Casting aluminum on a backyard

r3292c

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I'm not casting a lot, neither often. I'm casting more for fun.
I started casting aluminum a couple of years back. I bought some natural clay bricks in Home Depot and built a primitive foundry. I don't use any kind of cement to glue the bricks together. No, I put them together only when I need a foundry. And store them in a shed when I don't need it.
In the beginning I was using charcoal briquettes as a fuel, and old hair dryer without heater as a blower. That setup worked well enough.
The clay-grafite crucible is from Amazon.

casting1.jpg

I tried Styrofoam casting, green sand casting, as well as plaster mold casting.

casting2.jpg

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Then I switched to propane torch, it's much cleaner.
Here is a video of my latest casting. By the way, that bricks I bought a couple of years back are still alive.
 
I have only smelted and cast lead alloys for making bullets.
Do you have to flux and mix the alloy before casting? Or do the alloys in the aluminum stay suspended on their own?
 
The pieces of aluminum that had been casted are preferred. Extrusion aluminum isn't good for casting. Soda cans is one of the worst source of aluminum - extrusion, too thin, and too much dross. Aluminum chips are also not good for casting. Some people do mix aluminum and zinc, but zinc vapors aren't healthy.
 
Darn, last year I recycled 4 cast aluminum rims from my wife's Monte Carlo, and got 25 bucks for 4 of them. What grade of aluminum would you end up with if melting down car wheels?
 
Darn, last year I recycled 4 cast aluminum rims from my wife's Monte Carlo, and got 25 bucks for 4 of them. What grade of aluminum would you end up with if melting down car wheels?
I imagine a better grade than aluminum cans!
 
Pistons are also a poor source of scrap, permanent mold castings contain iron, which prevents the metal from sticking to the molds, and iron narrows the solidification range of the molten metal, making it necessary to pour excessively hot to fill the mold, resulting in excessive shrink and hot tears.
 
Pistons are also a poor source of scrap, permanent mold castings contain iron, which prevents the metal from sticking to the molds, and iron narrows the solidification range of the molten metal, making it necessary to pour excessively hot to fill the mold, resulting in excessive shrink and hot tears.
Good to know. Thanks!
 
Not that I expect to start casting any time soon, but what is a good source of material?
 
Heatsinks are not a good source - they're extruded. The better source is what had been casted already.
To get some material I went to auto service shop, and asked people there if they could share some scrap aluminum. And they gave me a cast aluminum car wheel. You can see pieces of this wheel in the video above.
 
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