/Metallurgy/ - Casting, Forging, Metallurgy, Metals, and Machining #7: Ow the Edge Edition

[Anonymous No.2420799]

Question: Do different metals have different flavors? If so, what metal is your favorite flavor?

[Anonymous No.2420801]

>>2420799
Checked, based metallurgist.

Copper tastes gross. Most irons taste ok. Aluminum is flavorless.

[Anonymous No.2420803]

>>2420801
Have you tasted beryllium copper before? I've tasted bronze/bronze tarnish and it was kinda yucky. :(

[Anonymous No.2421114]

>>2420803
Most of it is salts and sulfides. Probably tasted like fertilizer.

Also if it was ever cleaned with brasso that included waxes and shit.

[Anonymous No.2421206]

I want to make a staking tool out of some o1. I have a torch but no oven. how do I harden it and then temper it so it doesn't shatter when I try to use it?

[Anonymous No.2421265]

>>2421206
O1 does best with a soak, but you can still get something out of it without one.

Heat to non magnetic, quench in canola heated to 145 F.

Sand scale off until metal is shiny and use torch to evenly heat to a dark straw to blue and immediately quench in water.

You can also use a toaster oven set to 450ish and do a 2 hour x 2 temper. Dunk in water between temper cycles.

You can get spec sheets for pretty much all steels that will tell you how to HT them.

[Anonymous No.2421297]

>>2421265
can I get away with using mapp gas to heat it or should I use acetylene? I am planning on only making the tip out of hardened o1 and making the handle out of mild steel or wood or something.

[Anonymous No.2421301]

>>2421297
You can try. Set up a little bit of insulation like some bricks to make a lil chamber.

[Anonymous No.2421519]

>>2421265
This should work.

>>2421297
Mapp is fine but try to use a little chamber like anon suggested.

[Anonymous No.2421520]

>>2421301
>>2421519
when I tempered a spring I made before I put it on a steel plate and buried it in sand and heated it from below the plate. did any of this actually help?

[Anonymous No.2421575]

>>2421520
Sand is used in normal kitchen ovens to smooth out the heating and cooling curve that all kitchen ovens have. A kitchdn oven will have a sawtooth wave of heat where the midpoint is preferably in the middle of whatever temp you set it at. This means if you set the target temperature to say 400 the oven will cycle between 375 and 425. Not good for tempering steel.

I have a science oven that uses a squirrel cage blower that pushes air through heating coils and into a main chamber from the sides. There are 2 exhaust port on one side and a plug for ond. This style of oven holds a consistent heat very well, so no sand is needed.

[Anonymous No.2421576]

How far can you get in an apartment backyard with hand tools and no heat? I have space for a bench but no power and don't want to risk setting fire to a fence

[Anonymous No.2421680]

>>2421576
You would be surprised what you can get away with with some bricks, a torch, and a box fan blowing out the window so the firealarm doesn't go off.

[Anonymous No.2422199]

I want to set up a forge for doing stuff like knives and swords, and I've got an old bbq that's sitting around doing nothing. Could I use one of the burners from it as a heat source if I hooked up a blower to the air inlet ports and cranked up the pressure on the gas jet?

[Anonymous No.2422306]

>>2422199
I doubt it. Look into ribbon burners if you want to do a blower forge.

[Anonymous No.2422698]

>>2422199
Not quite optomal but maybe? High capacity burners have specific geometries and hole sizes/spacing for ideal heat distribution.

[Anonymous No.2422723]

Can I make an anvil by forging together a bunch of scrap iron and welding a steel plate on top?

[Anonymous No.2422726]

>>2422723
Yes, but you'll need a big ass quench tank and a massive forge to properly heat treat the anvil. Consider skipping the steel plate until you got your shit on point.

[Anonymous No.2422944]

>>2422723
Will it be an anvil? Yes.

Good? Maybe not. A good anvil is essentially a highly stressed piece of hardened ferrous material with a somewhat softer mounting base and core. It absorbs little energy and thus gives a superior hammering experience.

But of you just need a big chunk of steel to smash hobby stuff on then go ahead.

[Anonymous No.2423095]

Bros, it's been done. Finally.

[Anonymous No.2423214]

>>2423095
I'll be damned... It turned out like your drawing. WELL DONE!

[Anonymous No.2423245]

>>2423214
Hah I'm a little suprised it came out as well, especially considering how difficult the final tile weld is supposed to be, and this being my first attempt at something more than a random pattern.

30+ hours of work and I finally get to start making a knife. Decided to do a gyuto. Grain refinement and HT tommorow.

[Anonymous No.2423256]

I managed to make my tool but I fucked up a little I think. I meant to temper it to straw but it went to blue/purple instead and then I wanted to pick it up so I put it in some water but I don't think I was supposed to quench it again

[Anonymous No.2423266]

>>2423256
Well... For a non commercial-grade tool a little over tempering for a short period of time doesn't make much difference. Just see if it cuts into softer steel and if it does you're fine.

Also post temper quenching just ends the tempering, it doesn't do anything else.

(Unless we're talking weird fancy grain refinement SSS maraging whackery)

[Anonymous No.2423284]

>>2423256
Looks nicely made. What will you be using it for?

[Anonymous No.2423390]

>>2423284
it's for swaging metal over holes so pins can't back out and for punching witness marks

[Anonymous No.2424134]

>>2420801
I work a lot with copper powder. When it's fresh and unoxidized it smells of curry, but as it oxidizes smells strongly of dried blood, really annoying when you get it all over.

[Anonymous No.2424141]

>>2420799
I genuinely love the taste of lead acetate, aka 'sugar of lead'

[Anonymous No.2424149]

>>2420799
Nile Red did a video on YouTube a while back about metal taste and smell. According to the chemistry, metal has no smell, it's the oil on your hands and I think the exchange of ions that create the smell... I don't remember it exactly, it's been a long time since I saw it, over a year I think.

[Anonymous No.2424154]

Recently I tried a blacksmith course where I made a bottle opener and a knife and I really enjoyed it, however the student life doesn't lend itself to making a forge in your backyard or having the space for a gas forge. Any advice on how to scratch my blacksmithing/artifice itch while I'm a student who can't afford the space and money for a proper setup?
>>2420799
Potassium

[Anonymous No.2424158]

>>2424154
A grinder and belt sander don't take a lot of space up if you want to start we heat treated stock to make knives. Maybe if you have a patio or balcony to do it on. Just have to be careful not to run afoul of the /nofunz/ property managers.

[Anonymous No.2424173]

>>2424149
The oil and metal create some sort of chemical that has the specific smell and in the video he tried to synthesize the chemical

[Anonymous No.2424293]

"bis mif"

[Anonymous No.2425180]

>>2424293

No, "Bis Muff".

[Anonymous No.2425522]

>>2424154
>however the student life doesn't lend itself to making a forge in your backyard or having the space for a gas forge.

Depends on how you set up your gear. I fit one and a half Harleys plus tools inside two military wall lockers (not the narrow steel sort) and passed inspection.

You absolutely could have say a Rigid or other tristand (they fold up nicely and do many wonderful things) to hold a portable C-forge in the chain vise and be mobile. A hand truck will move the components and two could be optimal if you leave them attached.. You can add wheels (not little ones, but nice large scaffolding casters and similar non-pneumatics) to damn near anything for portability.

Portable anvil designs abound. Angle grinders hold flap discs and can be held in a tristand vise (gently) for use as field bench grinders. Welders do it all the time. A Jobox makes great locking storage and a good coffee table too. It's free to study and contemplate ways to make your gear mobile and mobility is a huge convenience even if you have a large shop or shops.

[Anonymous No.2426395]

>>2425522
What kind of profitable home smithing could one man do out of an apartment, I wonder...

Small tools like precisions chisels, maybe?

[Anonymous No.2426600]

>>2426395
Jewelry, repousse, engraving, silversmithing.

[Anonymous No.2426872]

Hot dog. It's done. I learned standard normalizing cycles won't relieve the overheating from all the forge welding and high heat stuff, so a full anneal next time. You can see the crackly look on the steel.

I think all the welds are good, but the lines are present apparently from decarb. Hopefully the full anneal will help with that.

[Anonymous No.2426995]

so what would be the best way to take the gold in this debris I’ve got in this dust and broken down crap and casting it into actual chunkies
what are the various methods I should look into to achieve such a goal?

[Anonymous No.2426998]

>>2426995
Mercury amalgam then burn off the mercury in high temp flame. (Do outside in a good breeze)

>>2426872
I think the grain texture looks nice...

[Anonymous No.2427010]

>>2426998
Interesting. It is kinda cool, but I want pure "white", and pure black layers preferably. The cracks may also be a sign of enlarged grain structure, which is pretty bad in a knife or any heat treated steel for that matter.

>>2426995
Search gold fire assay methods. Plenty of methods and some that don't require mercury.

[Anonymous No.2427103]

>>2426995
Dissolve it in aqua regia and then basify it out.

[Anonymous No.2427114]

Lead is genuinely unironically delicious

[Anonymous No.2427218]

>>2427103
>>2427010
>>2426998
So cuppelation is a less effective method? That’s what I’d thought to do at first but I didn’t know if it would burn off the pcb remnants and other waste effectively enough to keep purity up or if it would basically blow away since it’s essentially dust
thx I’ll look into these methods

[Anonymous No.2427343]

>>2420799
Oil embedded bronze. It’s sweet. I also like the smell of hot aluminum.

[Anonymous No.2427345]

>>2427114
This is a fucked up truth too- I remember chewing on a lead toy soilder of my dads when I was like 5 or 6 and he yelled at me for it. Will never forget the taste. Mercury too- delicious.

[Anonymous No.2427985]

>>2427218
It's what poor Africans do for TINY amounts of gold.

[Anonymous No.2428055]

>>2427985
so what if theoretically I had 3oz or so of gold pins that I’m fairly sure are >50% gold minimum, aqua regia still?

[Anonymous No.2428118]

Hows the grain structure on this?
I got my hands on some mystery steel leaf springs and forged out a knife. Sparks were like fireworks but a round file wouldn't skate on it on the first quench. Quenched again at a bright red heat and still wouldn't skate so I broke it just to check the brittleness.
It took some force from a 3lb hammer to break it so I guess the round file was way harder than any steel I have.

[Anonymous No.2428146]

>>2428055
It also works for lots of gold but if you're looking to also purify electrochemically then acid is the way to go. Otherwise you get Cu/Ag+ in the amalgam.

>>2428118
Surface decarb probably? Otherwise seems like generic high carb steel.

[Anonymous No.2428153]

>>2428118
That's waaaay too big. Doesn't look like enlarged grain from overheating. Try using a magnet and going a little past non magnetic. If you HT in a dark room you can wait for decalescence. It looks like shadows dancing in the steel.

Snap an old used up file in half and aim for something a little larger than that. Files have super fine grain.

[Anonymous No.2428264]

>>2428146
Yeah I’m going for as pure as I can achieve within reason, if I can procure the equipment and chemicals necessary.
how the hell do refineries get gold and silver up to 99.99% purity?

[Anonymous No.2428335]

>>2428153
Maybe I'll try a few more thermocycles before I quench. Strangely, when I test quenched a piece of it with water the grain came out very fine. Fuck mystery steel

[Anonymous No.2428357]

>>2428335
That will probably help. Something else to try is not forging too hot as well. It will make things a bit slower, but if you don't overheat the steel during forging you can actually reduce the grain size mechanically.

[Anonymous No.2428359]

Second pattern. Wanted to do a modified feather pattern, but messed up a step early on, so I just winged it to make this mosaic. The layers are kind of tight, but once I tile it it should expand out a bit.

[Anonymous No.2428679]

>>2428264
Electrical and Bromine Refining.

>>2428359
Needs some copper layers.

[Anonymous No.2428729]

>>2428679
I'm ethically opposed to copper layers in pattern welded steel. No matter how cool it looks.

[Anonymous No.2429073]

Anyone got experience with making their own forge press?
I'm looking at different cylinders right now and shits expensive.
I'll probably go for a double working cylinder that can handle 15t for 250€
>pic related

[Anonymous No.2429084]

how can i remove black oxides from rather deep pits without sanding them out completely? I need the part completely bare.
So far ive tried
rotary wire bursh, rotary abrasive pad attachment, steel wool, Citric acid bath, Evaporust bath
That black oxide is really stubborn

[Anonymous No.2429147]

>>2429084
Heat up a strong acid and soak it. That should the trick. I think hcl works.

[Anonymous No.2429808]

>>2428359
That would look awesome as a blade or backplate on pistol or rifle buttpad

[Anonymous No.2429903]

I don't have much to contribute but I do metallography professionally, at a foundry as a lab technician and now at an oil company. The NDT program I took in college had a couple of metallurgy courses and is where i started learning metallography. Just wanted to brag UwU

[Anonymous No.2430039]

>>2429903
Begone, furry! Real men and true Metallurgists use Chinese-Import metallographic equipment that barely works. Struers is for, allah forgive me, materials scientists.

>>2429073
Buy surplus hydraulics from old farm or tractor equipment.

[Anonymous No.2430848]

Tile weld complete. I decided on making a nakiri with half of the steel. The black line is tarnish and the white line is from decarb between the two pieces of steel. It should go away with my more thorough normalizing/DET annealing process. Hopefully.

>>2429808

I've got a nice chunk I can't hold in my bandsaw I may try machining some cool stuff like m4 dust cover or glock back panel thingy or the bottom plate on a glock mag. Should be fun to try, but polishing complex stuff will be quite time consuming. I found models online I can make machining schematics from.

[Anonymous No.2430963]

>>2430848
I’d unironically buy a glock back plate from you if it was made of that beautiful block
ToT

[Anonymous No.2431006]

>>2430963
Well maybe I'll see what I can do. I'm thinking I can use my diving head for the radii, but I will need to make a fixture.

I'm also a little weary on machining because the steel gets a little hard even when you're not trying. Full anneal should solve that problem. Hopefully.

One day I'll have a miniature cnc mill!

[Anonymous No.2432371]

>>2431006
Just use file guides and do it manually like a MAAAAANNNNNN!

[Anonymous No.2432803]

This came out pretty cool. The more extended and proper annealing/normalizing/grain reduction seems to have gotten rid of all crackling.

>>2432371
I almost have the patience for that. Almost.

[Anonymous No.2432907]

>>2432803
How much would a piece like that sell for with a quality handle? How much as a blank to knife makers?

[Anonymous No.2432948]

>>2432907
I'd be really happy with 900-1200 usd for the finished knife. 900 for a great handle, but not a fancy figured wood with a brass ferrule.

I'd sell a 2x13x.25 inch bar for probably 200-300ish dollars in a totally annealed state. That would leave stock removal or additional forging as viable options.

I need to actually calculate the time, materials, gas for it tho, so that estimate may be wildly off.

Mosaic damascus patterns are very time consuming and expensive to make. This pattern took 5 seperate forge welding steps with an average of 1-2 hours of prep between each forge weld + slow cooling between each step.

[Anonymous No.2433761]

>>2432948
Seems fair to me but you should get those numbers crunched. Also be sure to do some with copper and silver next. :^)

[Anonymous No.2434670]

Bamp

[Anonymous No.2435402]

Are metal crystals more powerful than normal crystals? I want to try and sell them to women for premiums.

[Anonymous No.2435561]

>>2435402
just make up some shit and make them extra pretty. Bismuth crystals are really fun.

[Anonymous No.2436140]

Is it possible to stack dimes on 304 with SMAW?

[Anonymous No.2436154]

>>2436140
Super Mario Allstars + World?

[Anonymous No.2436159]

>>2436140
Yes. If you tried. But why would you? Fillet welds are better for almost every application. "Stacking dimes" only matters once you start getting to skins and pressure vessels (i.e. aerospace/high end chem), at which point you can afford real equipment.

[Anonymous No.2436384]

Any idea what a good steel would be for making hoes or trowels? It would need to be strong and durable but not so hard it'll crack on a rock. I'm guessing 1045 or 1060?

[Anonymous No.2436417]

>>2436384
Check steel used by us fire service for their shovels.

[Anonymous No.2436490]

I'm looking for a TIG torch with a gas valve. What kind of torch can use picrel?

[Anonymous No.2436491]

>>2436490

[Anonymous No.2436958]

I'm trying to figure out an easier (than unga bunga hammer) way to punch old style triangle rivets, perhaps using a modified drill press or reloading press. Any clever ideas or just attach a plate or two and use a press?

[Anonymous No.2437341]

>>2436958
I am unfamiliar with a triangle rivet.

>>2436384
Go with a steel which will only surface-harden.

[Anonymous No.2437495]

>>2437341
Pic related; IDK if there's another name.
The rivet itself is just a scrap of sheet metal, a little triangle cut off of a corner somewhere.
They're very small which is nice but it's a labor intensive process that I'd like to make easier.

[Anonymous No.2437552]

how do i make a clean hole through sheetmetal?
i'm trying to insert a 1" pipe through the lid of a paint can.
i tried with some mason jar lids, first using a spade bit (this is a very bad idea) and then with a hole saw. both times, the metal really wants to walk out from under the bit and the bit ends up tearing off ribbons of metal. i tried going slow, i tried going fast.
i held it with a vice and used a drill press, and still i get nasty edges.
ideally i'd want an absolutely beautiful, water-tight seal where i can just press the pipe through the lid and it works perfectly, but it's fine if i have to put plumbing tape or silicone around it or whatever.
i was also considering maybe like, using a dremel to approximate a circle, and then maybe filing the edges?
or maybe pushing a metal spike (or increasingly large dowels) into the can so that the hole opens inwards and there's a lip or skirt of material to provide a better seal on the pipe.

[Anonymous No.2437563]

>>2437552
Knockout punch. You aren't going to get watertight in sheet without a grommet.

[Anonymous No.2437809]

>>2437495
Oh...A really sharp chisel on a sacrificial solid wood surface. Cuts sheet steel cleanly if you hit it with courage. Otherwise you need a shear break.

Then just use the right sized hammer for the job.

>>2437552
Knockout punch like anon suggested.

Orrrrrrr clamp it between two solid pieces of metal and drill with a cut out thick fabric piece between.

Orrrrrrr a step-bit.

[Anonymous No.2437817]

>>2437563
>>2437809
i ended up using a step bit. never used one before but it made a pretty fuckin nice hole. a punch would probably have left me with cleaner edges, since the bit curved them in the direction of drilling, but it worked out.

[Anonymous No.2437863]

I'm writing a fantasy book and a big part of the magic is elemental, including metals. Figured I'd ask you guys since you have real experience.

What would the impact of having total control over any metallic element really be? What would that mean for the development and creativity of forging/general metalworking? Not ATLA style where you can throw it around and make it float and all that, but in terms of craft; you no longer have to heat or coax metal to change its shape, you no longer need powered tools to cut metal, you no longer need to deliberately alter its composition in any way chemically or physically in order to improve its quality - you can do everything you need to do with your bare hands, working the metal as easily as clay. You can draw a line down a sheet of metal with your finger, cutting it perfectly clean like paper. You could crumple an ingot of steel and play with it and furl it up and tussle it until it's as delicate as a rose.

Would your current projects be faster? What projects could you do now that you couldn't before? Do you think it'd be easier, or harder, to work with your hands instead of tools?

And this is more of a speculative, personal question: but do you think with this ability, 10 men could produce more armaments/jewelry/industrial implements (tools, nails, hinges, etc) faster than 50 men could through traditional means? 10 vs 100? When do you think those 10 men would be outpaced even without needing the conventional equipment, heat source, and open workshop space to function?

[Anonymous No.2437866]

>>2437863
"You no longer need to deliberately alter... ...to improve its quality."

Magic improvements = 1 guy is better than the entire aerospace industry combined.

"... no longer have to heat..."

There goes 99% of the man-hours required in metal working and ore refinement.

It's easy to shape, and it is dumb magic strong... But to what dimensional tolerance? If this this is middle-ages 1 man could make 500 men's entire yearly worth of nails in one day. Metal would be as cheap and plentiful as clay brick. Even WW1 tanks could be spit out by the dozens in hours by a few dudes.

Your powers as described would make metal houses, clothes, furniture, tools, furnishings, etc. the most economical thing to produce.

[Anonymous No.2437870]

>>2437866
Metalsmiths would have a job as special tank busters. Just walk up and push your hand through a tank and rip it apart.

Could probably do some nonsense with two guys holding a funnel and shooting a stream of hydraulically pushed lead at a high speed at their enemies.

[Anonymous No.2437871]

>>2437866
I will say for added context that by the act of improving the quality of the metal I mean whatever is required to temper it or harden it or improve upon its base qualities to make it better suited to its purpose, like you do with forging a sword in real life. Sorry, I didn't mean as in any sort of straight up alchemical or elemental changes; whatever metal it is, it's entirely an immutable aspect that can't be changed. Now, doing something like turning iron into steel by removing impurities, they can do that - they can do the equivalent of what a flux like carbon can do by working it with their hands over time. Turning steel into platinum, iron into gold, creating any sorts of alloys without the necessary counterparts on hand? None of that can be done.
Furthermore it's a literal hands on process, when they aren't actively making contact with the work it will retain whatever property or form it was given and persist again as a solid piece of metal.

I'm not exactly sure what dimensional tolerance means in layman's terms either, sorry. If you mean like, if it were abstractly represented on a scale - "iron armor" being a 5, and "steel armor" being say, 6.5, whether it's made conventionally or through magic it'll still be a 6.5 at base. It's purely a physical manipulation of material in the world through magic, no real additional supernatural effects in that regard. Just like real life in this world the only way to make armor truly stronger is to use higher quality materials and simply put the elbow grease in and have the skill and design principles to make it work. I mean yeah, there's "enchanting" and fantasy materials and other fictional elements but those are far and few between.

[Anonymous No.2437872]

>>2437809
The hole punching isn't the problem, the problem is flattening the rivet itself.
I'm going to need to do hundreds of these so hammer isn't something I'm considering viable.

[Anonymous No.2437873]

>>2437871
Realizing I should have said "you no longer need to deliberately alter its composition in any way chemically or physically" with ADDITIONAL implements, like tools, or skimming molten scum away or using a flux. It still takes time and effort of course. Horrible analogy, but it's like if you had to polish a turd ball with the palm of your hand: the shinier the ball got would be similar to how closer you would be getting from a chunk of iron to a workable piece of steel. Achieving shininess in your turd ball is like removing impurities, whereas achieving roundness in your turd ball as opposed to log-like lumpiness would be a rough equivalent to attaining that form fitting shape you want with the metal. It's definitely an acquired skill and still takes patience, just the same as it would be making a vase out of clay.
Sorry, don't mean to make these posts so scatterbrained and piecemeal, I'm usually autistically explaining these concepts through prose and dialogue over whole pages, and I'm pretty stoned as well.

[Anonymous No.2438167]

>>2437873
Could a trained metallurge make a piece of metal EXACTLY 1" long or would it be the same as a skilled tradesman "eyeballing" a 1" long piece? If they can't make "dimensional tolerance" then they would be worth a 100 skilled and trained blacksmiths until magitech (magic assisted lathes/drill presses/end mills) become a thing. Then they would be relgated to ore-refinement and roughcasting for later machining by magitechs and the top-tier magineers.

Basically an entire class of super-elite magicraftsmen would be relegated to a new second-class laborer as magitech evolved. Would probably cause a lot of social strife, unions, violence...

Also stop smoking weed you coward.

[Anonymous No.2439246]

Bamp

[Anonymous No.2440101]

>>2420799
Guys i'm going to make steel armors with "medieval" decorative designs.
Should i use 20 or 21 gauge stainless steel?
I did my research but they use gigatools but i just have a bimetalic saw and an aviator snip.
Any advice?

[Anonymous No.2440147]

>>2440101
Make simple little things that utilize the skills necessary for armor making. Sell those things on etsy or wherever. As your skills increase you will be able to afford better tools. You'll be ready to make good armor by the time you can afford everything needed to properly work sheet steel into armor. Simple as.

[Anonymous No.2440349]

>>2438167
Sorry for the late reply, my water heater exploded into my closet and I've been installing a new one, almost forgot about this. Sucked ass but it's done.

But yea, unless they had a ruler it would be the same as eyeballing it. It's all a sort of will-based functionality though so if you're skilled, and experienced, and you want the 1" piece, you're going to get the 1" piece. Could it be off a tiny hair one way or the other if you're going quick and banging pieces out? Oh yea. Perfect, mathematical precision enforced atop the chaos of the material world is a whole other magical principle for them, though.

You are right, by the way. I'm getting pretty close to stopping actually. I'll have to soon for college if I get in.

[Anonymous No.2440490]

>>2420801
I like copper, iron and i mean real basic pig iron buffing fancy bout it is the best tasting metal

[Anonymous No.2440841]

>>2440101
Per Anon's advice (>>2440147) make small decorative saucers or plates or coasters. You'll quickly learn which gauge and tools you need.

[Anonymous No.2441236]

can i cast a 3mm thick pot out of 90/10 aluminum bronze in the home foundry, or will shrinking defects fuck me and im left with cavities and partial 1mm wall thickness?
thinking of doing a core cast with resin bound sand and have the rest made from petrobond.
Im in process of designing the master right now, but cant cast until we've seen some rain

[Anonymous No.2441467]

>>2441236
If you can preheat... If not... You need very specific gating designs. VERY specific.

[Anonymous No.2441772]

>>2441467
>If you can preheat
i never did that before
if i preheat resin sand and petrobond with a torch, wont it burn the binder away and crumble?

might switch over to silicon bronze for this

[Anonymous No.2442037]

>>2441772
You're trying to cast pots with oil-bonding jewlery sand?...

Switch to sodium silicate. Don't really need a CO2 canister if you have patience.

Cast it with the bottom on the top and the lip at the bottom. Fill with large semicircular gating level with the lip with a large open-air riser above the base. No vents needed. Pour fast until you see the riser filled up. You can also overheat the shit out of the aluminum to guarantee flow and fill but beware that you will need very slow cooling from the bottom-up. (Pour on a large slab of metal and cover the mold/riser/sprue with a fiberglass blanket)

Or if you're fucking insane you can do it the way statue-makers do it by pouring the molten metal out after only the skin has cooled.

[Anonymous No.2442182]

Are there any downsides to using a thermite reaction to create stainless steel?
https://youtu.be/G_haToAsS0s?t=532

[Anonymous No.2442186]

>>2442182
Full of dirt
Full of porosity
Bad homogeneity
Bad chemistry
Full of gasses

[Anonymous No.2443078]

>>2420799
How were shafts made before the lathe?

>>2442186
>dirt
>homogeneity
>bad chemistry
Couldn't that be solved by remelting and using extra chromite in the thermite reaction. Any dirt and chromium that didn't join the steel would separate out due to density.

>porosity
Just hammer it out.

[Anonymous No.2443084]

>>2443078
the lathe is one of the oldest machine tools human invented, by the time we were able to cast rods they were advanced more than enough to do a shitty cast in place bearing surface.
The first metal lathes did not have a crosslide, the tool was handheld like in wood turning

Before and long after wood shafts were common.

[Anonymous No.2443178]

>>2443078
Or you could have just melted iron with high quality charcoal/forced air and added standard metallurgy-grade alloy sources and casted it into a standard-sized blank.

Also, you DID see his knife had a giant hammered-in seam?

[Anonymous No.2443208]

>>2442182
>English spoken in a German accent
Spoiler that shit, fucking hell.

[Anonymous No.2443244]

>>2443208
sounds russian to me desu

[Anonymous No.2443305]

>>2420799
Lead has a very interesting metallic smell. I do not recommend breathing it in on a regular basis.

[Anonymous No.2443529]

I sharpened a knife on a 400 grit whetstone and the steel around the edge seemed to darken and change to an amber color like I tempered it. How could I have possibly changed the heat treat using a water stone??

[Anonymous No.2443682]

>>2443529
Was it a powered round whetstone without water cooling?

Otherwise that may just be the oxidized debris from the sharpening having stained the surface.

[Anonymous No.2443718]

>>2443682
No, I used a block with water and it never got hot to the touch. If it's oxidization, I'd really like to prevent this in the future.
It's such a shame I got it razor sharp and ready but have to buff it out now.

[Anonymous No.2443731]

I made a forge, it's my first attempt, what do you think? It's bentonite and sand lined with a hair dryer as a blower. I'm fuelling it on charcoal but am struggling to get to forge welding temps. Should I reshape the firebox?

[Anonymous No.2443733]

>>2443731
Picrel

[Anonymous No.2443765]

>>2443731
the firebox is fine, this has been in use for decades, but charcoal is not the right stuff for this setup.
You want real blacksmith coal. Shape a mountain and rub the outside with a wet rag. This will make the coal stick together and form an insulating dome

[Anonymous No.2443798]

>>2443733
>>2443765
You need quality softwood charcoal if you want forge welding I think. Otherwise you want bituminous coal like dude said.

[Anonymous No.2443847]

question four my foundrymen

couple years back there was this wave of youtubers building a small scale carbon electrode smelter out of a firebrick. Wondered if anyone ever tried to upscale this to his homefoundry, does anyone know of such a project?
I got acess to a 200A 100% duty cycle welder and im tempted to order some rods

[Anonymous No.2443991]

>>2443718
Use WD40. No cap, fr fr. It is a very effective polishing lubricant.

>>2443731
Per Anon's suggestion you at least need a more insulative shape to concentrate heat to get enough heat, think paint can filled with fire material. Otherwise you need high quality coal or charcoal.

>>2443847
It works. Be aware that these designs are not commercial grade and have unacceptable electrode wear rates and poor atmospheric flow and heat control. Prone to electrical failures. GREAT for small, low duty cycle stuff. DON'T LOOK DIRECTLY AT THE ARC!

[Anonymous No.2444192]

>tfw study metallurgy in uni
>Professor is a psycho technologist and wants his students to know every detail of the process and everything else
Literally a pass means I'll become an expert in metallurgy, well without any practical skill.

[Anonymous No.2444215]

>>2444192
>Waaaaah my prof expects me to learn and won't just pass me for no effort

[Anonymous No.2444527]

>>2420799
I want to remelt aluminum cans but the internet says not to bother. I have access to lots of them. Anyone do this? Does it just create a lot of waste?

[Anonymous No.2444529]

>>2444527
Do it by weight. 30-35% of your initial cans is waste by weight. So if you want to oast something that weighs 2 lbs, that's like 5 pounds of aluminum cans so you have enough for waste and sprues and risers and shit

[Anonymous No.2444564]

>>2444529
Would it make sense to process the cans into "ingots" for easier storage?

[Anonymous No.2444571]

>>2444564
Just crush them. You're losing money by burning propane.

[Anonymous No.2444575]

>>2444564
I guess?

If you're tryingnto recycle it they'd rather just have the cans they pay you more.

If yoyngot something to make, just cast it. Then pour ingots out if whatever you have left. Steel muffin pans or bread moulds I've seen used

[Anonymous No.2444616]

>>2420799
Just got a TIG torch for running on argon in DC-. Tungsten is sharp and everything is clean. I'm experiencing a weak pulsating arc that goes from a faint blue cone to an even fainter glow. The 14-ga (.075") stainless doesn't even turn red going up to 100 amps. Only when I long arc it, does the arc start to stabilize and heat the metal. The machine works fine on stick.

>>2443084
How much speed could one get out of cast shafts and bearings?

>>2443178
The melting point of chromium is insanely high. Also, carburization of stainless steel increases the susceptibility to corrosion. I actually designed a charcoal furnace where pre-heated air would combust with charcoal only after interacting with the steel. But who knows how economical it would be to get the heat transfer working properly. Even an arc furnace would be simpler.

[Anonymous No.2444983]

>>2444616
>How much speed could one get out of cast shafts and bearings?
the machine that grinds ballbearings was not invented until the 1880s, so it was at least good enough for the industrial revolution.
Everything prior to that and in some cases even after WW2 relied on babbit like or hardwood bushings

[Anonymous No.2445119]

>>2444983
>>2444616
Do you have some sorta soft-start mode that isn't kicking over?

Also babbit-type bearings are better than ball bearings for high speed. Fluid film bearings of the babbit variety have more oil film.The issue is that ball bearings are so much easier to install to tight tolerances than a theoretical perfect babbit. Also a babbit will move as it operates forever whereas a ball bearing holds better tolerances until it dies. Lastly a good roller or ball bearing has way better low-speed performance than babbit due to the reduced surface area but harder bearing surfaces. Tradeoffs!

Cr in the presence of liquid Fe will have a CHEMICAL drive to melt into the iron. Look at the Cr/Fe phase diagram. A fine powdered Cr melts right in if properly agitated. Also a proper crucible will remove the issue of the combustion gasses interacting with the melt.

[Anonymous No.2445178]

>>2445119
>Do you have some sorta soft-start mode that isn't kicking over?
It has an automatic hot-start. I measured the open circuit at 60 V, regardless of current setting. It might not have enough juice for 75 A though the knob goes to 100 A. It has only a 110V input.

>a proper crucible will remove the issue of the combustion gasses interacting with the melt.
Like a magnesia crucible?

[Anonymous No.2445195]

>>2445178
>It has only a 110V input.

Too small for anything but tiny work.

>>2444983
Frenchriverland have some great pics of them making lignum vitae and Babbit bearings. Small hydro with ancient equipment still making money in 2022. They even overhaul their own machine tools and do fun stuff like harvesting organ donors using oxygen lances.

https://www.frenchriverland.com/machine_shop.htm

[Anonymous No.2445279]

>>2443733
You need a bigger firepot I think, though it's a little hard to see from the picture. Charcoal works well for forge welding because it's naturally reducing and has less contaminants, but it's a lot less dense than normal coal so you need a larger volume of it for the same amount of heat. In terms of energy by mass they're actually about the same, but a couple lumps of regular coal have like 3x the mass of a couple lumps of charcoal, particularly crappy softwood stuff.
For forgewelding, the most important thing is having a large enough volume of fuel between the air intake and the workpiece that all the oxygen is consumed and won't create scale. After that you just crank the air up until it gets as hot as you need, amount of air supplied is usually more important for temperature than amount of fuel.
I've made similar things that got hot enough to burn steel away to nothing when I wasn't paying close enough attention so temps shouldn't really be the issue, but getting the right kind of fire to make forge welding easy can be tricky.

[Anonymous No.2445284]

>>2443731
Have you tried routing the air around the forge before it hits the fuel? That heat is going to be lost anyways, so might as well recover it.

[Anonymous No.2445293]

>>2445178
>It might not have enough juice for 75 A
>It has only a 110V input.
>>2445195
>Too small for anything but tiny work.
It is supposedly one of the most efficient 110V welders. Others are measuring a max output of 95 A with an amp clamp, so I don't think the problem is the current.

[Anonymous No.2445315]

>>2445293
The best 120v power source is like being fastest tard in the special olympics.

You'll see. Little toy power sources are fine for little toy work. Their output ratings tend to be optimistic.

[Anonymous No.2445320]

>>2444616
It seems that the arc voltage is lower on TIG than stick, so perhaps the machine is having problems controlling current at such a low voltage.

>>2445315
I'm only welding sheet metal. I got a TIG welder because I was burning holes with stick.

[Anonymous No.2446246]

>>2420799
I’ve tried to melt Aluminium in a steel crucible I’ve welded together. But somehow my crude bucket furnace has made a hole in the said crucible. Did I melt it or is it something else? How do I avoid that happening again? I was thinking about limiting air flow or putting the crucible on a makeshift pedestal.

I used crushed down charcoal for fuel and small hair drier for air supply.

[Anonymous No.2446302]

>>2446246
Probably a mixture of all factors. Also aluminum does eat at the steel. Don't overtemp much beyond aluminum's melting point and try to be quick and also avoid direct contact between the steel and coals.

Alsp cheap-ass steel pipe is so full of sulphides it may HAVE just melted at some stupid low temp.

[Anonymous No.2446420]

I bought an ulti-clip and their wing for a pistol holster, it works but it could be better.
The mounting holes on the wing and clip plates don't align, as well as not aligning with the holster holes. The wing is too short. the clip is too small only about .8 x .2 inch surface area that actually clamps. the latch should be bigger so it's easier to handle. while I'm at it why not combine the clip and wing into a single piece as well.

It's so close to being good product I have half a mind to try to make my own using fusion 360

Are there companies that will machine some spring steel sheeting for me? what would a rough quote be? I bet I could finish the project in my garage but would they bend the metal, heat-treat, assemble it? How feasible is this project?

[Anonymous No.2446437]

>>2446420
Very easy to make.

Look up DIY sheet bending jigs and DIY metal stamping for the cutouts.

For the spring steel go on McMaster Carr and get 1075 spring steel strips.

GOODLUCK!

[Anonymous No.2446466]

>>2446437
thanks for the info on the springsteel!
do you think I can get the job done with some sheet metal hand seamer and a metal cutter/snip?

[Anonymous No.2446485]

>>2446466
For a jank proof of concept? Yeah. For a good, clean job you need a jig or at least a real brake.

[Anonymous No.2446723]

>>2446302
Thank you. Tried again today with lower airflow and Aluminium melted beautifully. Took 15 minutes of burn. It’s real simple after all.

[Anonymous No.2446740]

>>2420799
Here are some people taste testing all the different types of metallic salts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJh9yTIBY48

[Anonymous No.2446747]

>>2420799
I have a bunch of gold and silver and a custom ingot mold I want to pour into. I live in Florida and the flux crucible I bought online just bubbles up and mixed with my silver every time I try to melt my silver in it using a propane torch.

What can I do bros?

[Anonymous No.2446802]

>>2446747
It's a flux crucible. That's what it does until the molten metal is able to ball up and the protective layer forms and it cools. Direct torch blasting just melts and gassifies the flux continuously.

[Anonymous No.2446805]

>>2446802
I’ve been direct torch blasting for sure because the flux is now sharing like glass. What should I do differently to melt my silver properly? From what I’ve observed it seems the flux melts before the thin silver even gets a chance to melt.

[Anonymous No.2446900]

>>2446805
Muffle furnaces. Gravity furnaces. They expect even heat in an atmosphere that quickly depletes of O2.

[Anonymous No.2448320]

Bamp

[Anonymous No.2448590]

Forgive me but I must learn about ceramics to figure out wtf the difference is between all these different clays. I'm tired of getting screwed over by clay resellers so found a local pottery supply.

[Anonymous No.2449028]

Why aren't there any brass cylinder heads?

[Anonymous No.2449503]

>>2420799
my favourite tasting metal is brass. There is just something very clean about it, like a gum or something

[Anonymous No.2449673]

>>2448590
Ternary phase diagrams. GOODLUCK!

>>2449028
Cast iron is way better buy that doesn't mean you CAN'T have a brass cylinder head.

[Anonymous No.2449714]

We fucking did it boys. First cast

[Anonymous No.2449734]

>>2449714
Those tits...

You cum on her yet?

[Anonymous No.2449737]

>>2449734
I'm more into dat ass

[Anonymous No.2449766]

>>2449028
At least one bronze head was done (some Indian Powerplus race bikes) but the stuff is heavy and expensive so no advantage.

[Anonymous No.2449782]

>>2420799
Do acid/rutile fluxes reduce iron and chrome as well as basic fluxes?

>>2449734
>>2449737
Cooming makes you soft and weak like tin. Forging makes you as strong and hard as steel.

[Anonymous No.2449789]

I just brought home an anvil. I was thinking of removing the rust via electrolysis, but I think I'm going to leave it as is.
Any recommendations for a gas forge? Also, tongs and other such tools.

[Anonymous No.2449829]

>>2449789
if the anvil surface is pitted you'll want to grind it smooth, rust elsewhere doesn't really matter and surface rust on the face will just fall off with use. Check for cracks while you're at it. They're probably not a dealbreaker but you might want to hammer elsewhere.
Mr volcano is popular and well reviewed for a small gas forge but I haven't tried it, or any gas forge. Solid fuel is cooler.
For tongs either just make some https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHrgefJ7NvI
or buy a tong blank kit often called quick or rapid tongs. You'll never have enough tongs so it's good to learn to make them, but it's definitely nice to have a good pair to start with.
For hammers you want a cross peen no heavier than 3lb for general moving metal and a small ballpeen for light work and stuff you want a peen for. A bigger hammer for moving lots of metal can be useful but it's not necessary, technique is more important than hitting harder and doesn't wear your arm out.
A vice is almost as important as an anvil, a post vice is best if you can find one but anything is better than nothing and you absolutely need something. A 10$ fleamarket vice still lets you do a lot of stuff.
You'll want a full complement of chisels and punches and drifts but you can make those as you need them.
A bench grinder is great to have, put a wire wheel on one side.
I'm probably forgetting stuff but the bare minimum to actually start forging is pretty simple, you can build up all the fancy stuff as you go.

[Anonymous No.2449939]

>>2423095
Impressive

[Anonymous No.2449956]

>>2444527
Make sure you have a pool of molten aluminum at the bottom of your crucible if you want to do cans. Enough to submerge some cans, this helped me a lot

[Anonymous No.2450512]

>>2449829
>A bench grinder is great to have, put a wire wheel on one side.

Usually cheap used. I wouldn't buy new since angle grinders (6" is the ideal size for reasonable control and ability to use 6" cutting disks) are far more useful. Corded angle grinders are cheap (dirt cheap used, I also fix power tools so I can wallow in them) and ideal for in-shop use.

[Anonymous No.2450629]

>>2450512
For blacksmithing a bench grinder compared to an angle grinder is useful because you don't always have a good way to clamp the piece without damaging it and you get more control if you need accurate grinding on a wheel than with a handheld disk.
But you're right, I forgot to mention an angle grinder, I'd definitely get one before a bench grinder because it does so much more stuff and can also do most of what a bench grinder does, just not always as easily or well. Cutoff disks are definitely a lifesaver.
They're both dirt cheap used though, no reason not have a bench grinder as well. A belt grinder would be nice too but decent ones are at least 10x the price as a usable bench grinder.

[Anonymous No.2451198]

OK so, I've done some sandcasting with a 3d printed box and a 3d printed coin with aluminum. But it was shit and melted the box after 3 uses and I could reuse the sand mold for about 3 casts with it falling apart rapidly, now I want to make a 3d printed mold to make a concrete mold that could theoreticaly last 20-30 casts. Is this dumb? What cement or refractory mix should I use?

[Anonymous No.2451241]

>>2451198
Cast those at a 45° angle, gravity and convection helps you get better fill.

Look up plaster-faced sand molds. I believe those are used for jewlry, might work for aluminum.

[Anonymous No.2451313]

>>2451241
>Cast those at a 45° angle, gravity and convection helps you get better fill.
>Look up plaster-faced sand molds. I believe those are used for jewlry, might work for aluminum.

it was printed vertically they are dubble sided was going to try a spearhead in a 3 part mold got some refactory cement from menards
https://www.menards.com/main/heating-cooling/fireplaces-stoves/fireplace-wood-stove-tools-accessories/wood-stove-accessories/meecos-red-devil-reg-castable-refractory-cement-25-lb/1611/p-1444439437389-c-6881.htm

[Anonymous No.2451508]

>>2451313
Refactory could work, might be pricey, though. You could "paint" 1:1 plaster of Paris mixed with sand and then fill in the rest of the void with your sand. Might be more cost effective but take longer

[Anonymous No.2451509]

Is there any way to get sand out of aluminum? I got a bunch in my cast's spill-over and I was hoping that it wil just stay at the bottom of the crucible to be scratched out later after melting. Any other suggestions?

[Anonymous No.2451789]

>>2451509
Isn't silica sand LESS dense than aluminum...? I believe that's why it gets so much dross to pull off or something.

[Anonymous No.2452013]

>>2451789
Ah okay, even better. So just skim off the top then...

[Anonymous No.2452115]

I need to get a vibrator (haha insert jokes here) for castings. Anyone know good brands other than Syntron? Looking for more budget friendly options.
I might just go with a pneumatic one but at least by experience in dealing with metal powder was the pneumatic ones did fuck all but the electromagnetic ones were a lot better.
>for wet materials

[Anonymous No.2452128]

>>2452115
I have always just used some 1/4hp motor and cut half of a pulley off to make my own. Buy the cheapest motor and pulley you can.

[Anonymous No.2452268]

>>2452115
Are you vibrating the mould or the actual pour? Curious about this approach.

[Anonymous No.2452299]

>>2452128
What do you do with the pulley? I've seen people just strap a hose clamp onto the shaft for an unbalanced load that shakes like heck but that's a pretty rough solution and probably wears the motor out pretty quickly.

[Anonymous No.2452365]

>>2452268
Both actually. Original plan was just to get the plaster to stick to the investment better and get rid of air bubbles. But as I was thinking about it realized it could help metal better fill the cavity too.

[Anonymous No.2452380]

>>2452299
REALLY unbalanced load. Motors not in dryers/washers have really standard ball bearings which are easy to replace.

[Anonymous No.2452399]

Hello /diy/, daydreaming /tg/ anon here. I am wondering about the feasibility of casting metal miniatures using moulds made from a master sculpt. Looking into the industry it seems like it's more complex than I naiively thought, with spin casting and what have you. But what about just plain old melting pewter and pouring it into a mould? How bad would that be for detailed miniatures a little taller than an inch?

[Anonymous No.2452424]

>>2452399
I assumed they use spin casting because pouring it into a mold is hard and leaves a bunch of cavities.

[Anonymous No.2452429]

>>2452399
just try it out? the melting point is low enogh to be melted on a stovetop, so the barrier of entry is really low here.
Intrusion of air can be combated with venting and pouring basin. you can try a raised funnel to increase hydro static pressure during pouring
And most important, you can make reusable molds from high temperature silicone. at the size of an inch, likely 4 dozen from a 25$ batch.

[Anonymous No.2453113]

What materials do you guys recommend for a beginner wanting to get into lost PLA casting.
I've seen a lot of people recommending plaster of Paris with a coating of a stronger clay or slurry.
Where do you buy your materials? What's the cheapest thing I can start with to get my hands dirty.
What's the cheapest way to make a burn out oven, couldn't I just use the kiln?

[Anonymous No.2453150]

>>2453113
Funny you should mention this, I'm setting up to do the same thing.
I've been mixing 50% plaster 50% sand. They make plasters that are specially made for casting with jewelry but a lot more expensive. Either way the plaster isn't the quality limiting step now in my process so I'll burn that bridge later. And we'll see if I start to have problems when I finish constructing my higher temperature oven.
Currently building a burnout oven now. I had an old washing machine drum that I'll line with Inswool, then put a steel 5 gallon bucket on the inside of that. Heating element will be hot water heating element (important that It be one of the ones for high-mineral content water since being used in air). Or could use an old stove heating element. A lot of volume to heat so we'll see if I have to make it smaller.
I found a filament that will melt out in my oven at 550F and I've also been messing around with wax from silicone molds. Though tired of my house smelling like smoke and getting really hot in the summer. And of course 550F not hot enough for PLA. Anyways casting with the filament failed because the filament gate apparently detached from the filament investment when I put it in the plaster (attached with hot glue).
Anyways I'll try to remember to take pictures and post when I start having successful results.

[Anonymous No.2453190]

>>2453150
does playground sand or any old sand work? https://www.homedepot.com/p/SAKRETE-50-lb-Play-Sand-40100301/202007298
All I have is PLA at the moment so I suppose ill just need to make the kiln dual purpose.

[Anonymous No.2453404]

>>2453113
This is one of the easiest ways I've seen to get into it
https://youtu.be/YKeImuJpxow

[Anonymous No.2453437]

>>2453190
I've been using play sand. Mortar sand or whatever would probably work too but may get a rougher surface finish due to coarser size.
You mentioned clay earlier and if you could get that to work might give better results.
Anyways got about halfway through putting together the high temperature electric oven tonight. I had to silence my smoke alarm at least a dozen times tonight burning out a plaster mold in my cooking oven for what is hopefully the last time.

[Anonymous No.2453444]

>>2453113
>use kiln for burnout?
I'm assuming you refer to the one you are using for melting metal? If it's electric sure. But if it's gas probably doesn't have adequate temperature control and will get local hot spots that will cause the mold to crack. Also might have a smaller volume capacity since it needs to hit higher temperatures.

[Anonymous No.2453981]

Finished the lid. Still need to make legs, but for now sat it on top of a second washer drum. Everything working as it should, no shorts. It heated up to 100C in less than a minute so I'm not worried about hitting temperatures I want now - might even be able to cast aluminum with this. Plan to test further tomorrow. I'll have to go through and see if PID lets me control ramp rate since if anything I'm worried about heating too fast and cracking the molds.

[Anonymous No.2453982]

>>2453981

[Anonymous No.2454060]

>>2453981
Hell yeah! I got my kit and firebricks in my basement gathering dust until winter when I go back to my cold weather hobbies.

[Anonymous No.2454086]

>>2453982
You're probably aware of this, but you should always either rigidize the kaowool with furnace/refractory cement or wear a respirator when working around it. Shits like asbestos and launches fibers whenever it is disturbed.

[Anonymous No.2454160]

>>2453981
>>2453982
Looks good, man. Lots of capacity, too

[Anonymous No.2454556]

>>2454086
I do wear N95 when handling, but in this case intentionally didn't rigidize since it's lined with a steel shell and resistance heating doesn't quite have the same potential for localized hot spots + air flow. The reason being I wanted to be able to service it if there was a problem (which of course there was).
Anyways the heating element burned out. I thought it would work based on a furnace I built 7 years ago (see attached) when I was living in an apartment which ran off of hot water heating elements that I ended up scrapping when I moved. However, they ran off 120V rather than 240V (They were each plugged into separate circuits since I didn't have 240V easily accessible). So I think dumping 240V into the hot water heater element was a bit too much even though it was one of the ones for high mineral content water.
So I'm going to try stove heating elements instead. They're a bit lower power, and if I need more power I'll just put a second on in in parallel. I should also be able to bend to conform to the side of the bucket and get more uniform heating - before the element burned out it was an issue as you might expect.

[Anonymous No.2454981]

>>2444192
>Literally a pass means I'll become an expert in metallurgy, well without any practical skill.
What the fuck did you think university is?

[Anonymous No.2454999]

>>2453113
>pic
How is that supposed to make me money?

[Anonymous No.2455264]

>>2454556
Get real NiCr wire. FeCr is too low temp.

[Anonymous No.2455301]

>>2420799
Bought some silicone molds from Aliexpress, gonna pour some bismuth in it and see the results tomorrow.

[Anonymous No.2455322]

>>2455301
Coll, post em up when you're done

[Anonymous No.2455412]

>>2420799
How realistic would it be to make cast iron in a small cupola furnace in the following way:

Make a square tube out of refractory bricks 100 cm tall and 50 cm each side. Feed air from heat gun through a steel tube lying over hot coals(so that the air heats even more). Furnace would have a perforated lid on top, 1 hole approx 5 cm for hot blast, 1 hole in the side near the bottom for tapping liquid iron. I am also not sure whether multiple heat guns would help.

I’ve read that using iron ore and charcoal+ lime as inputs could get you liquid pig iron(4% carbon content). But pig iron is useless. If I replaced the ore with rusty scrap steel would I get cast iron(2% carbon content)? Logic being rust contains oxygen which would oxidize some of the carbon.

[Anonymous No.2455493]

>>2455412
cont.

I meant this kind of a furnace, but 5 times taller and twice wider. Furnace this small is only able to get steel to red hot where it becomes very malleable, but nowhere close to melting. So what’s the bottleneck? Size(either height or wall thickness) of furnace, airflow or temperature of the blast?

[Anonymous No.2455510]

>>2455493
im not an expert but do have some experience on solid fuel. pic is my contraption, 15cm red brick, but it has a cast lid these days. the setup from the pic allowed me to melt aluminum bronze at 1050°C, not that far off from cast iron, but i did it with fucking wood chips ~15% humid.
You can only use wood, charcoal or coke. Bitumous coal will liquify and clog the airways.

i'd have the furnace sit surrounded by a thick layer of coal (coal is an insulator) but elevated from the air input, so the cold blast doesnt hit it.
You need a lid, one that you can quickly open and close, because you will have to refuel regularly. The crucible needs a lid, else it will fill with fuel. And I'd preheat with wood first.
an air compressor with water separator and makeshift desiccator might be beneficial, steam is a killer for heat.
Use cast iron scrab as material source

This is will not be a fast process, a furnace like that has a gigantic thermal mass. The bronze melt i talked about took several hours

[Anonymous No.2455523]

>>2455510
and get some high shade welding googles, the infrared at those temperatures will give you sunburn from a distance and permanently fry you eyeballs

[Anonymous No.2455710]

>>2455493
you can get simple solid fuel forges hot enough to accidentally melt steel pretty easily, I do it all the time, but getting the right conditions for a full liquid state and getting any sort of decent result at the end would be the hard part. Something like that but bigger would easily get to the temperatures you need, assuming you had enough fuel and air supply, but whether you'd be able to control the temperature and get a decent stable melt with anywhere close to the proportions you want is going to be pure trial and error with a lot of failures. The limits on heat are basically just how much fuel can you burn at once, and can you supply enough air for it all. If it's not hot enough, turn the air up, if the air is already so high that not all the oxygen is being consumed, add more fuel so it is.
You probably will need either coal or charcoal though, plain wood uses up too much of its own energy converting itself into a combustible form. It might still be manageable but only barely, better to have some wiggle room.
Normally it would be coal dust that provides the excess carbon to make cast iron, I'm skeptical that just using rusty steel would work, but it's not like I've actually tried it. Someone familiar with the chemistry involved might be able to say.
And that's just the melt, actually casting iron is a lot more serious than aluminum or bronze or the metals people do at home all the time even though the basic idea is the same. Not like it can't be done, just take it really seriously.
https://www.youtube.com/user/luckygen1001/videos has a bunch of cast iron stuff including making iron from steel in an oil furnace.

[Anonymous No.2455845]

>>2455322
Oh god, everything got fucked up. One mold was okay but it ended up having no color, the second mold oozed green shit all over the statue. I tried to dip them in a bismuth bath with a metal wire to give them the cool colors but the wire was made of lead and melted into the bismuth.

Too ashamed to post pictures, it's all ugly. But lesson learned, bismuth needs to react with the air to form the cool colors, so silicone mold just gives you ugly silver, dipping it gives you colors but makes it look all lumpy.

[Anonymous No.2455865]

>>2455845
oh, I see that other people managed to get cool colors, how is that? baking them in an oven after the mold, or maybe a blowtorch to re-melt the surface layer?

[Anonymous No.2456170]

>>2455865
There is likely a flux which cleans it by dissolving the oxides which then melts off at warmer temps. Or they acid bath clean it in an inert atmosphere. You then heat it via conduction on a hot plate as you let the atmosphere into the box. The oxide then grows on the clean metal from the direction of heating. That's likely why it has that specific color pattern.

>>2455845
You used solder as a dipping wire into molten metal... HAHAHAHAH!!

[Anonymous No.2456406]

Update the new lower power heating element is working well, run several times without burning out. Still able to get plenty hot to burn out PLA.

[Anonymous No.2456409]

>>2456406
First investment casting today with PLA using the high temperature oven. Anyways it looks like the investment mold material is now the quality limiting step so I'll start looking into that.

[Anonymous No.2456411]

>>2451508
Well not a spearhead but I figured that a 2 part mold would be better to start with
Already got the refractory mix. It's currently cureing will post progress

[Anonymous No.2456535]

>>2456411
such a simple shape would be trivial for sand casting and rammed up in a matter of minutes

[Anonymous No.2456743]

>>2456411
Lol, are you trying to make a cast aluminum kunai?

[Anonymous No.2457509]

>>2456743
Yea, my nephews are into that show and the whole thing is kinda to try and get them away from a screen and outside doing anything

[Anonymous No.2457517]

>>2456535
Yes but I want to make multiple, and I want to make a 3 part mold that is basically impossible with sandcasting.(at least as far as I know) So a simple 2 part mold to se if this way will even work

The goal a set of spearheads would be because they did a javelin toss at a Renaissance festival and thought it was cool

[Anonymous No.2458344]

>>2457517
Sand castings can have 8000 part molds; they're called "cores" even of they're complete walls and cavities and shit.

[Anonymous No.2458753]

Im looking for a larger electric melting furnace like this chink shit
This is 3 kg. I could do with a 10 or more kg capacity. I cant seem to find larger ones.

[Anonymous No.2458775]

>>2458753
3/10 kg of what material? 3kg of aluminum is different than copper. Aluminum occupies more volume.

[Anonymous No.2458784]

>>2458775
Right. The furnace is advertised as a 3 kg furnace.
I have the exact same and it will melt like 1 kg of aluminium. I would like 3 kilograms or more. Id guess thats around 1 -1.5 liters

[Anonymous No.2458794]

>>2458784
afaik this doesnt exist.
but you really dont need more than a crucible, blower, some wood and a hole in the ground. maybe ash lined if youre feeling fancy

[Anonymous No.2458823]

>>2458794
I have a large steel tube, im plannig to put it in there and do casting under vacuum. Fuels wont work.
The small furnace worked fine so far but its not enough for large parts.

[Anonymous No.2458861]

>>2458753
If I could start over I would go propane over electric it's only cheaper if you are not paying for the electricity. It heats up slower and had a lower max temperature. And my electric furnace nearly burnt out it's paint is falling off and is now rusting. After I did my first copper melt. Apparently they are for melting precious metals for jewlers.( small amounts of low melting point metal) But for anything else shit.

[Anonymous No.2458867]

>>2458344
Yea, share buddy but you need to split it into 2 parts or have negative bits in your sand unless you are doing lost wax casting using a box frame like I was forces you to split it into 2 pieces with negative shapes as an option ( that I have not been able to get to work for me)

I'll stop phone posting now

[Anonymous No.2458932]

>>2458867
https://youtu.be/qzkHuvYCJsY

Could help you ram up a sand mold quicker.

https://youtu.be/OedpFHYIkDA
Shows getting started with cores. More info later in hisnplaylist

[Anonymous No.2460264]

Thinking of making a paint can forge as I want to get into blacksmithing but I'm a uni student. Most of the tutorials are American and I live in the UK so I'm worried about standard materials paint cans are made of as well as sizes, as I saw one tutorial on making a "soup can" forge but the can used was bigger than any soup can I had ever seen. What size can and material is recommended for the forge? Also what metal should the connector screwed into the hole in the can for the propane torch to go into be made out of so it doesn't melt?

[Anonymous No.2460374]

Can anyone tell if this thing might be made of lead?
Note: I have found at least one example of a similar skiiers' talisman that is confirmed to be lead.

[Anonymous No.2460453]

>>2460264
The vessel doesn't matter as long as the ceramic is thick enough.

>>2460374
Weigh it while hanging in water and in air to calculate density. Lead is also soft.

[Anonymous No.2460539]

does anyone know where to buy ferrosilicon without ordering min quantity 1 ton on ali or paying 50$ for a 10g cube?

[Anonymous No.2460572]

>>2460264
paint can forges are pretty small, soup can forges are close to unusably tiny. If you only want to make really small stuff like keychains and pedants or small knives it's fine but anything much bigger than that is going to be a struggle.
The can material doesn't matter much, it should never get hot enough on the outside to cause any damage, just avoid plastic.
For a liner it depends what you have access to and how long you want it to last. People do everything from kitty litter and sand to rockwool and special high reflective index refractory coatings.
Usually people use black iron pipe fittings for stuff but I've also seen them just left open and the tip of the torch stuck in the hole directly.

[Anonymous No.2460586]

>>2460264
>Also what metal
when in doubt always go with stainless, will hold up for a really long time.
It doesnt flake off when exposed to high heat and oxigen
>>2460539
ok apparently i can order a 2kg sample for 38$ shipment if i larp as a potential customer

[Anonymous No.2460669]

Any anons have plans for a simple waste oil burner? Preferably drip fed, but beggars can't be choosers.

I tried making an extremely simple one with a straight length of pipe and a 1/4" brake line going into the side to supply the oil, with air handled by a hairdryer. My thinking was if I could preheat the pipe to a dull red, it'd be enough to vaporize the oil and burn. It sort of worked, I could keep a steady flame, albeit smokey as balls, but the burner wasn't self sustaining. I needed to keep the torch held on the pipe to keep the flame going. This is my first foray into this type of shit, so I have no idea what I'm doing. It's pretty obvious I have made an incredibly shitty burner, though.

All I wanna do is make things hot and hit them with a hammer, bros. Help me.

[Anonymous No.2460671]

>>2460669
You need combustion to take place IN the nozzle. Your current setup isn't getting a good fuel/air mixture because you don't have secondary air intake holes to increase mixing. Basically, your fuel is staying in a semi-laminar flow and not REALLY churning. You had to superheat the surface oil to vaporize it (hot pipe). You need to move the vacuum line closer to the blower and drill annular holes around the pipe juuuuust before the line. Combustion should then occur through the entire pipe length.

[Anonymous No.2460674]

>>2460586
>>2460572
>>2460453
Thanks anons, looking forward to starting my blacksmithing hobby as it has always been something I have wanted to pursue but always thought I needed a large ass forge

[Anonymous No.2460833]

Switching from mystery meat aluminum (mostly 6061, 6063, and some 7075) to 356 made a big difference.
I'm not noticing a huge difference using filaments other than PLA but may be a thread I continue to pull later.
Getting decent results with sand/plaster but have a few other blends I'll be cooking this week.
Anyways I'm going to try these casts again with bigger preform and use better gating.
Ps what are your tricks for taking pictures of shiny objects? Camera always tries to refocus.

[Anonymous No.2460845]

>>2460833
Titanium Dioxide Spray.

Diffuse light.

Shadow box with diffuse light.

Polarizing filter.

[Anonymous No.2461105]

>>2460833
>Camera always tries to refocus.
manual focus
>>2460669
emulate a simple mixer tube carburetor. you might need a T pipe and bypass valve for the blower if it is to strong

[Anonymous No.2461118]

>>2461105
That did the trick, found the manual settings on my phone

[Anonymous No.2461197]

>>2460669
I watch the luckygen1001 channel. He is really good. He heats up with propane then burns oil. Also he mixes oil with diesel and stores in a propane tank under pressure. if I remember correctly.
The problem is he drops information piece by piece in different videos and especially in comments. No matter what follow him. This video sums up.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgiqURs0TQg

[Anonymous No.2461305]

Is this chink clickbait?
https://youtu.be/DplLvd2lWIM

[Anonymous No.2461384]

>>2461305
It's like using a million tiny spiraling angles to walk a square pipe through a round hole. It's legit.

[Anonymous No.2461698]

>>2444527
Melt tuna cans instead

[Anonymous No.2461716]

>>2461384
>spiraling angles
Not sure what you mean. But it would seem like this would be equivalent to sawing on a single tooth with tiny strokes? How is the backlash on the Allen wrench not horrific?

[Anonymous No.2461898]

>>2460671
Thanks anon. Tried drilling some holes just before the oil line. Didn't seem to help. I'm probably going to follow this anon's >>2461105 advice, make an entirely new one, and try to emulate a carb with it. Also thinking my hairdryer blower is way too strong to start off with.

>>2461197
if I could emulate his results without having to pressurize the oil container or mix diesel in, That'd be awesome. I want to setup everything in my backyard and I'd need a looooong line from my compressor in the garage if I ran a pressurized setup. I'm in no short supply of waste motor oil(and occasionally peanut oil) that used to just get chucked into the burn barrels, I'd prefer to not have to mix diesel in to get a good burn going.

[Anonymous No.2462030]

>>2460833
If all goes as planned burnout tomorrow and casting the following night. I also found a paint brush (both sweeping and jabbing) is a good way to get the ceramic to adhere to all of the nooks and crannies.

[Anonymous No.2462074]

>>2462030
>I also found a paint brush (both sweeping and jabbing) is a good way to get the ceramic to adhere to all of the nooks and crannies.
why can't you just dunk it?

[Anonymous No.2462095]

>>2462074
I was having issues with air-gaps/bubbles when just immersing in the plaster, especially with more complex geometries. I'm using approximately 50/50 sand/plaster so the higher viscosity makes it more difficult to fill in the gaps.
In the previously posted pictures, Hagia Sophia casting was not brushed, but St. Basil's Cathedral was. Noticeable difference in the surface finish - that was how it looked after using the water hose to extract from mold without any other post processing.

[Anonymous No.2462125]

>>2462095
Would pulling a vacuum and alcohol in the plaster mix help? I know some REALLY FANCY investment casters use degassed water+solvent in a partial vacuum.

[Anonymous No.2462139]

>>2462125
Vacuum would probably would help, but from a practical standpoint it's messy work so I like to make a whole of plaster molds at once. So it would be cumbersome to have to use a vacuum degasser.
At one point I was thinking about making an electromagnetic vibrator plate to achieve the same goal, and found a vibrator for concrete at a reasonable price. I might buy one and try it out in the future.

[Anonymous No.2462560]

>>2432803
Is that a new design?

[Anonymous No.2462813]

>>2462560
I guess. I was going for a stacked W's + straight layer feather damascus, but I screwed the W's up. I just winged it after that because steel is expensive and it was good practice.

[Anonymous No.2463150]

is hydraulic refractory cement usable for lining kaowool?

[Anonymous No.2463252]

>>2463150
More or less.

>>2462813
Make some more new designs!

[Anonymous No.2463321]

I've been thinking about using my free time to try my hand at harvesting scrap metal and making ingots from it, in particular metals like gold, silver, copper, etc. I already have a collection of old computer parts to get started with, and with my home's solar system I have effectively free electricity if I need it for the processing.

I suppose my two main questions are:

1) What's the most cost effective way to break down the scrap material to get just the metal from it?

2) How can I separate the various metals so that they don't contaminate each other prior to smelting them?

[Anonymous No.2463384]

>>2461305
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWyHJVOxKK4

[Anonymous No.2463389]

>>2461898
Adding pretty much any fuel to your used oil "can" help, but isn't necessary. If adding $4 worth of gasoline to a 55gallon drum of used oil is all it takes to make your setup work to your satisfaction, I'd say it's worth it! I always throw old gas into my used motor oil drum, makes it easier to filter, easier to light, doesn't hurt it in any other way that I've found anyway.

Good luck, you're already on the right track, and these other faggots gave you sound advice to get it working.

Bonus points: Add many holes, or just slots, and then a sleeve over the pipe that lets you cover or expose those holes as needed. That way you can adjust the secondary airflow. With two or more separate sleeves, you can also adjust the position at which the airflow enters to try to fine-tune the atomization. I've been impressed by how nice of a "spray" you can get in a gravity-fed system with a good blower and good fine tuning.

[Anonymous No.2463396]

>>2463252
It's been consistently over 100 degrees for 1.5 weeks now, hottest day 110. Waiting for the weather to cool down a bit. Once it does I want to try that ladder pattern, or maybe mess with some more mosaic patterns.

[Anonymous No.2463398]

>>2463321
Well you can manually remove the heatsinks and the big cbips that might have gold/silver in them.
Unfortunately there's like a cup of solder in most old computers.

[Anonymous No.2463412]

>>2463398
>Fortunately there's like a cup of free not-pewter in most old computers.
ftfy

[Anonymous No.2463440]

>>2463321
The answer to both is manual effort and chemicals. Some of the chemical products involved will irreversibly disfigure or kill you immediately if you let them, others will cause your organs to shut down 20 years from now.

So... do your research I guess.

[Anonymous No.2463507]

>>2463321
Casting scrap ingots is a loss, fuel aint free.
Fucking reddit meme

[Anonymous No.2463854]

>>2424134
Skin walker :DDD

[Anonymous No.2464318]

I'm a locksmith. I've been a locksmith for just over three years now. The shop I work at is about 80 years old. We have these three really old welders in our warehouse. I know the guy who started this shop used to weld all kinds of things but I don't think the two electric welders have been turned on in a few years. I tried to get the oxy/acetylene torch to come on but it won't stay lit no matter what I tried. So, maybe the gas is old and needs replaced.
Anyways, I have a MAPP gas torch that I've been dicking around with. I have been able to do some super basic welding with Super Alloy 1 but I want to learn how to do "real" welding and brazing. What is the best way to go about this?
My current boss knows how to weld but its kind of like if we get a job to weld something (gate or safe repair) then he would teach me but he isn't going to spend a few afternoons just showing me how to do it. We are too busy for that unfortunately.
What can I do? I see our local community college has a bunch of welding classes but I think these are more geared towards commercial welders. I just want to learn how to braze properly and maybe weld some angled steel so I can build a bench or something.
Do you guys think it is too dangerous to try the electric welders? Should I instead try to get some new gas cylinders for the oxy/acetylene torch instead? Are there any recommended welders for someone like me? I could probably spend up to $1000 on a new piece of welding equipment. I'm not even sure what type of welding would be best for me. I'd mainly be working with brass and steel of various types, sometimes mild but sometimes hardened.
The smaller arc welder is a Zipper-Et. The big one says Lincoln Electric. The two gas regulators don't have any branding on them.
>pic related, our old welding equipment

[ABSOLUTELY SLOSHED No.2464371]

>>2464318
>Do you guys think it is too dangerous to try the electric welders?
No. Inspect all cables for cracks. If there are none, plug it thing in. If there's a dead short in the welder, the worst that'll happen is you'll pop a breaker. If it's less than a dead short you'll smell and see the smoke way, way, way before it'll catch fire(and most likely pop the breaker anyway after the insulation burns and it actually does turn into a dead short). From your pic though the cables look like they're fine, but I'd still inspect them. If there is a crack in the insulation of one of the welding cables(NOT the main power cable), I always just covered it in electrical tape(not OSHA approved at all). That said, it's easy and cheap enough to replace a power cable. Don't bother replacing the welding leads, just tape them if there's any cracks.

If you're going to "weld" brass, your best bet is just brazing, so the torch set will come in handy, Just check for trash that could potentially be plugging the tip. Never go over 15 PSI for acetylene. I've never personally brazed before, so I only know a ballpark for cutting steel with a torch, and iirc it's 5psi acetylene and 45psi for oxygen. For steel, Use the electric welder. It's stupid simple to stick weld once you have the muscle memory for it. General rule of thumb is to keep the electrode about 1/16th to 1/8th(textbook) from the work piece, but I've passed coupon tests just lightly dragging(not digging, mind you) the electrode across the workpiece. You want to go for a bead size about 1.25 to 1.5x the width of the electrode(the stick), the weld bead width is directly proportional to the speed at which you'll move the electrode. As far as electrode selection goes, go for 7018. It can be used in all positions and is a pretty good all rounder. It's also become the defacto standard for stick welding except sheet steel.

I mostly do TIG/MIG, but I've done plenty of stick, so if you have any further questions don't hesitate to ask.

[ABSOLUTELY SLOSHED No.2464388]

>>2464318
>>2464371
Further:
>Are there any recommended welders for someone like me? I could probably spend up to $1000 on a new piece of welding equipment
The big three:
Miller
Lincoln Electric
Esab
All have decent warranties for the mid-range and up equipment. I had an issue with my miller 212, the diodes gave up the ghost completely while it was still relatively new(>1 year old), I had to take it to a miller authorized dealer and wait for them to ship it out and repair it, which was a pain in the ass, but it was free as it was still under warranty. Haven't had any issues since. I haven't had any issues with my cheaper 110v lincoln MIG, nor have I had any issues with my 220v ESAB stick/TIG machine, I use my Esab and miller fairly equally, but the esab is a few years older.

If you're just wanting to stick two pieces of metal together, just get a MIG machine. Preferably 220v, 110v machines really limit your range of thickness you can weld, atleast without going absolutely painfully slow and having to cut bevels and shit for proper penetration. I would highly, HIGHLY recommend getting a machine that accepts a gas bottle, which will give you room to grow. You can still absolutely run fluxcore through it, no bottle required. Fluxcore is perfectly fine for thicker materials(1/8", MAYBE 1/16" is pretty much the bare minimum before you start to run into issues), just know that you're going to have one hell of a time with anything thinner if you care about porosity/having a weld that's stronger than the surrounding material. Fluxcore needs to run hotter to work properly, and running hotter on thinner materials means you'll be blowing holes through the work piece like nobody's business. You can try heatsinking the material with a piece of copper but that's a gigantic PITA. If you run fluxcore on the cooler side, you won't blow holes in the work piece, but your welds will look like ass and will be full of porosity. They'll still hold if it's not a high stress joint.

[ABSOLUTELY SLOSHED No.2464391]

>>2464388
>They'll still hold if it's not a high stress joint.
On this, I was mainly referencing non-critical weld joints, like car body work. You can definitely do it with fluxcore, but you'll wish you hadn't, but if you absolutely have to, in terms of mechanical strength, it's perfectly acceptable to just shit out some god awful beads onto the sheet metal, grind them down, and pave over them with bondo.

[Anonymous No.2464640]

>>2463507
>He pays for fuel

[Anonymous No.2464789]

>>2464640
i dont, but arent the majority here of the propane crowd?
i got myself a 1 1/2 ton of free coal because someone literally gave it away. Doesnt need that dirty stuff anymore, fast forward one year later that dudes gas price has trippled lol

[Anonymous No.2464809]

>>2458932
K, started working on a flask that is not made of pla, witch has been an issue with past sand casting attempts. Going for cast aluminum. Made a segmented 3d model that i printed. And am casting it in a sandbox right now

[Anonymous No.2464811]

>>2464809
Can you pour multiple times into the same mold? My crucible isn't big enough for one go. Guess I'll find out.

[Anonymous No.2464815]

It's getting lumpy

[Anonymous No.2464819]

[Anonymous No.2464823]

Do I smash it into parts that will fit in my furnace now or later

[Anonymous No.2464861]

>>2464815
You need to do one continuous pour. You need a well of extra metal and a chimney for overflow. There's a lot of skill to designing your mold. Your cask should be two parts, a cope and a drag, and they need to be at an angle to hold the rammed sand when you pick it up

The sand isn't just playground sand, you need bentonite clay and some other shit. https://youtu.be/PQ4mLdyp-Zw or to buy commercial green sand or casting sand. You look like you're already into it with a bunch of playground sand so you could try mixing up your own batch.

Your sand mold should be able to stand by itself. You shouldn't be able to see your part. Just chill out and watch Mr. Pete casting videos for a couple days.

[Anonymous No.2464863]

>>2464861
Oh wait, I see you were trying to make a cask out of aluminum.

I mean it's alright, but will probably be heavier than necessary.

What I said about the well and single pour still applies. Make a well in the center of your mould where youll pour it and cut gates in your sand to get the metal to the actual part. Probably get the gates to your huge corner parts bigger than the ones going to the wall since the corners want a bunch of extra metal

[Anonymous No.2464867]

>>2464863
I got greensand online but every time I use a 3d printed flask it melts and fuck me if um buying one online that's 4 x 8 in and I'm not a good enough carpenter to make one out of wood

[Anonymous No.2464876]

>>2464867
>and I'm not a good enough carpenter to make one out of wood
then ask someone with a miter saw to do a halfass job for you.
cutting 8 boards and screwing them together is not a big job, dont even have to be perfect squares.
They only need to sit flush (file work) and you need L brackets with screws for alignment and screwing them together (important).

An open mold results in uneven cooling and will cause defects and warping

[Anonymous No.2464880]

>>2464876
Well the open mold might be good enough for his first cask.

Maybe consider casting pieces of the cask and bolting them together later too. Like cast 4 long and 4 short pieces and then turn them I totally he top amd bottom of your new cask.

Leveling them flat either a file will be a pain the ass after you're done though.

[Anonymous No.2464910]

>>2464789
I'm always surprised at how many propane users I see. I assume it's because it's so easy, clean, and accessible. Any asshole can head down to any gas station or grocery store in the US and pick up a tank of propane. If you go try to buy a burner, 90% of the ones you find commercially are propane. Though electric still wins for small precious metals casting, folks who spend their time casting gold and silver jewelry, propane definitely seems like the go-to for scrappers or anyone else who has a need for crucibles >2kg.

I think propane is the right option for anyone who doesn't already have access to other means though, like a large and/or consistent supply of coal, charcoal, wood, oil, cheap agricultural fuel, whatever the case may be.
I've got tons of waste oil, I take oil from all of my friends and family who do oil changes, I save shitty fuel and old oil from working on lawnmowers and other small engines, and I have scored large hauls from restaurants before just asking the guys out back. If it burns, it goes in the tank, it's definitely not OSHA approved but I could give a shit, I never pay a dime for any of it and I've never run low.

[Anonymous No.2465205]

>>2464910
yep, propane is easy as it is the buyfag way. Just buy a devil forge.
Im in the mids of building myself a wasteoil burner on the basis of an ali express nozzle and leafblower, since we have a couple gallons of hydraulic oil which hopefully isnt as contaminated as engine oil. first tests shows the nozzle is retard proof and was 10$ delivered. from the thirst this could land in the >60kw range lol

right now cant decide what crucible to buy. a 6kg would likely be sufficient, but 10kg would fit too (but rob me of the ability to process solid fuel)

[Anonymous No.2465239]

>>2465205
Lean smaller rather than larger. There's a sweet-spot, and there's a crucible size that'll "just work" better in your setup than any other. Start with the smaller one, it won't *not* work, and you can always buy another. Too large is a bigger issue than too small.

[Anonymous No.2465260]

>>2420799
sup /diy/ i just made one of this Pic_related.PNG
but many say the graphite crucibles just break with the uneven heat from the coal, is this true ?
what kind of crucible should i get, or look for, i used a small iron pot but it started do deform and got a hole in it when i picked it with the tongs

[Anonymous No.2465417]

>>2465260
High grade stainless if you are really cramped for space and need the smallest crucible possible. Otherwise, a properly lined steel pot will last a white for aluminum melting.

[Anonymous No.2465479]

>>2465260
I've been using steel pipe (cast iron cap) for aluminum. Nice because you can weld on studs for a pouring tool. Just try not to get party vanned when buying materials.

[Anonymous No.2465491]

So is there any reason I can't improvise a shit-tier small crucible out of black pipe?

>https://www.amazon.com/Everflow-Supplies-NPBL3060-Fitting-Diameter/dp/B016Y8CEZA/
>https://www.amazon.com/Everflow-Supplies-BMCP0300-Malleable-Applications/dp/B016Y8O1CO/

Examples just to show what I'm talking about; I sure as shit wouldn't buy that overpriced chink shit on Amazon, I have some 3"x12" pipe nipples and I can get iron caps locally for $5 each.

Would this actually be okay for a cheap crappy improvised crucible? Or would it be a terrible idea that wouldn't survive the first aluminum melt for some reason I don't know about? I've had bad luck with cheap graphite crucibles, I'm a cripple and everything I touch gets bumped or dropped now and again. Now I'm paranoid with my good (expensive) ones. I want some dirt cheap small crucibles that'll take a little abuse until they burn through.

[Anonymous No.2465494]

>>2465479
>>2465491
Well fuck you then, I typed that and went to make a cup of coffee, came back and posted it.

I'm gonna try it then, I'll go grab a pair of pipe caps tomorrow and give it a shot. Can't tell in your photo, but I assume you didn't bother trying to weld them together? Or am I wrong?

[Anonymous No.2465502]

>>2465494
I did weld them together. Though honestly unless you are a good welder might be better off just tightening until no leak with water. Didn't leak but after I welded started leaking and spent the next 30 minutes trying to plug the holes.
Also an update, changing the gating to reduce velocity seemed to help, all 9 spires of St Basil's came out good.

[Anonymous No.2465504]

>>2465502
Damn that turned out fantastic, great work.

[Anonymous No.2467199]

>>2465502
Top Quality.

[Anonymous No.2467751]

Now that I've been having success with aluminum casting I want to start doing anodization as well. Plan is to use a laser cutter to cut vinyl stickers out for masking.
I've read several guides on the subject but anyone have any experience / things they wish they'd known beforehand?
Busy now breaking apart some granite boulders in my yard before the weather turns foul so may not have metallurgy updates for a while. Also need to learn Freecad since I switched jobs and my new employer doesn't have Solidworks.

[Anonymous No.2467858]

>>2467751
Anodization is easy. Just be very clean and don't be scared of the GOOD solvents.

[Anonymous No.2467868]

>>2427114
Romans literally put it on everything. Look up Garum (spice).

[Anonymous No.2468358]

>>2467868
Their garum was sweetened with lead acetate?

[Anonymous No.2468859]

>>2468358
It was produced and stored exclusively in lead amphorae, and it leached a considerable amount of lead into it. They then proceeded to slather garum on fucking everything. They were drinking from lead cups, they had lead decanters for wine, the used lead for absolutely whatever the fuck they could because it was cheap, easy to work with, and produced satisfyingly HEAVY shit.

[Anonymous No.2468861]

>>2468358
Oh but lead acetate did make it into their wine and a few other things directly. It's just not clear if this was a consistent or widely done thing, but there were definitely cases where they were making sapa in lead pots.

[Anonymous No.2469172]

>>2468859
lead is not a big issue if you have a society that needs an army of 40iq laborer

[Anonymous No.2469256]

>>2469172
It seems more likely that it'd help if anything.

[Anonymous No.2469583]

>>2468859

We need to bring back lead drinking vessels.

[Anonymous No.2469803]

Waste oil burner proof of concept for my smelter.
8m3 vacuum pump used as compressor, seems to top out at 20 PSI with the 1mm ali nozzle and no seals.
Might be in the ballpark of 1 gallon per hour.
i need thicker lines.

Waste oil Chads, should i build the combusting chamber as natural aspirated or with blower assist? i have a usable blower with speed control on hand.
My foundry has 1 1/2 inch room between the curcible and wall, tuyere is 2 inch and vent hole 3 inch + the lid doesnt seal perfect

[Anonymous No.2470033]

>>2469803
Easier to control airflow than oil dispersion usually. Add blower assist but make sure it is adjustable for fine tuning.

[Anonymous No.2471549]

Bump
Be a shame to let it die so close to the bump limit
Burning out some PLA investments now, hopefully casting tomorrow or Sunday

[Anonymous No.2471664]

>>2471549
Does PLA leave a lot of ash or is it a pretty clean burn?

[Anonymous No.2471669]

>>2471664
Not sure how much ash it leaves. I've gotten good results so far with PLA though (St Basil's cathedral casting from earlier was PLA). To minimize ash I run oven at 400C to melt as much PLA out as I can, then turn up to 450C at which point any remaining PLA starts to burn. I've seen filament marketed as low residual ash but it is considerably more expensive. If I start to have problems might be something I revisit.

[Anonymous No.2471707]

>>2471669
Ah, very smart! I'd probably have ooga boogad it directly to 1100C and fired the mold to glass.

[Anonymous No.2472224]

Castings are cooling now, about to go build a bonfire and start drinking. So I'll post pictures tomorrow.
This time I used 45 minute dry rather than 15 minute dry plaster. Used the 15 minute before because I had a bunch of bags of it lying around. But 45 minute stuff was much cheaper and molds were much less fragile after cooking. Anyways we'll see if it made a difference on the quality soon

[Anonymous No.2472385]

>>2472224
Night casting like a hard working hobbyist chad.

[Anonymous No.2472595]

So the longer set plaster seems like a much better material especially if I want to start doing bronze. The old stuff I used would pretty much dissolve when I hit it with the hose. The new stuff is a bit more difficult to remove, but after scraping entrapped plaster with the scrisel comes out when I hit it with the hose. Pics of casting next

[Anonymous No.2472604]

>>2472595
And I should add it smelled less strongly of sulfur when I hit it with water , must have less sulfate in it.
Had some issues with the riser position, some of the detail was lost to shrinkage near the riser. Next time I'll put riser on the corner rather than the side and have corner be highest point. With the stronger plaster I can probably get away with a higher fluid velocity at the gate if I need to change tilt angle.

[Anonymous No.2472627]

>>2472604
Top notch work

[Anonymous No.2472645]

>>2472604
that riser seems too smol to do its job properly.
the riser has to solidify as the last section, a long and thin rod is not ideal here.
i heard rule of thumb is height = 1.5x diameter, and if it is not a blind riser you should throw a hand of sand on top, to slow down cooling.
i'd say the diameter has to be in the region of the cupola. going bigger doesnt hurt

[Anonymous No.2472668]

>>2472645
I had luck previously with such a riser with a previous casting (see >>2462030 >>2465502) But perhaps the spires being spaced apart helped control the solidification direction. I've just been using a single stick of hot glue glued together for all that stuff, but maybe I'll look into gluing a couple together beforehand, at least for the riser.
I was reading that chill plates work well with plasters, so maybe I'll try designing and casting a chill plate.

[Anonymous No.2472673]

>>2472668
why dont you print the riser and gating too? thatch the beauty of 3d printing after all.
you dont even need glue to joint them, make 1.7mm holes on the bottom and use a piece of filament as connecting pin.

[Anonymous No.2472676]

>>2472673
I've done that a couple of times with some simpler geometries. But I've found with the complex shapes where it isn't immediately clear how to orient that it's easier to play around with hot glue.

[Anonymous No.2472678]

>>2472676
I should add another constraint on whatever gating/riser is used is that all the PLA is removed during the burnout step. Hence the use of vented risers.

[None !!9o3qM2cPDWV No.2472879]

kind of a dumb post but let me go

I want a more fundamental understanding of metallurgy

at first I want to discuss this from the crucible, foundry/furnace, and then I'd like to ask a little bit more about ores

so I guess I'm coming from the king of random. I lie to think I'm coming from my own head but that really brought me to the kind of random. I stuck a pipe in a bucket with a hair dryer. It's charcoal. I already busted my plaster. I'm thinking about moving on to lump but I hear that will melt my foundry down which is cool but I want to get a couple more uses out of it.

so crucibles. uh, so far I've just used a cocktail shaker. I wish I could talk more about this, but I'm just gonna talk more about it in hopes that people will talk to me about it. I guess I haven't had any issues as of yet. I've just been melting aluminum. I was melting cans for a while but it seems I'm a little cold. I got like five cans melted and ran out of charcoal, then I tried again and didn't get hot enough.

I hear the best crucibles are graphite. there's graphite clay and graphite silicon. I'd love to hear any input between the differences. It's funny. I understand clay to be a very good crucible material but my chemical comprehension of clay is beyond my understanding. it's, uh, some dirt, but other dirt it is not. you can buy it--it's called clay, but what does that mean lol. some other crucibles are alumina oxide based. that's got to be set in a binder, such as porcelain, which is clay, usually kaolinite, right? I know what that means. Quartz-silica. Fused quartz--now that's cool. that's the crystal allotrope of silicon-dioxide. stainless steel. nickel. The movie chooses to use a cut off fire extinguisher. I guess hat's a thick steel cup. Very cool.

Primarily, I don't understand what the best thing would be to melt steel in? Or do we don't do that? we just melt iron. We can make steel, right? steel is called iron, but it's actually really chromium or vanadium or [maxx]

[None !!9o3qM2cPDWV No.2472880]

>>2472879
it's iron mixed with cooler metals. I don't really understand steel. I understand that it can be a much higher content chrome or vanadium than iron, and a characteristic of steel is that it has a lower carbon content than iron, even ironically in the case of carbon steel, which has like a 1.5% carbon content instead of a 5% carbon content, . Yeah, I'd like to know a lot more about steel. How do I make steel. Also, any wisdom that I don't necessarily have the knowhow to ask is encouraged, and also some of the specifics regarding building better foundries, and some of the statistics rergarding crucibles.

[Anonymous No.2472915]

What's a good stainless alloy for hard-facing carbon steel?

[Anonymous No.2473006]

>>2472879
Silicon carbide crucibles are more sturdy and conductive, preferable for coal fired. Might be hard to find a non chink one

[Anonymous No.2473042]

>>2472880
Carbon lowers the melting point of iron. "Cast Iron" was the first commercially produced "steel" because it melted and flowed much easier (also silicon).

It wasn't until better refractories were made that mass produced "alloy steel" became feasible.

Learn about mixing enthalpies to draw your own phase diahram and you will understand metal.

[Anonymous No.2473461]

>>2423095
Impressive.

[Anonymous No.2473783]

I'll make the new thread once this one falls off.

[None !!9o3qM2cPDWV No.2473809]

>>2473042
speaking of refractories, amirite?

[me requesting information concerning refractory materials]

but hey instead let me talk about the stuff I did earlier today. so I said that previously I had been using a cocktail shaker as a crucible and I ran out of charcoal. accordingly, when I came back, I was hoping that I could melt the lump in the bottom of the crucible that had hardened but after like an hour or two I realized that I couldn't. My guess is that somehow the process had transformed the entirety of the aluminum into aluminum oxide. I understand that aluminum oxide is a refractory material, and has a melting point of like, 3000 or something. Anyways, I got the cocktail shaker to fail by being bad with it trying to smash my lump of aluminum oxide out, so if the stainless steel was really feeling the heat, I think I made aluminum oxide.

[None !!9o3qM2cPDWV No.2473810]

>>2473809
forgot to mention I broke out the lump charcoal

also, I didn't mean fail. I meant I broke it.

[Anonymous No.2473853]

>>2473809
Upon cooling an alloy or impure mixture of metal can segragate from a low melting point liquid (a molten eutectic) into a two-phase solid with two high melting temperatures. So you can theoretically melt a higher melting point metal mixture going in one direction that doesn't melt again.

[None !!9o3qM2cPDWV No.2473912]

>>2473853
I don't understand. let me conjecture what you're saying

so you say two phase. I'm early here, so I think slag is two phase. you have some high melting impurities and the pure stuff melts. I'd like to imagine that I hit 1500 so,well, I'm sure that anybody else could follow me when I assume that aluminum is really the only thing I should be seeing here. I think that it's because it's not an alloy that I don't get you. it is.there's some manganese and whatevernot in those cans, but other than that it was a straight melt.

to I don't follow you. I don't see what you mean here. help pls

[Anonymous No.2474208]

>>2473912
I will do a lesson next thread.

[None !!9o3qM2cPDWV No.2474379]

>>2474208
>>2473853
oh yeah nvm I get you but this isn't much of an alloy