DIY Mini Metal Melting Foundry

[Omega]

I was looking at this guys video on making a stealth shelf (another great video) and ran across this one and wondered if anyone is using something like this to melt lead. I realize there are better ways and, this one anyway, is too small for most of you guys, it may be made bigger. I first seen a setup like this when I was looking for info on knife making and it works great for that too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHD10DjxM1g

He also has this video on making and using an arc furnace to melt other metals such as aluminum, brass, and copper.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTzKIs19eZE

The lost foam/wax casting looks promising for making things related to this hobby, endless possibilities.

[MrWolf]

That is definetly pretty dang cool. Thanks.

[country gent]

Alot of Rugers firearms are made thru the lost wax process. Its pretty unique in that the ceramic / clay used picks up and dupl;icates the machining marks from the wax image. Its alot diffrent from the old sand castings. I help an old club member a few times cast freeland style scope stand parts in sand moulds. Members saved up beer and pop cans for him and he melted themn down and made scope stands for us at a great price. WHen he died the forms were sold to a gentleman who drilled and tapped the holes in them and made one last stand instead of using them to make an unlimited number of them. This gentleman would cast aluminum and brass parts or items with good results. He was a pattern maker by Trade. All his equipment was home made and built to do just what he wanted. He used a forge with coal and a blower top melt material with the sand mould heated on top of the forge to dry and get hot to make good castings. It did take alot of cans to make a scope stand LOL.

[DerekP Houston]

haha, those are the same videos we were watching at work yesterday. Tempted by a lot of his projects but the finances keep me restrained. I still have plans for a brick bbq/pizza oven and a forge of some type. Eventually....

[Omega]

Yea, I am already collecting the pieces for the stealth shelf. I already feel my wallet getting lighter and my mind is racing with the possibilities of casting with all the zinc and bad brass I have collected.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yvZbX_0lPw

[Ballistics in Scotland]

Investment casting for small gold and silver jewellery items etc. is done by centrifugal force. A centrifugal arm has the mould on one arm and the crucible at the centre. It is wound up against a spring, just a turn or two, and released to drive the molten metal into the mould with more than gravitational force. Larger ones may be done by gravity, and don't demand much in the way of modern technology. The medieval bronzes of Benin in West Africa were probably made with the mould and crucible built into one piece, and filled by inversion. Technically these were probably superior to the work of the Renaissance in Europe.

There is an article in "The NRA Gunsmithing Guide Updated" about constructing a motor-fanned coke furnace in an oil drum. I don't know about doing it in an urban garden, though.

[Rich22]

If I had an arc welder I would be all over this.

[dikman]

As an experiment I melted some brass in my coke forge (I made a melting pot by welding a bottom onto a short piece of pipe). It worked, but then I couldn't figure out what to do with it once it melted!! I have the bottom section of an office chair (cast alloy legs) lying around somewhere, my intention was to melt it down to cast something - one day. This stuff should melt pretty easily compared to brass.

Ballistics, centrifugal casting is also the process they use to make the small figures used in wargaming etc. It fills out the mold much better than just pouring.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

Yes, the deeper into a liquid you go, the higher the pressure. So the smaller an object, the less precisely gravity casting fills the mould, until finally the jewellers end up with moulds that gravity casting can't penetrate at all. Lead works well because it is heavier and a cooler mould isn't so much cooler. I still have memories of hollow lead soldiers with heads replace with matchsticks. I believe my sister has genuinely forgotten whether she beheaded them on purpose.

[dverna]

Very Interesting

Thanks for posting

[Omega]

If I had an arc welder I would be all over this.
Actually, this guy shows how to make an arc welder from an old microwave.

[country gent]

For many years we used an old Habathi cast iron grill for a forge. A sheet metal manifold was fabricated to cover the air vents and a steel tube to fit a shop vac to provide a blower. This worked for years for repairs on the farm. Used stoaker coal in it and it got plenty hot to play blacksmith. It did kind of limit the size parts that would fit in it. But a clay lined pot to smelt melt aluminum,brass, or copper would fit nicely in it.

[Rich22]

Actually, this guy shows how to make an arc welder from an old microwave.

Hmmm, I do have 220v in my garage. I need another project like i need another kidney stone but I have wanted to try metal working more.

[WILCO]

Thanks for sharing the mini foundry video.