- Build a foundry that can melt Aluminum, the first link below is the foundry I made and the second link is to another foundry that is slightly smaller but is more reliable and it is the design my foundry is based off of.
- Melt down aluminum cans until you get the mass needed to make the hammer. If you use the volume of a cylinder v= height x r(squared) x pi for the handle and the volume of the hammer head can be approximated to length times width times height you can calculate the total volume of the hammer. The density of Aluminum is 2.7 grams per centimeter cubed and the formula to convert volume to mass with density is M=VD. After calculating the total mass needed you can begin burning the amount of aluminum needed, pouring the Aluminum into cupcake trays made things easy for me but you can use anything so long as it fits in the crucible.
- Once you have the foundry and the aluminum to do this project, you need to begin focusing on the mold, You can take Styrofoam or foam core to make the model of the hammer. When the aluminum comes in contact with the foam it will be vaporized and the aluminum will take the shape of the foam.
- If you look at the video of my first pouring you will see a few things you shouldn't do, no one was hurt thankfully and a lot can be learned from my example. When you set up to pour make sure you put the foam insert near the center of the bucket and fill in damp sand (not dry sand). press down the sand and leave a little bit of the top of it exposed. Around where you are pouring you can put a steel cylinder and this will keep the aluminum from overflowing. One last tip is to pour slowly so that the aluminum has time to settle down in where the foam is and to use a lot more sand so it make a large hill all around the foam.
- https://www.instructables.com/id/How-To-Make-The-Mi...
https://www.instructables.com/id/Aluminum-Foundry-a...
