Ultimate Guide to Making a Cheap but Effective Aluminium Forge.

There are many guides and many ideas I've collected and, being that I completed this (the first one... I made a completely new setup just for this instructible... you should feel special.) within two days and most importantly... cheaply.

My cousin /assistant / camera man and I created this instructable so we could share our wonderful smelting smelting experience and win the hearts and minds of the instructable community.

DISCLAIMER

This instructible includes fire and molten metal.
BE CAREFUL and USE SAFETY EQUIPMENT!

Also; If you mortally wound yourself while duplicating this instructible, please delete this from your history internet history before dieing. i don't want to be held liable.

BACK ON TOPIC!

We shall begin.

Step 1 Parts / Tools

In retrospect, the parts / tools list quite long but it should be things that are easily available.

The most expensive thing was the torch. I'm really cheap but it turned out to be a rewarding investment.

The other parts are as follows:

Quick Setting Quickrete (I got a 20 lb bucket for under 10 bucks)
Something to mix the Quickrete in
Something to stir the Quickrete with
Large Coffee Can (6 inch)
Small Coffee Can (4 inch)
Hack Saw (or any metal cutting tool)
Drill (or metal punch or improvised hole making tool)
An empty 14.1 oz propane tank (make sure it's competently empty)
Scrap steel bar like from a printer, about a foot long (you can buy 5/8 steel bar at lowes)
A sharpie (or any marking tool)
Tape
Cardboard
Short (about 2 or 3 inches) iron or steel tube that the torch head fits in. (optional)
A ball peen hammer (any hammer will suffice)
Some propane gas (i buy the ones for camping stoves because their $4.38 for a 2 pack of 16.4 oz tanks.)
An oven (optional)
A vice. ( kinda optional. you could find another way but i find the vice necessary)
A mini muffin tin (optional. you just need something to pour the aluminum into.)
Some cheap thin steel wire (1/8 diameter max. but strong enough to hold some weight)

Comments

[coocooachoo568]

Truthfully, i dont like this ible. sorry. i thought it was REALLY cool, but it turned out to be not. i made this thing EXACTLY like this ible said, but in the end, it failed epically. i even had the same crucible as him.  nothing melts! I tryed aluminum cans to a small aluminum pipe. all that happens is the aluminum cans and pipe turn a goldish brown and never melt. is there any possible way to fix this? i have a top and everything. i dont see how this works. HELP!

[curvy77]

i dont know about using gas to melt it but wood and charcoal work great for melting it. mostly wood. i used the last of my embers from a steel knife craft and i melted 3 aluminum cans in a soup can before the flame went out. (i had a blow dryer to help fan the flames)

[dcarr1]

what gas you using?

[coocooachoo568]

propane

[Firestorm_101]

I am just now getting into this sort of stuff but what may help is, in order to do larger pieces of metal like pipe, you must first already have a pool started. Cans are good but they must be denser otherwise they will oxidize and never burn. Cut off the ends, smash the tube flat, and fold it up into little square strips we'll call feedstock. It will be thick enough to melt effectively but not too big as to radiate all of its heat away. Good luck, hope this helped.

[Data643]

You could spend all of your time saving up for a lathe. Or... you could just cast your own using David Gingery's Books. I have his metal lathe book & it's awesome.

[r_harris2]

I know this is long time later to reply, but I thought I would post the counter-point to this. I think the Gingery lathe is a good project in itself, if that's what you want to do, but if you want a lathe, probably quicker to buy it. Think about it, a decent 7x12 lathe plus some tools is about $400. That's only six weeks of working part-time at a minimum wage second job. Not as enjoyable perhaps, but much faster than starting from scratch, casting metal and hand scraping the ways on the lathe, etc.

I considered the build-my-own approach, but I wanted to make some stuff, besides the lathe itself, and I am glad I bought the lathe. Once I had the lathe, I did a lot of little things that were really fun and easy. I doubt I would have finished the Gingery lathe. It is a pretty big project in itself, and I notice that you can find lots of web pages showing the start of a Gingery lathe, but last time I looked, I could not find ANY of a finished Gingery lathe and something made with it.

[Data643]

I do see your point in that it would take less time and require less work, but a Gingery Lathe would cost far less. Where have you seen any 7 x 12 metal lathes for under $400? The cheapest I can find them for is about $550 for a 7 x 10. Here is a link to a near - completed Gingery lathe machining its own tailstock ram.

[r_harris2]

Yikes! I am in shock. I didn't realize they had gone up so much since I bought mine. I am becoming one of those old guys who say "Back in my day sonny, you could buy..."

But I will STILL stand by the basic idea. Only go in for a Gingery Lathe project if you really want to build the lathe. If you want to turn metal, a few months of part-time work, say $750, will get you a better lathe, with a 3 jaw and a 4 jaw chuck and a selection of cutters, boring bars, a dial indicator set and a few other starter items.

Oh yeah, with a little effort and talking to your favorite garage saler / flea market fanatic and you might get a call on a saturday morning...

[panzuman]

also take a nail and hammer and smash it through top to release gas then if you have it use an air tank (bike pump would probablly work to) and pump air for at least a min then you can use all the power tools you like :)

[sbeck3]

Perhaps puncturing a propane tank with a nail is not a good idea? Just attach a torch and burn the remainder until it uses the last of the gas on its own.

[mcivor]

NOTE: Be VERY careful when cutting a propane tank open, and for the love of God do NOT use power tools! Some guy in my area was cutting one once, and didn't realize it wasn't completely empty. Propane had flowed out of the tank and pooled around his ankles. Didn't help that he was using a circular saw to cut it. I'm sure you can picture the ending here.

[lburrow]

@mcivor

Reading your post makes me thing that having a fan blowing on the floor is a good idea too to disperse any remaining propane that does come out before it's concentrated enough to ignite.

[lostowl05661]

I just used my forge for the first time and it worked GREAT!!! I couldn't find the right torch that the author had used, so I got a benzomatic grass burner and bent the shaft to fit. See below. I have a question, though. There seemed to constantly be a skin of aluminum on the top during the melt. Is this normal surface tension or was it not hot enough?

[remik7]

This might be slag (impurities (paint, non metal material) from what you are melting, if you are melting pop cans, this is sure to happen. don't worry though, you can simply take it off using a small metal "rake", to skim it off. Hope this answered you question.

[lostowl05661]

Also, what is a good space between the crucible and the refractory? Mine seemed like a lot of space, I may pack it in a little with fireclay.

[lostowl05661]

How hot a torch? I found that if the blue flame from the propane torch wasn't directly on the crucible, it wasn't hot enough, even with a forge lid. When I made the handle the crucible, it suspended the crucible about an inch above the inlet for the torch. Even after 15 minutes the crucible didn't heat to red hot. I put the crucible down on the base refractory and it heated right up. Also, I was able to put the can lid back on to keep some of the heat in. I think I'll have to do it that way and pour with channel lock plier. It must be that even the grass burner torch doesn't produce enough heat. Still, doing this project really helped me feel like I could do this. Next weekend's project: The Gingery Charcoal Forge!!!

[didgitalpunk]

you could use an oxygen-acetylen torch but don't. why? simple: it can make holes in 5mm tmpered steel sheets. OC2H2 torch VS crucible, well say bye to your crucible.

[hintss]

will a bunsen burner work?

also, ceramic and graphite crucibles

[John Smith]

That "skin" is dross, or slag. It's a layer of floating oxides and impurities on top of the real metal. You should skim it off after adding metal and before pouring. From my experience, I'd go right to propane, skipping charcoal. It's more expensive to begin with, but it's more rewarding in the end.

[lostowl05661]

Well, I'd need a better burner. i've seen some sites on the web to explain how to make a good propane burner. The bean can has been a problem, and I am out of propane bottle crucibles. The steel crucible I had doesn't get hot enough with the propane torch I have (which has now deteriorated beyond the point of safe use) So, anyway, I have my charcoal forge now, and I'll use that until I can make a decent burner for it, then I'll convert it to gas.

[John Smith]

Well, if you do make one, I can tell you what burner i made. It works great, very VERY sturdy. Charcoal is great, but I have to say, the second you use a good propane burner, you'll think you were dumb to even try charcoal. No comparison. BTW, I really think that this instructable needs to be renamed. ITS NOT A FORGE! Forges are used to shape metal, this would be considered a furnace. The whole setup; a foundry. Of course it could be used for minor forging (maybe, i probably doesnt get hot enough), but the name is Al Forge. So either way, its a furnace. The name should be "Ultimate Guide to Making a Cheap but Effective Aluminum Furnace" I disagree with 'ultimate', because it misses out on critical, key points of casting aluminum, and other non-ferrous metals. IM me, (AIM), at Alt Ctrller. Or Email at [e-mail]. Or comment back here. hope that helped

[John Smith]

oh, and like i said, if you want to have nothing but fun, very little work, propanes good too. No setup, no maintenece.

[lostowl05661]

I have started this project today. I used a no. 10 Baked Bean can instead of a coffee can. I'm gonna be sick of beans for a while..... I botched the concrete. I didn't mix enough and it had too much water at the top. I tried to mix in some dry concrete, but it crumbled away when I took the can out. Still, the concrete goes pretty near the top of the can. When I finish the first fire today, I'll decide whether to patch it with more concrete, fireclay or just leave it be.

[DrMcLeland]

Dont feel it to much just finished my first attempt @ 20 coke can tabs, THEN read the rest of the instructions that says to remove the inner can after casting, ( I used mortor mix dont know how its gonna work thought that was the problem at first till I read the inner can is supposed to be removed !@##$$%%^^& and much more but I am off to try again :)

[cheeserdane]

i Iook your lid idea and with the other half split the top banana style to start a lid that can still let precious air in, but reflect more heat back to the metal.

[Aqlor]

What is the vantage of having aluminium in ingots?

[A good name]

It would be soooooooooooo awesome to sell the ingots for money... you could start your own aluminium recycling center :D

[teeth10]

that would be pretty useful, aluminum ingots cost around $20.00 a pound, and just think about how much aluminum a average city recycles? just put up some trashcans with "aluminum recycling" on top throughout the city and you could make a lot of money (especially in calif. or some really green place!) This is about 215 pounds worth of aluminum ingots in the pic

[kwxj61b]

Have you sold it for $20/ lbs? Because I really like to know if it's true or is it an urban legend, due to the fact that LONDON Metal Market price for Aluminum is around $1.02 / lbs USD.

[didgitalpunk]

you say have water nearby. i would rather use a CO2 fire extinguisher or a powder one because if water gets in some of your metal, it vaporises instantly and creates an eplosion of molten metal. insted , the co2 stops and pulls heat out of everithing to expand the powder in somme extinguisher is sodium bicarbonate. when heated high enough the bicarbonate transforms in co2 stoping irival of oxigen and so.

[kingcr3b]

a few words, FUN FUN FUN! But with the ingots can you re melt them so you can make valve covers, engine blocks, heads etc. as long as you have the sand castings. because I want to build a F1 engine... maybe... I drink a lot of canned drinks and i steal some out of everyones waste management recycle bins. oh or can i just make little parts out of aluminum?

[Steve66oh]

@Kingcr3b - It's a big step from here to casting engine parts - right off the bat the issue is metallurgy - what alloy is used in pop cans? Then, to cast a cylinder head or block in one pour (no other way), you'll need to build a much bigger system. For a job that size, you'll want to melt & cast under vacuum or argon atmosphere - oxygen (air) is dangerous around molten aluminum, that's why aluminum is ALWAYS welded with a shield gas. Finally, even the pros have trouble sometimes casting large aluminum pieces - granularity, brittleness, porosity... lots of problems if the process isn't very tightly controlled.

@All - a couple years ago, I took 600 cans to the recycling center, I got $6 for 'em. A penny apiece. Of course, the center has to make money, I'd bet they got $.02/ea for 'em... and the foundry probably gets $.04/ea after melting them into ingots... at most, I believe my 600 cans might have represented $24 worth of aluminum.

Part of the problem is that the cans are so thin. All aluminum forms a layer of alumina (aluminum oxide, clay) on the surface. Take a can, hang it from a hot dog stick, near the glowing coals of a hot campfire. The aluminum will melt & flow, forming a bulge at the bottom of the can. The oxide coating will not melt. By this, you can see how much of the can's mass is oxide. If your goal is to cast aluminum parts, you're much better off to buy/melt solid shapes of specific alloys - with bar stock, a MUCH smaller percentage of mass is oxide.

[2 stroke]

realy we get 5 cents a peice

[baatrhnearbtyon]

how long does it take for it to take from starting to molten metal???

[pinkhairkid]

question does it have to be quickrete? could you use just concrete mix?

[Steve66oh]

The best material to replace the quickrete would be "Insulating Castable", search for it online. I don't like the rocks in quickrete or concrete, or the lime - a castable refractory mortar would do this job the way the pros do it....

[sharlston]

it has to be quick crete concrete has bubbles and bubbles explode

[evanwehrer]

 Could this work with copper and a mold like this: cgi.ebay.com/3-4-oz-GRAPHITE-INGOT-LOAF-MOLD-4-MELTING-CASTING-GOLD-/380184046022 
?

[punkhead58]

Aluminum muffins!