DIY - Propane fired aluminum foundry PART 2
Vložit
- čas přidán 6. 09. 2024
- A quick video to show you guys the progress to my aluminum foundry. It's nearing completion, there will be one final video when everything is painted and fired I show it running. If you like this video, don't forget to click the like button!
Smart Design - Good Work
thanks, glad you like it.
Thank u for the crucible set up ideas! Very simple and thought out. Please make a video showing how you made your propane burners. I'm pumped about seeing those fired up!! Keep up the great work!
No problem, I'm glad you like it. I will get around to making a video on the burners in the near future, I have built quite a few now..
Really nice forge, good work. Did you use a sodium silicate + perlite/vermiculite mixture mainly for the insulation?
Sorry just watched all three of your vids about this forge and have answered my own question. Clever idea using the inner steel tank, as I guess even if the insulation cracks it doesn't matter too much as it's all contained.
+EcoCrewAquaponics this one is actually a bit different then the sodium silicate and sand. this was my first forge, this one's easier.. this was just vermiculite and plaster.. it cracks and falls apart so the steel liner is a must. the steel liner steals a lot of your heat though.. the second foundry I built has no steel liner, it uses the sodium silicate mix. it's also a lot harder to make though...
how many melts do you get out of a crucible?
I've enjoyed U R vids for a long time and have found them very informative. Now - is there a chem test for zinc vs alum. Tnks keep it up.
subed for the foundry videos but your whole channel seems cool looking forward to your new material.
what ratio of perlite, plaster, and water did you use?
did you ever cast any ant hills? how did they turn out?
thanks for subscribing. sorry for the late reply.. I can't remember the ratio.. I just kinda "wung" it.. as for casting ant hills, found and poured my first big ones a few weeks ago. they are fuckin awesome. haha
+nilamotk I just completed my foundry and burner going to try my first melt in a few days. I went the waste oil route, I bought 3 gallons of vegetable oil for fuel. I'm aiming high and am going to try some lost foam brass casting for my first casts.
2" tall and 1/2 inch thick zelda triforce peices are what I'm attempting.
Those will work good for you, tricky casts are ones with thin walled areas and lots of detail. I have done a few lost pla castings (3D printed) and have cast my own brass baby bullet vise, pulleys and other usefull things that I use around the shop. Practice makes perfect. As for waste oil, I have been thinking about going the route, I'm actually planning to build a new foundry, but 5x the size.. I want to be able to melt 50-100lbs of aluminum at a time instead of 10. For one this size I will need a dual burner or most likely go big and bad-ass oil burner.
Did your top layer of furnace cement take a long time to dry. I have put it on two days ago and it is still soft. It has a hard shell, but if i were to push my finger down on it i would go into it. Also how do you slowly step up the heat to cure it.
Yes, all of the layers took quite a long time to dry due to it being a water based plaster refractory mix. It did dry eventually but I damaged the layer pretty severely and ended up replacing it with the new mix that is posted on my channel.
If you poke some holes with a coat hanger or something similar through the layers, you can help steam to escape that way, and the spall holes can be patched up later if you wanted.
As for a slow cure, run it as close to a bic lighter as possible for the first few hours, then turn the furnace up to 1/4-1/3 and run if for another few hours. When you notice the steam is becoming less and less apparent, crank the heat to full and run your first batch of aluminum. This will dry the mix out completely.
nilamotk I did the entire furnace with playsand/glass water/refractory cement, and then the top 1/2" i did completely with refractory cement. Hopefully that will work. trying to learn this all as a go. Would you be up for letting me shoot you a few questions and send a few pictures via email and let me know your thoughts. If so if you could send me a email. Thanks
I'm glad to share my CZcams with the public, but I don't like giving my email out to the public.. No offence.., But you can send pictures through my google+ I believe, and it is all linked to my CZcams.
If questions are asked in the comments section here, other users can find them (and the answers) if they had the same sort of questions.
One thing with this home made refractory mix, and I didn't make it clear in the videos, it HAS TO BE FIRED. It can and will air dry, but to gain its strength it needs to be fired. This is probably why you can push your finger into the mix still if you really tried. Once the mix is fully fired, it will "ping" when tapped with some steel.
Also because you sealed the top off with real refractory mix, it's probably a lot more "airtight" then my sand mix. It would be a good idea to poke a few holes in the surface down as deep as possible to let the moisture inside the furnace to escape, you can then patch the small holes afterwards (once steam stops coming from the furnace) if you cared to..
And if I was to do it all again, I would do it like you 100% playsand and sodium silicate.. And probably a layer of refractory on top as well, But I was not aware that I could easily make the stuff at the time I built the foundry.
The good thing about the playsand mix, is the "slow cure" isn't as crucial as with drywall mix... You have maybe 10% moisture in the sand mix, and 40%+ in the plaster.. Trapped steam will blow out one way or another.... The less water, the easer and less chance of screwing up the curing process.
Could you send me some measurement and materials you used on your crucible lift. I am looking to make one similar to this. Thanks
It is made to match your crucible. You just make some hooks, and weld them to a cross bar making sure you have clearance for it to swing to the side of the crucible. Give yourself about 3/4" for the nut you word on, and for room for the threaded rod to be tightened up and loosened off. Then just add a handle to your preferred length andakr sure the threaded rod is long enough to come out the other end.
Weld on* & make sure*
Alright I will see what I can do. How do you make the pour spout on your crucible?
I cut the corner off of some square tube, Then traced it to my crucible, ground out the shape and welded it on.