- Joined
- Nov 15, 2006
- Messages
- 4,837
Howdy folks,
So this winter I need to find a really inexpensive way to melt brass (maybe bronze?) and aluminum.
last winter my brother and I melted a ton of beer cans into several mostly useful things. We used his old wood stove and air compressor in his shop. And while it did work, it just about destroyed the stove and we were unable to get it hot enough to melt bronze or brass. Basically we would just cut up some oak into smallish pieces (maybe 2x3") and then blow the compressed air into the stove. I made a couple of melting pots with long handles and we'd just keep adding wood and beer cans until we had a full pot. Then we'd scrape off the junk and poor some nice clean aluminum into a compacted sand/clay form and the extra went into muffin tins. It worked great, but like I said it also just about destroyed the wood stove.
So, I figured that folks here would be able to help us figure out a really inexpensive way to build our own furnace for melting non-ferrous metals.
What we have:
some 5 gallon metal paint cans
A bunch of scrap metal (1/4"-3/4" plate, pipe and tubing and a little bit of square tube and angle iron)
lots of clay soil
drill press
bench grinder
angle grinders
metal lathe (that is functional but needs to be rebuilt before it's accurate and consistent)
oxy acetylene cutting torch set up (we also have the gear to run propane instead of acetylene)
small wire feed welder
600 amp generator welder
plasma cutter
air compressor
A 40x30 shop
And access to a brick making machine
Big Brother (Jess) also has an excavator which is why we need to melt the brass. He keeps breaking the wrist pin, so we want to make bushings for an over sized pin. He re built it a few years back (and over sized it then) but it broke again. We also want to make some more parts for the lathe out of brass or bronze. And I need to melt at least 336 cubic inches of aluminum (at once) to build a new foot for my jumping jack.
Anyway, my idea is to build a propane furnace. The idea is to take one of the metal 5gal buckets and line it with something that would insulate it, maybe clay soil mixed with cement (on the outside probably) and then run a burner inside of it. We'd either use the propane torch or a home made burner. And then also use compressed air (not oxygen) along with the propane. I don't really know if using a torch would work or not, but it's an idea. I don't really want to buy a rose bud just for this, but I might know some one who has one.
Another Idea is to line the 5gal bucket with cement on the inside and use a piece of heavy pipe as a sleeve inside of that, and then build a skinny melting pot to fit inside of that.
For the crucible? melting pot? we'd use some heavy wall pipe, probably 6" schedule 80 at least and weld a bottom on it, and maybe a handle. We'll also build a lid but I don't have a good idea on how to insulate it so far.
The other idea is to make our own fire brick and just build an out door kiln type deal. Where we could use charcoal and compressed air. But then I don't know if we'd be able to get it hot enough using just charcoal.
Any idea's would be great
Thanks
-Chris
So this winter I need to find a really inexpensive way to melt brass (maybe bronze?) and aluminum.
last winter my brother and I melted a ton of beer cans into several mostly useful things. We used his old wood stove and air compressor in his shop. And while it did work, it just about destroyed the stove and we were unable to get it hot enough to melt bronze or brass. Basically we would just cut up some oak into smallish pieces (maybe 2x3") and then blow the compressed air into the stove. I made a couple of melting pots with long handles and we'd just keep adding wood and beer cans until we had a full pot. Then we'd scrape off the junk and poor some nice clean aluminum into a compacted sand/clay form and the extra went into muffin tins. It worked great, but like I said it also just about destroyed the wood stove.
So, I figured that folks here would be able to help us figure out a really inexpensive way to build our own furnace for melting non-ferrous metals.
What we have:
some 5 gallon metal paint cans
A bunch of scrap metal (1/4"-3/4" plate, pipe and tubing and a little bit of square tube and angle iron)
lots of clay soil
drill press
bench grinder
angle grinders
metal lathe (that is functional but needs to be rebuilt before it's accurate and consistent)
oxy acetylene cutting torch set up (we also have the gear to run propane instead of acetylene)
small wire feed welder
600 amp generator welder
plasma cutter
air compressor
A 40x30 shop
And access to a brick making machine
Big Brother (Jess) also has an excavator which is why we need to melt the brass. He keeps breaking the wrist pin, so we want to make bushings for an over sized pin. He re built it a few years back (and over sized it then) but it broke again. We also want to make some more parts for the lathe out of brass or bronze. And I need to melt at least 336 cubic inches of aluminum (at once) to build a new foot for my jumping jack.
Anyway, my idea is to build a propane furnace. The idea is to take one of the metal 5gal buckets and line it with something that would insulate it, maybe clay soil mixed with cement (on the outside probably) and then run a burner inside of it. We'd either use the propane torch or a home made burner. And then also use compressed air (not oxygen) along with the propane. I don't really know if using a torch would work or not, but it's an idea. I don't really want to buy a rose bud just for this, but I might know some one who has one.
Another Idea is to line the 5gal bucket with cement on the inside and use a piece of heavy pipe as a sleeve inside of that, and then build a skinny melting pot to fit inside of that.
For the crucible? melting pot? we'd use some heavy wall pipe, probably 6" schedule 80 at least and weld a bottom on it, and maybe a handle. We'll also build a lid but I don't have a good idea on how to insulate it so far.
The other idea is to make our own fire brick and just build an out door kiln type deal. Where we could use charcoal and compressed air. But then I don't know if we'd be able to get it hot enough using just charcoal.
Any idea's would be great
Thanks
-Chris