had to make sure that cans were made of steel, wikipedia was ambiguous about it
and several other sites. So I took a magnet after some cans we have here, it is steel). So
its melting point is Approx. 2500 degrees (high carbon steel). So the furnace produces
somewhere between 1200 and 2500 degrees Fahrenheit, because the can doesnt melt.
To make an uncontaminated melt your gonna need a better cruciblecrucible. There are quite a few ideas for building a crucible from things laying around, all available with a quick google search. :P
Heres one for exampleHeres one for example ....