The Shop > Metal Stuff
Oil fired crucible furnace
vtsteam:
I'm really don't see myself doing that kind of thing with aluminum castings, Andrew, but if other people are, please don't follow my example! :)
I work with old pistons, bell housings, marine engine castings, old sprues and an occasional extrusions combined as melting stock, so heat treating this bastad mix probably wouldn't turn it into a silk purse! Those steel clips in the pistons don't guarantee iron-free aluminum either -- they were cast in place, so I'm sunk by GM and Ford from the start!
Spent the day making handle loose pieces for the pattern for the new flasks. And then making an even bigger wooden flask to make the flasks in. Kinda like a fish eating a smaller fish, eating a smaller fish, etc.
vtsteam:
Back to iron....I should update this thread. . .
I ended up building steel flasks rather than aluminum, though I did make an aluminum flask casting pattern in case I get a lot more aluminum some day. The construction of the simple steel flasks is located in a separate thread by that name. I also cast a new iron piece for my steam conversion in the new flasks and it went very well. I'm definitely liking the new gear. I also poured a second melt -- just some ingots made from scrap radiator material to clean the metal for future pours. I figured once the furnace was hot from the first pour, it made sense to do a little more melting.
So far the new crucible has held up very well. I haven't used any flux with it however. The last pour of ingots from radiator scrap does appear to have left some of the old pasty slag in the crucible -- I'm thinking of adding a little flux, cautiously, toward the end of the next pour to see whether I can liquify the pasty stuff, clean up the metal better and leave a cleaner crucible.
Meldonmech:
Hi VT,
That is a an amazing result, and justifies all your hard work and determination
Well Done Cheers David
vtsteam:
Thanks David! :beer:
DMIOM:
Steve,
I've just seen the photo below of your new carbide mill cleaning up one of your castings. Not only is the mill working well but very impressed how clean & homogeneous the casting looks.
Dave :clap: :thumbup: :clap: :thumbup: :clap: :thumbup: :clap:
--- Quote from: vtsteam on August 13, 2013, 06:52:15 PM ---Does a nice job, too. This was what it did to a back yard casting.
--- End quote ---
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