Can anyone recommend some good quality molds for pouring copper or aluminum? I'd really like to make some coins, statues, figurines, and more from my reserves, but all I can find are some cheap one-sided graphite molds.

Burning old brass pieces I had laying around. Removed all the rubber and thread tape from them prior from burning

It was all going smooth until I was just about to pull it out, que green flame that wouldn’t stop. Pulled it out quickly with a face covering and just said fuck if and dumped into my molds without skimming cause the fire wouldn’t stop

hi, so i recently started doing some bronze casting and had the idea to make a goblet out of aluminum bronze since its golden color. So i was wondering how good of an idea it would be in terms of food safety with the risk of copper and aluminum leaching into drinks. reading up on the alloy it seems like it is used a lot for its corrosion resistance and don't react to any non-oxidizing acids and i don't think there is any drinks that are oxidizing. If not is there a way to do some surface treatment that would prevent leaching and maintain the color?

one big concern would also be it affecting the taste of the drink, but that would be a indication of the metals leaching and not be safe right?

also would sourcing the aluminum from aluminum cans be considered food safe?

Hello all, I'm fairly new to this hobby/occupation/trade, but after making a couple of simple silver coins last year, the metal pouring and casting bug definitely bit me. fast forwards a couple months and I've run into a bit of a silly problem though with trying to improve my toolset and capabilities.

The original casts i did were with some map/pro torch heads and a small amount of silver, and i'm working on upgrading to reliably using a full on furnace to be able to do more reliable silver pours. I picked up a 4kg Devil-forge furnace, layered it with the included rigidizer, and added a layer of ITC-100HT (what i could find after research and in reasonable time frame), let it dry, and finally was able to fire the thing up earlier this week. got the furnace itself heated to bake the layers, and got a crucible heated and cooled so it's relatively prepped. but now comes the problem i've run into.

I live and work on a farm, surrounded by forests, with limited safe areas for high heat projects, and more importantly, adequate locations for a cooling furnace or crucible. we've got a portion of asphalt driveway that, with some firebricks, is okay for doing the work on, but as for storage, i have access to a very crowded 2 car garage, or an all wood barn, neither of which i'm entirely happy with the idea of leaving high temp objects in unattended and unprotected.

while i do have plans for an eventual workshop build (way in the future due to time and current resources), what i'm trying to work on right now is some form of portable/movable platform for the furnace to be on, and be stored on, and that can likely prevent any potential fire hazards when stored away. i'm also hoping to get a few silver projects done in a somewhat short time frame, so trying to figure out heat safety is a bit important right now.

so I guess the question comes down thusly. as crazy as it probably would be, how feasible would it be to like, build a fire/heat safe....rollable dolly basically.... i'm picturing like, a "heating pit" hollow square of firebricks and heat resistant mortar i guess? on a metal dolly/rollable cart thing? that i could leave the furnace on, and probably like, a sheet of metal to put over the top when not in use, so that i can reliably use the furnace without having to wait for hours after a melt session to be able to safely store everything, since the bricks and stuff will contain anything flammeble, but the heat can still escape slowly while being safe even unattended. also the rollable nature would mean it was easy enough to store away quickly if needed.. (especially an issue in the current season with regular rain that can pop up from time to time).

also the barn and garage belong to my parents, so part of this is, you know, trying not to accidentally burn family property down X_X;;

Hey everyone, im starting an internship at an auto parts manufacturer soon and i only have basic manufacturing knowledge from school.

Could anyone recommend any good books or resources where i could learn more about modern aluminum die casting?

Thanks :)

Should I just crank up max heat, wait 20 minutes

Turn it off then flip it upside down or what?

I spilt like, a ton of aluminum inside of it the other side trying to melt down way too big of peices

Hi is anyone interested in doing a sand casting job my budget is $60. The material needs to be bronze aluminum or silver.

Recently cracked my fire brick from heat apparently, as I havnt dropped it and it’s relatively new

So wondering what I did wrong and all I can think of is not pre heating the furnace itself long enough

I always pre heat my crucibles for an hour, then the furnace itself for just a few minutes as didn’t ever really consider I needed to let it run at a low heat for an extended period of time

I made the kiln using fire bricks and have it all bonded together and ready for the electronics but I’m struggling to find something to put it in. It measure 14.5” dia x 11” h. Ideally I’d line a large stainless steel pot with some fire blanket and have it live in the pot. That way I can more easily mount things like handles and the electronics box to it and hopefully keep the outside from being too hot to the touch. Any thoughts? I was thinking a keg would be the best option but there really are none in my area.

Also do I need to put a hole in the lid for melting?

Hey guys and gals.

Anyone know a way to quickly remove PVC from PVC coated conduit?

It's not able to "de-glove" off the Aluminum like I had hoped.

No, I will not just burn it off.

Thanks for any and all help!

Hello, I am casting some bronze but my crucible is not large enough to meet the needs of the size of the cast. Is it possible to pour one full crucible into the mold then heat up a second batch of bronze and then pour that on top of the first pour? Will the pours fuse or will they remain separate? It’s ok if there’s a line that demarcates the difference in pours but I’d like for the sculpture to be one piece not two.

Thanks.

Hi,

can someone give me a hint, how to order and/or mix Suspenda Slurrry here in Germany/Europe ?

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I'd like to coat my 3d PLA prints and try to replicate he lost PLA casting

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So I was looking to buy a 10kg furnace from Devil Forge and noticed that that on their website the full kit is 399, but on the ebay account listed on their site, its only 308. Is there any difference or is their ebay account just cheaper/having a sale?
https://devil-forge.com/gas-furnaces/87-gas-metal-melting-furnace-fb2mb-10kg-full-set.html
https://www.ebay.com/itm/265335815667

I want to do a 30-40 lb pour of copper, I'm curious if there is a crucible that will hold that much and what are the dimensions so I can find out if it will fit in my forge.

I want to cast 30+ lb dumbells for working out, with copper being denser than steel I can go heavier and have smaller weights than standard dumbells.

I've cast 1/2 of a silicone mould from a small lizard (it was dead before i entombed it). I'm wondering what the most efficient way to spout, sprue, and vent the bottom half of the silicone would be. I plan to pour wax into this mould and eventually metal from the waxes. I know i can add additional sprues if needed but i'm trying to do as little waxwork as possible because it's so small. Thanks for any tips

ive red about some brands, devil forge is very popular. My budget is up to 600 euros. (but i can increase it if its worth it)

i want to melt scrap and basically anything.

i want to fit a good amount of metal so im thinking 10kg?

ive done some research and im almost ready to order a devil forge furnace , that includes the burner,crucible,tongs etc. But i feel i may be going the wrong path and buying something not worth the money?

Hey all,

For the past two or three months I've been smelting bronze with a MAP torch and a crucible. Just combining copper and tin and patiently melting and stirring and so on. It mostly started out of a fascination with the bronze age and how they did it back then, but it's grown into something I'm doing several times a week now ... mostly just making coins, etc. Obviously not the greatest quality.

Well, I'm looking to upgrade and get / build a forge. I'm asking what I should do or get? This will always just be a weekend / evening hobby, so I don't need to think professional grade.

Oh, I'm a hobbyist welder too and have all the PPE for MIG/TIG and plasma cutting. I took classes in that about five years ago and have been doing odd jobs for people since.

Thanks so much for your time and help!

Starting my first furnace build. I've a 3cm thick kaowool, and i was thinking of protect it with sodium silicate, and then an outer layer of refractory cement. My doubt is, can i completly soak it with the sodium silicate, to make all the kaowool liner hard and not easily comprimible, or this will ruin it and is better to only make a thin layer?

Newbie here, I am trying to find a graphite mold in this style. I have found Kit Kat molds but they are 500 oz size. I am looking for something that would be 500-1000g for copper. The 1000g Kit Kat mold looks like it is a straight rectangle and not trapezoidal like this.