casting aluminum stock myself...

aw, i got temporarily discouraged when my 30 dollar crucible drossed shut and i couldnt chisel it out, lol…

after dinner, i just about buried it in “coking coal” and re-stoked back up and cooked it off soft, heh heh

managed to get another small “ingot” out of it, and got all the softened dross out in a clump. “achievement unlocked”.

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i’m getting there… the name of this game? is just to concentrate on MAKING LITTLE INGOTS. They look bad? but…. scratch one and its bright shiny metal underneath… when i have a little stock of them? thats good clean metal to melt down and flux and cast it.

when i finally GET to melting ingots? i can do an easy FLUX and pour.

theres almost no difference between my ingots i am making? and if i were to get “high quality” aluminum, say,like engine heads to melt down. The reason being?

you could GIVE ME 6061-T6 “rod stock”, and after its melted down and re-cast into a different rod size? its no longer “6061-T6” any longer…

the 6061 refers to the “melt mix”, and the T6 is the heat treating designation… melting it down and recasting in anoher stock rod?? gets referred to as “356” generically in the industry…

i can melt down marine engine heads? pistons? top of the LINE aluminum stock?

after melting and casting? its just “356”… which is ironically what melted beer cans are referred to as after meoting and casting, LMAO…

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buying ingots, or, buying better solid metal to melt easier? will beless WORK, but… wont actually yield me a “better product”

a GOOD flux? yields me a half decent result, and once machined? it looks pretty…

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i’m getting onto the home stretch now, i think… at least for what i need it for… all i need to do right NOW is concentrate on making a few more ingots, than i can make a bigger piece of stock.

theres no practical way to do heat treating and “working” cold or hot at home… the results? will never satisfy any engineers blueprint specs fo stock… yet? it will be overkill for making flashlights and other parts i need.

now that i finally gota crucible that wont burn up with taking a match to it?? i’m in the home stretch, i just gotta keep making a few more ingots before i get greedy and try to cast stock again.

i already bought the right grade of sand and clay to make a decent casting sand, that will come after “ingot fun”…

its working, its just a “war of attrition”. I will WIN, but… it will be a “pyrrhic victory” if you know the term.

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PICS when i get a little more done…

why not buy clean aluminium ??? price is less then 2 usd a kg

Interesting stuff.

Keep the story going sedstar! You’re doing cool stuff , and your great style of posting about it almost makes up for the lack of pictures :slight_smile:

JACK-BKK QUOTE
why not buy clean aluminium ??? price is less then 2 usd a kg
ENDQUOTE

really? well, THATS a relief. I’ll just send you the number of my local scrap yard, with you calling them from bangkok and telling them what to buy and sell prices at? i should be all good. (kidding, dont hit the rude button on me…) but seriously though, the scrap yard will pay pennies per pound for “scrap steel”… but, you go down and want a few pieces of scrap steel? to practice welding? OH, no… they want a couple dollars a piece to practice welding, all of a sudden its expensive “plate stock”, LMAO…

where do i go BUY it? i cant get it at walmart. whats the shipping cost? EBAY costs from 3 to 6 dollars a POUND for cleaned aluminum ingots… my neighbors beer cans are free… this is WORKING, i’m telling you…

plus? when i finally BUY good aluminum? i dont wanna RUIN it learning… this is perfect for learning on

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up until now… i have been trying to make more heat, or, just to get it into the crucible in a timely fashion?

i had a GREAT melt going. the 3 inch black pipe was glowing bright, i was just BOMBING clean cans down in, as fast as i could throw whole cans in they disappeared and melted. I know a good thing when i have it? i was just whizzing thru a great melt…

when i saw sparks flying around? this cant be right… i pull the crucible?? good LORD, i melted a 3” “endcap” like cheese.

you cant get this stuff at lowes or regular stores… i had to find a plumbing supply place that sells to big contractors to find it… i did not think it would have been possible to melt a 3” endcap? another good pic when i post pics…lol

i’m at the end of a coal pile, and every year a little bit left over stays on the bottom, i rarely get to the very bottom, its a mix and a pot-luck right now… i’ll have to watch out for this in the future if it ever happens again… super bright yellow steel is way too hot, note to self… funny thing is, if i WANTED to melt inch thick steel? i could never accomplish it… this was with the AIR closed off all the way, that must have been “coking coal” from a power plant run my buddy got mixed in with the regular house coal, lol…

it was funny, i just tapped it with a wrench? it was sillyputty soft, lol… pity though, i was making ingots left and right, that was one of the best fires i ever made, lol…

I learned a lot from Makerj101 re: aluminum casting

Where to buy aluminum? Did you see Post 10? You can get those tanks quite cheap if you are patient. I got my medical tanks (8 lbs without head) for $7 and my scuba tanks (22+ lbs for $15). Also look out for baseball bats. Maybe mag wheels?

There’s a local service for hydro testing scuba tanks. When they fail they can no longer be used for scuba. If there are any dive shops in your area you might drop in and see what they to with them. Offering more than the scrap yard should still be a win win.

I considered getting into what you’re doing and building a gas fired fuurnace. Wish I had access now to what we used for casting during junior high school metal shop. Gas fired furnace, clay graphite crucible, casting sand and boxes… Or, wish I had ideas I have now back then.

One factor that may be causing problems is the coatings on the can. The plastic lining on the inside and ink on the outside are adding a lot of crud to your melt.

I remember years ago when I did a lot of fishing we’d often build a fire when night fishing. We’d toss our cans in the fire and watch them melt. When the fire burned out there was always a bunch of aluminum nuggets buried in the ashes. Nice solid little nuggets of aluminum that had melted and pooled in the low spots.

all good ideas… coolness.

yeah… online i like “backyardmetalcasting.com” they guy made me think “hey maybe i can DO THIS” and not need a degree in metallurgy, lol.

funny thing is, i dont even NEED to be good at the “casting part”, it can come out rough… i am just gonna machine it all off anyways. its all good.

backyard website? has a link to a “forum” like this one, just not nearly as many people into it, though… one guy? said HE was a machinist, and was just “casting machining rounds” so he went with cheap home made casting sand, as it didnt matter, cast it rough and machine it off.

i was like “whoa, thats ME! good deal! thats what i wanted to do!”

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i bought another 3” pipe and giant endcap today, will get back to a few more ingots tomorrow, i guess. Its just “busy work” to make ingots now, more or less… the more i have, the more “machining stock” i have now…

it will be “a while” before i ever get adventurous enough to try to cast a light body or anything, though, if ever… i’m happy casting rough cylinders to machine on… and its even easier to make a “flat” of aluminum to mill it flat…

i mean, i know about a fingernails worth of all this, but, its WORKING. if i get any better, thats just gravy. i’m content now. i promise PICS when i have some more ingots and make a bigger piece of “stock” up that would actually be a little “pricey” for me to go buy it…

actually? the “mix” cans are made out of? isnt a bad alloy at all…. its okay for machining. i checked… MAN, i could have made my own motorcycle parts back in the day, lol… cool expensive foot pegs… free clutch and brake levers… all KINDS of stuff… this is kind of “fun”, too.

Maybe a dumb question, but do you have any recycling centers out there? 5¢ deposits on cans? That kind of thing?

I imagine they have to be able to recycle a good amount of Al with minimal waste to make it worthwhile, so if you find such a center, ask for a tour. Show pix of your setup, explain what you want to do, and just say you want to know how the “pros” do it. Even get free advice.

Even bitch’n’moan about hippies. They smell funny, anyway. Kinda like patchouli.

Some alloys dont have great stress strength …
There are soft weak alloys that can do a lot of stuff , but some alloys need to be strong …
One thing I remember from way back is broken break leavers … ( Weak alloy )

Some things need to be top shelf ( Foot pegs , break levers ) …

Generally the better the casting alloy , the weaker it is …
Which is why a lot of aluminum stuff is machined / not cast … ( where strength is paramount )
Casting is great for stuff that is cheap and easy , and don’t need to be particularly durable … ( Low stress )

all right, i will come out and say it… here i go…

1) every light out there is “aerospace quality aluminum alloy”… which about means nothing to me. ad copy. i mean yes, of course aluminum is endemic to the aerospace industry. whoopee.

2) lies about lumens? “zoomie in” and “zoomie out” make a 5 mode intoa 7 mode? ha2 is really ha1??
now… tell me the light is guaranteed to be made out of 6061 t6 alloy… riiiiiight. couldnt POSSIBLY be a different alloy designation? snicker

3) it is a flashlight. its not a stress point on the space shuttle. its a flashlight… if you machine out a “mere mortal alloy” and its nice and beefy? whats the problem?

4) i figure my machined light i make? will be… “basic” shapes? i am not a master machinist working for boeing…? so, i wanna make up for that basic design? by “going big or going home”. thicker. beefier. bigger pill.

5) i dont know, i wana try to make something you can punt like a football with steel toes, and it just gets scratched, lol…

Not picking on you …
Post was in regard to Motorcycle Parts …

What your doing is fantastic , …. But there are things that just should not be cast out of soft aluminum …

I sat in my driveway one morning letting my engine warm up … ( Motor bike )
I pulled the front break lever hard to test the breaks before going for a ride , I don’t normally pull that hard on the breaks ( But a test is a test )
The break lever snapped like a glass rod … Where it broke it was powdery and course … ( bad casting ) …
If it had happened on the road , it could have cost me my life …
The reason I did that … Broke too many break levers on push bikes …

This is for anyone thinking about casting …
Casting for yourself is a fantastic idea , but keep in mind the application …

so… how would you like a machined brake lever? that would be cool…

Does anybody make aluminum pipe specifically for making flashlights, basically the ID come in various sizes suitable for flashlight battery`s sizes and the ED in various thicknesses to allow different body shapes to be machine out.

I suppose this has already been done to save the time on boring out the rod yourself.

EDIT: Great thread sedstar.

John.

Sure … You can buy Tube …
Lots and lots of tube out there , some is dirt cheap .
Just think of anything that might be close to the size you want , like maybe tent poles …

A lot of aluminum parts are now machined from forget billet ( For motorbikes ) …
Improved CNC machines have made such affordable by minimizing machining time …

It’s been a long time since I been on a bike , hell I even remember breaking a clutch lever ( I think that might have been on my KLX250B2 from way back )
After that I learned to change gears less clutch … ( Not from a standing start - though it could be done with difficulty )

I think they make carbon fiber parts now … ( If you don’t feel like entrusting your life to cast parts ) …
So if I were riding right now , yeah the clutch and break levers would be Carbon / or machined forged billet …

But as with anything , there is that sliding scale from cheap to prohibitively expensive … ( For things that can kill you when they break = What is your life worth )

Story time :

I used to buy retreads for my car … I was young and wanted money for other things !
If there is a lesson anywhere , its Australian roads … They are littered by retreads that have de-laminated …
At this time I did not do much in the way of long trips in warm weather …

This one day I set out before sun up , to go Metal detecting in the Golden Triangle …
Was a two day trip … ( Week end )
The way out was cool … The way back was HOT …
Was about 4pm ish ( The hottest part of the day here ) … Temps around 36c
And suddenly there was a vibration that quickly turned into a spray of something , that turned into a skittish car ….
I got the car pulled over to the side of the road just in time not to destroy the rim …
The tired had been completely destroyed ( de-laminated and then self destructed )

Yeah , my very last re-tread …
Australia gets hot , the roads get hot , and rolling tires get stinking hot , hot enough to de-laminate ( retreads )
Under some conditions re-treads are fine , under harsh ( hot ) conditions they just might kill you .
I dont know why they were ever legal ?
Especially when Australian roads are littered with dead re-treads …

here’s me machining the first “dry run” piece of stock i made…

still in the “roughing” phase, i’ll skim off lightly when done, to make the tailcap and body fit like one piece.

but, notw this is the “first” and therefore “roughest” piece i made… they come out much better now, stock pieces…

this is working out really well…. i mean, 2” or 2.25” round stock? thats 30 dollars a FOOT… and i can just whip it up for practically nothing on fairly short notice.

next up? i’ll show some pics of the process itself…

Yeah, here we call them “gators” when they’re lying on the road like that.

Used to see them all the time years ago, but not any in quite a while that I recall. Either lamination got so much better that they’re not littering the road with gators anymore, or no one’s buying retreads anymore. Hopefully the latter.