Since I was 14, I wanted to build a foundry and cast my own parts. It was the cheapest and most viable way for me to make metal parts. I recently just put together a very simple and inexpensive foundry from bricks around my yard and a propane weed burner. It works surprisingly well and I have been able to melt down a lot of scrap I had laying around.
Initially, I used soup cans as the crucible. I understand this is not ideal, but they worked for two pours each before breaking down and they were also free. I then switched over to a steel fire extinguisher that I had made into a crucible a few years ago in preparation for a foundry. This has worked very well and I should be able to get about 20 pours out of it. I am going to pick up a nice graphite ceramic one from Amazon eventually, but this seems to work alright for now.
Here are some pictures of the setup:
Here is a video of me pouring from the exstiguisher:
youtu.be/w6ki9nGptTU
That's it for now. I will be making greensand and casting some cool parts next!
Aluminum Foundry
- Josh Hess
- Site Admin
- Posts: 126
- Joined: Sun May 24, 2015 6:00 pm
- Location: Orlando, FL
- Areas of Knowledge: Electronics, Product Design, Manufacturing
- School/University: UCF
Aluminum Foundry
Science may set limits to knowledge, but should not set limits to imagination.
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