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My heart always starts racing right before I'm about to pour some metal.All my senses are on 10 and I go through the same mental checklist subconsciously. It is a drug= productivity #stayfocused #backyardfoundry #lovewhatyoudo #grindhardstayhumble
Backyard foundry is happening. That's what! #pouringmetal #backyardfoundry #builtbybowman
First Aluminum melt of 2015! I’ve got a new furnace design, thanks to the King of Random (https://youtu.be/hHD10DjxM1g) and a strong desire to revisit metal working.
2015 will be the YEAR OF STEEL! MARK MY WORDS!
You can see here the particulars: a bucket filled with a sand/plaster mixture, complete with lid and easy access hole on the top. Still using my hair dryer connected to a dimmer switch blower assembly, but with a longer air tube. This solved my issue with the tape not sticking for the duration, due to overexposure to the heat.
The crucible itself is a propane canister that I sawed the top off of. Good steel, and it held up well to the heat of the furnace, but the width of it prevented me from having a good stock of charcoal in the chamber - I had to restock it every five minutes or so.
All in all, this design is a vast improvement over the previous model. I got plenty of scrap aluminum melted, with a smaller expense of charcoal and in less time, due to the lid keeping the bulk of the heat within the furnace chamber. A new tin let me make these neat little disc shaped ingots, which feel like some sort of medallion to me. This gives me an idea - look for more in a future post.
Further upgrades:
-Smaller crucible. This will let me get more fuel in the chamber, keep the interior hotter, and keep my aluminum molten longer, making for better pours
-Dedicated tongs or a lid hinge assembly. The lid was easily the best reason for the new design, but it’s still not perfect. A better method for moving it back and forth will help retain heat.
-Blacksmiths coal. The bbq briquets I’ve been using are certainly capable of reaching the temperature levels I need, but cause a large amount of ash (even with most of it burning away within the now hotter chamber) which scatters over my tools and work area. Cleaner burning fuel will keep things clean, and potentially run my furnace hotter.
