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I dont actually have any gold wire, oxygen, or chlorine. In fact I'm not even allowed to have chlorine. I'll probably only try this vacuum method if I really have to. If anybody else out there has plenty of bad casting aluminum I hope my idea is useful. I'm going to try melting them down one of these days when I can get the time and see how the metal casts into a normal ingot alone with no other alloys or unusual processes. If it goes bad I'll start experimenting. Aside from a vacuum I was wondering if vibrations have ever been used in casting to remove bubbles and help metal fill?
Registered Member #108
Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 11:44PM
Location: Billings, MT
Posts: 61
At school we did a little sand casting. I made an aluminum C-clamp that turned out pretty well. I tried to do it in brass as well, but my design was too intricate and the sand fell apart. It was still fun though; the sand would light on fire at that temperature because of the motor oil that was mixed in.
We had the convenience of a FDM rapid prototyper which made things real nice. The model I made in NX looks almost identical to the finished product.
Registered Member #79
Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 11:35AM
Location: Arkansas
Posts: 673
My dad and I built a foundry. We used to use it all the time... It's built to melt even iron, but we've never cranked it up that hot. I thought I was going to die every time we melted copper. Talk about freakin hot!
We've made a few things out of aluminium. We got quite a bit from a BBQ grill once. A note of caution when choosing your aluminium alloy. Some alloys I hear include magnesium, and anybody that's ever tried to put out a big magnesium fire (me) doesn't want to do it again. Just get a small piece of it and test it before you put it in. We've never found any with magnesium, but we test just the same.
We do mostly sand casting, I don't remember trying any plaster casting. It's run by a propane snowball and a blower and will hold about a 1/2 gallon of metal. I can give you guys some more specs if you like. We poured up a bunch of ingots once in muffin tins, and they mill pretty well.
Oh, and everybody prolly knows this, but mixing alloys generally isn't helpful unless you know what you are doing...
EDIT: Before I get a bunch of emails about being careful with magnesium... The fire was a transmission on a Jeep that had caught fire, and being on the fire department, I was called to come help put it out. That was pretty interesting.
Registered Member #532
Joined: Sat Feb 17 2007, 05:00PM
Location:
Posts: 11
If any1 watches discovery channel, they make moulds for aluminium by cutting styrofoam and putting it inside a iron box and they fill the box with sand. Then they pour the molten Al inside, styrofoam evaporates and Al takes the shape! They made animal sculls with that method!
Registered Member #177
Joined: Wed Feb 15 2006, 02:16PM
Location: Munich, Germany
Posts: 214
Thats not so easy as it may look. You need some experience in mould design, for example the evaporating styro will create pressure and stop fluent pourring if the mould ist made improperly.
Registered Member #79
Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 11:35AM
Location: Arkansas
Posts: 673
Hey guys! I talked to my dad about this thread and he said to check out this group: He said he got alot of good stuff from their files...
He also said to be VERY careful when adding aluminum to the crucible because any amount of moisture can cause it to flash boil or something and burn you badly. He always "baked" the next pieces on top of our furnace before putting them in to make sure all the moisture was gone. This includes pouring molten Al into plaster molds.
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Aluminium foundry
