Building a milling machine

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awemawson:
The surface area to volume ratio is huge for swarf and cans, so you get a disproportionate amount of dross (oxides).

You can best melt them by forming a molten pool from ingot, then plunging them under the surface with a poker or de-gassing plunger (shaped like the thing my mum called a poss and pounded her washing with in the 1930's and 40's)

vtsteam:
I've never seen oxides go to the bottom of an aluminum melt -- at least none that I've ever done. They float and get skimmed off. I can't imagine fine swarf like that residue wouldn't have melted in a pot full of molten aluminum.

That looks like steel swarf and pieces -- was it mixed metal swarf to begin with, Norman?

chipenter:
I have cast swarf with no problems just have to compress it well , tin cans on the the outher hand have printing on them , and something on the inside to stop the tast of the alie , and a melt of just tins leave a grey dross on the bottom I just make ingots of them second melt is fine .

Meldonmech:
Norman

I have melted swarf and cans in the past and had the same experience. By the time you have melted the scrap into ingots and the percentage of actual useable metal that results, plus the cost of fuel and your time, it is not worth the effort. Last time I visited the scrap man I got six kg of pristine aluminium for nine pounds. It did not even need to be cast into ingots, and there was no dross.

Cheers David

NormanV:
Steve, I was pretty sure that it was all aluminium but I tested it with a magnet anyway. There is no steel in it. I imagine that it just formed an oxide but I am surprised that it did not float with the usual dross to be skimmed off.
I won't bother to try to reuse my swarf or old cans again, I only did it this time to see how it would go.
David, I only paid 80p per kilo for my aluminium scrap, you should find a cheaper scrap man!
Mind you, I did buy nearly 60kg.

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