DIY Electric Foundry | Aluminum Metal Casting
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- čas přidán 5. 07. 2024
- In this project, we show you how we made an Electric Foundry to melt aluminum scraps into cast ingots.
STL file for PID Enclosure: www.thingiverse.com/thing:487761
The items we used for the projects are linked below:
(These are affiliate links and we earn a commission that helps us support our channel at no extra cost to you! Thanks!)
Insulating fire bricks: amzn.to/3fnsgYJ
Furnace cement: amzn.to/32dCGqe
Crucible tongs: amzn.to/2APBApk
Ceramic terminal blocks: amzn.to/3ehWefr
High Temperature wire: amzn.to/3foqkzt
Baking pan: amzn.to/2ZjCu78
Graphite crucible: amzn.to/3ekQUrN
K type thermocouple: amzn.to/38Rnkc9
Heating element coil wire: amzn.to/2ZmIZ9i
PID Controller: amzn.to/3fi9NwR
1” Angle Iron: amzn.to/301PMUW
125/250V toggle switch: amzn.to/328QmTk
14 gauge Power cord: amzn.to/38MktBw
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DISCLAIMER: THIS PROJECT UTILIZES HIGH VOLTAGE POWER SUPPLIES AND PRESENTS A SERIOUS RISK OF PERSONAL INJURY (E.G. THE HEATING ELEMENT IS LIVE WHEN IN USE AND MAY HAVE ELECTRICAL POTENTIAL EVEN WHEN SHUT OFF). ALSO THE FOUNDRY CREATES EXTREMELY HIGH TEMPERATURES AND MOLTEN METAL THAT ALSO PRESENTS A SERIOUS RISK OF PERSONAL INJURY. USE ADEQUATE PRECAUTIONS AND SAFETY GEAR AND CONSULT A EXPERIENCED PROFESSIONAL. THANK YOU AND BE SAFE! - Jak na to + styl
This was the most simplest instructional video I’ve seen by far explaining how to make an electric metal melting furnace
Thank you so much!
Thank you guys for putting the links in the description! I was going to build a different model I found on youtube, but saw some comments criticizing the refractory for being unsafe. I was scouring everywhere for a different model using fire brick and this looks amazing!
Thank you very much! Glad the links helped!
I use that refractory cement. It will crack after thermal cycling but then so will your bricks. Time is different because someone doing 10 smelts or forgings a day will hit limit faster than some one doing 2 a week. By then you should have made your money back though.
Incredibly well done.
Super clean build! I appreciated the video!
Thank you so much!
I loved this, it was very detailed and well presented
Thank you!
So cool! Fascinating process and I learned a ton!
Thank you so much! It was definitely a fun making it!
Great process guys! Tons of information. Didn't know you could cut the bricks with a handsaw.
Thanks a lot! We didn't either until this project haha. These bricks are so porous and light, it's like cutting chalk.
Amazing works !
Thank you!
Awsome channel, I hope to see more great content in the future.
Thank you for your support! 😁
hi! may i ask how many watts that coil you use? can i use room heater coil to make electri foundry? thanks and merry christmas and Godbless
Absolutely brilliant! Thanks for sharing! I think i will try to mimic this at some point.
I have a Shapeoko as well and would like to start machining AL. Could you suggest some good resources to get me startded? Thanks again for your video!
That's awesome! Aluminum is so rewarding to mill. Definitely check out Winston Moy's videos on CZcams, he's honestly the only resource you'll need to get started and comfortable. He also makes content for Carbide 3D's channel. Here are links to both channels:
Winston Moy: czcams.com/users/WinstonMoy
Carbide 3D: czcams.com/channels/NmhZxXrhuBxXaAazUf1Qow.html
Also, thank you so much for checking out our video, please feel free to reach out if you need help when you decide to tackle it!
Nice simple build, very cool! A couple of suggestions: don't rely on those firebricks as you innermost insulator - they're very energy inefficient. Coat the inside with 1" of kast-o-lite 30 li plus, then add 2" of refractory wool, then finally coat that with a ceramic heat reflective coating like itc 100 ht. it will increase the costs by alot but your setup will heat much faster and function much more efficiently. it will give you big savings on electricity costs in the long run.
Thank you for the tips! We'll definitely take your advice in the next build. Looking to optimize the design and make it a litter bigger next time!
hi, excellent job, could you tell me how far from the top edge do the gutters make, thank you very much
We equally spaced the channels based on the inside depth of the foundry. For our case, I believe it was about 30mm from the top
Super team. Mr & Mrs. Smith.( Black Smith 😂).superb project.
😂 haha thanks so much for watching!
I'm also making one furnace just like this but I really want to know what song you used in 1:54
U guys should try casting a nerf darts out of cans using this furnace. Making Metal nerf darts. For fun. And test it firing too.
Haha that's a fun idea!
@@IMEEMADE Good CZcams VIDEO TOO. would give alot of likes for your your channel
@@alanjagroop1282 thank you so much mate!
Very interesting project. 1300C makes it good for various other metals. Thanks for sharing your video and build along with materials needed. I did sub to you.😎⛏⛏🔥🔥
Awesome thank you so much!! We're loving the furnace so far
Do u have to use the fire bricks. Could it not be made from scratch. Using plaster Paris. To make the mold. Because those firebricks are hard to find and expensive. With the same electrical parts. Could it be done the same way like how they make gas Melting. By using a gas tank./metal pot. By Adding mesh and plaster paris to make the inside part. And run it that way then start it up from there . All budget friendly for consumers.
Not 100% sure, but it sounds like it should work fine though!
Does it have pre-built wired up electric power supply like those selling by itself. No full furness. Just the box that u build with all the small parts to make it work electric. The furness build is easy. The hardest part is the wiring.
It would be nice to get some info like current draw, Max temp, how to control temp, etc. Could this be done with IGBT FETs? Hmmm. Do the coils burn up?... Guess I need to try this and make a vid.... Solar power induction foundry/forge.
Did you run just 1 coil from the 3pack from Amazon or run all 3? And did you Cut the coil length at all, or use what it came as?
Yes just 1 coil from the 3 pack and had to cut it to length once we found the right resistance
Hey guys your amazing. I would like to build something similar but need the hold a very large crucible. Would I be able to double the size ? Would the controller power 2 coils instead of one ? Not sure if you could help me.
Everything we linked should be able to handle a larger size. You can control 2 coils with this setup if wired in parallel. Depending on how large you need to make it, we suggest making sure the solid state relay is sized to handle the load.
@@IMEEMADE your so awesome. Great advise. We need more of yous. Thanks again
Super neat little furnace. I run gas and have been considering a small electric kiln for heat treating and maybe even melting. Just a note - machinable aluminum alloys aren't always the best cast aluminum alloys. You might take a look at something like A356 - see how your 6061/etc stacks up in comparison. Usually you just need to add some other scrap that's higher in silicon (pistons, wheels, etc) to bring it up to a good cast spec. 6061 tends to be highly porous and just not behave very well when melted. Somehow a bit of silicon helps it flow better and avoid accumulating bubbles of gas. Keep up the great work!
Thank you for the information! We're still pretty new to casting, so we're going through the trail and error learning curve. We'll definitely try some A356 for our next project. Thanks again!!
A356 is commonly found in cylinder heads btw. Suspension components tend to be forged. I'd suggest checking out Paul's Garage here on CZcams (he has a wicked discord server - crazy helpful folks!) Casting has been loads of fun and recently, profitable. Just wait until you see aluminum bronze though... Lol.
nice !
Thanks!
Very nice. I'm looking at building a bigger one. Using a propane furnace right now
Awesome! We really like the electrical approach because it's silent.
@@IMEEMADE thats my biggest motivation. That and I can use it IN the garage. And more control when it comes to making brass alloys.
Yes definitely!
daaammn !! this is sick. another thing I gotta try an build from you guys
Eyyyy thanks a lot man! It went together surprisingly well haha
Nice project. However, the top is losing a lot of heat. Make a lid covering the whole surface, not just the hole, and put ceramic wool between as a gasket. That will drastically increase heating.
Really cool. How do you guys know this stuff. What are your 9-5s
Thank you very much! We just learn off of CZcams 😅
@@IMEEMADE same!
Do u guys sell this item. Could u sell it and how much will it cost.
Great work! Congratulations! I am interested to make something like this to melt copper. What is the max temperature? I need about 1100-1200 Celsius. What is the power in watt of your foundry? 5.8KW?
Thank you! The max temperature is about 1100C but continuous around 900C. The foundry is about 1.2kW
@@IMEEMADE Thank you Sir!!! you help me alot
You're welcome!
Great video. This is cool. Didn't realize an electric forge got this hot. How long did it take to reach temp, melt then pour? Sand casting next? : ) Mahalo for sharing!
Thank you! We were pleasantly surprised we could make this with our 110v house circuit since alot of the other build videos are international, so they have 220v.
It takes about 20mins to get to 900C and about another 15mins to melt enough aluminum to make a small flat bread we show at the end.
@@IMEEMADE Wow faster than I thought. Takes me longer to boil water. Mahalo nui! : )
Can someone tell me what the ceramic terminal block is for ? Or what it does ?
Its basically just a junction box that gives a central location for the wires to connect to
How much would you charge me to make one of those
I believe using a 240 volt 20 amp circuit would allow higher wattages which would heat the foundry faster.
Yup that absolutely correct!
how we want to connect the wire for pid control to relay and switch toggle
The wiring is slightly different among the PID controller, so we suggest to look up the manufacturers diagram to make sure proper wiring!
What voltage are you running this off? 220 or 110?
110v
I’m still not sure if electric or gas is better to make can this get hot enough to melt copper I doubt it but would be better than using gas when it’s more practical to put in a safe spot of the basement
I think it would but take way longer
You're right. It'll take longer going electric. If you can make it with 220v it would help
are y'all engineers? good content!
Thank you!
Does it work with 230v power supply.
The link to the PID controller has an option for 230V too!
How hot does it get? Will it melt brass and other metals with higher melting points?
It gets to about 1100°C max. I believe it can melt brass since that melts around 900C
@@IMEEMADE I'm thinking of using oven burners instead. Any advice you can give me?
@@rc_swift1772 Interesting! I've seen a few setups using oven burners, but I don't have any first hand experience. Check out the channel TAOW, the man is a wealth of information on this topic.
czcams.com/users/theartofweapons
From any material the heating wire
It's kanthal wire. We have a link in the description where you can purchase it!
Looks like you have exposed high voltage wiring. Might want to build a cover over the end where your element wiring exits the bricks to prevent accidental electrocution.
For sure! Definitely don't want to electrocute ourselves 😅
Your next project should be Solar powered electric furness. Or wind powered furnace.
Great idea!
Great video
What's the power consumption you reckon ?
We calculated that this setup is about 1kW max output - Thanks!
Do you know how much time does it take so the forge reaches 800°C ?
Thanks a lot
@@user-nq1qc8hb9v it takes about 15 - 20 mins to reach and maintain 800C
@@IMEEMADE Ow wow
Thanks so much for posting this video! Electric kilns/furnaces @ 120V seem hard to find on CZcams.
Do you mind posting the calculations you ran to determine your wattage, length of wire, gauge of kanthal wire you’d need etc? I’d like to build a similar kiln but I want to make sure it’s feasible given my desired size (#8 crucible), temperature (~1300* F for aluminum) and available circuit (20A @ 120V - probably less to allow for safety margin)
Thanks again!
How about the power consumption?
Additional info is on our blog
imeemade.com/blog/how-to-make-an-electric-foundry
Thanks!
Please get some lifting tongs and pouring tongs. You provide a good example of what NOT to do when taking the crucible from the furnace and pouring.
K
Nice build guys... well done. I am being picky but this is what looks like from a professional.
Foundry is the organisation or business that does the casting. They own, smelters and furnaces. You built a smelter and run a foundry. Like a brewery and a still... like that.
Also you fused mild steel with the TIG instead of adding filler rod? Why? Its a way better weld when using filler rod. That is why its used.
Did you cover the terminal block and exposed wire on the side you didn't show when it was operating. That would have been live and red hot! What was your solution for that?
Thank you for educating us! To answer some of your questions, we often use autogenous TIG for non structural builds like the angle iron around the smelter. It's just a structure to keep the fire bricks from getting ruined during transport/storage so we felt it was just faster/easier to forego the filler. But you're totally correct that adding filler is always best. As for the terminal block that's exposed, to be frank - it's still exposed 😅. Our thoughts have been to make a composite cover of sorts in the future and also add a reed switch to the lid as another user mentioned so it cuts power when opened as a safety feature. Still need a lot of improvements, so we appreciate the advice!
@@IMEEMADE you can get fiberglass insulation to slip over that exposed bit of heater wire to avoid killing yourself on it. It's like heat shrink tubing but it doesn't shrink and had much higher temperature limits
Cost?
We're made it right at $200. More than half the cost was from the insulated fire bricks since there were no local suppliers and we had to get them shipped during the beginning of COVID shutdowns 😅
You could probably melt copper with it if you polish it up.
Thanks!
I don't recommend wood, it burns, learned that the hard way :)
So I've finished and tested mine, but I'm have horrible results.
I'm using the same bricks, resistance wire, shape and other components to make sure mine worked correctly...
BAD NEWS:::.
IT won't heat up high enough to melt Alum. So wasted all that time and money..
The PID controller is set at MAX, but the probe only shows a Max temp if 552C. With the Lid closed. Alum needs 600+ degrees Celsius too get to. Liquid stage. Thid DIY unit can't get higher than. 567c.
To try to connect design flaws I've actually reduced the length of the resistance wire which based on my calculations should increase the overall temperature however I've only gotten to 571 Max..
This of course was after I shortened the 70 more 9 ohm by forget now wire length I initially cut his who based on your recommendations. I chopped off about two-and-a-half feet worth of wire and it is getting hotter this time but still not hot enough .
Hi James I'm sorry to hear that you're having trouble with your build. Feel free to email at info@imeemade.com and I'd be happy to help troubleshoot!