In the Navy we had both Clay Graphite and Silicon Carbon crucibles. We limited the use of a Clay graphite crucibles to non ferrous metals because of the amount of carbon both Iron and Steel would pick up (from the graphite) ruining/changing the mechanical strengths of the castings. In the odd time that we were forced to use a Clay Graphite crucible to melt steel or iron we would make a wash with a refractory mix and paint the wash in the crucible to act as a barrier between the molten Ferrous melt and the crucible. Suggestion; if you want to lengthen the life of your Clay Graphite crucibles, paint a refractory wash in both the outside and inside of the crucible. The wash worked well for us, it might work for you.
That is interesting. I would have thought that the silicon carbide crucibles would have a higher tendency to dissolve in molten iron and impart higher contents of silicon and carbon to it. After all, silicon carbide is used in commercial foundries exactly to that end, to raise the content of silicon and carbon of the melt. It's used because it dissolves easily in molten iron, and doesn't react with oxygen as much as either pure carbon or pure silicon thus the losses to oxidation at high temperatures are less.
@@luckygen1001 You can use almost any refractory that is dissolved in either water or alcohol. At the time we used a rammable refractory but powdered refractory is easier to make a wash with. Dissolve the refractory until you have a liquid that is easily paintable with a brush and will run into all of the nooks and crannies. Allow the wash to dry fully, give it a second coat and allow that coating to dry as well. As long as the refractory is rated for the temperatures you'll be reaching, it should help a lot. Still enjoying your videos, keep it up!
Even my old school teacher said that this is quality info :D so let me ask about crucibles: What brands you consider a good quality and what is bad ones? I'll be starting doing my own casts in around september....
@@luckygen1001 Hi. first thank you for sharing your knowledge with others. A question, what number or size of crucible do you recommend to melt pieces of 20 kg? They are for making weight plates for the gym and the heaviest is 20kg. In advance, I would be grateful if you could guide me in this regard. Regards
I allways paint my crucibles with a zircon based refractory wash & keep the crucibles for one metal, [salamander suprex] & I have a "home made" steel crucible from the bottom of a co2 gas bottle for alloy & as you will know alloy attacs steel as well as contaminating the melt so it's essential to coat it inside, interesting info thanks. Graham.
the fact your crucibles deteriorate more on the outside suggests a reaction with the flame of your furnace... I use an induction casting machine and find that my crucibles don't deteriorate at all on the outside.... all the wear is on the inside where the metal contacts the crucible...also my crucibles don't have a glaze on them..
As I showed the crucible with the glaze flaking off the material underneath was effected by the flame. Also some crucibles seem to be affected more by the flame than others.
I want to learn how to cast iron as you do, what books do you recommend reading to learn how to do it, I already found aluminum as a job since your work has inspired me to dedicate myself to this beautiful art, thank you very much for everything !!!
Can someone please suggest : 1. How much propane it`s supposed to take for melting 10kg (22lbs) of iron ? 2. do I need 2 torches for that ? 3. Can you melt iron with cooking gas tank (the big ones) and a bitumen welding torch ?
What do foundries use for pours? I'm noodling on a cast iron lathe bed but the amount of iron needed would be quite a lot larger than could go into these little pricy crucibles. The crucible could be treated as disposable but it has to be robust enough to be able to let me pour a few hundred pounds of iron.
Thank you, very informative. I had a suspicion that the clay graphite crucibles get thinner from the outside in, and not as much due to slag attack though that is a factor) but because the more intense hear on the outside than inside (because that's how you heat them, from the outside in) which causes vitrification and micro-chipping of the outside surface. I have since taken the habit of applying an extra refractory lining to the outside of my crucibles (outer walls and bottom). I use Satanite for that, I make a thick paste of it and apply 2 layers (about 2-3mm per layer). I let the first layer dry thoroughly then fire the crucible (empty) once before I apply the second layer, then fire it again. I have found that my crucibles are much, much less prone to degradation after this treatment. An extra bonus is that they don't become stuck to the plinth anymore either.
@@luckygen1001 Zircopax or superpax should work. I'm not sure it would hold itself together quite as well; I have some Superpax but haven't tried it for that purpose. The Satanite is much cheaper per pound too, and it has the consistency of mortar when properly mixed. It holds together very well. My propane fired melting chamber is lined with ceramic wool coated with 3 coats of Satanite too. It has held together beautifully for the past year and a half since I made it. (edit) maybe if you mix the zirconium silicate with a small amount of regular refractory mortar it would be more dimensionally stable. The satanite is rated for 3200F.
Do you temper your crucibles and what is your procedure if you do. Also, I am seeing on RUclips, that some people are coating the inside with borax. What is your opinion on this, as I haven't seen this before. Love your videos and thanks for all the information you provide.
It gives me Big Pain when I see you have only 16K+ subscribers - when you are so good - There are many Idiots out there talk rubbish - Copy cats yet - they have more....must be same types
SO because of the copper oxides from melting copper, must be what is making my clay graphite crucible change from a dark lead color to a light copper brown color. I have been wondering about this and this video sort of answers the question etc. Now how many pours will i get with one ? Thanks for the video!!!
Interesting stuff. My crucibles come uncured, as in the glaze is still a raw chalky black coating which I have to fire in the furnace before use. Manufacturer recommends a heat soak at 200 Celsius for a couple of hours then ramp up to 800 Celsius as quickly as possible then slow cool before charging with material. Aluminium in my case. The end result is the same gray black glass like glaze.
But the carbon from the graphite at high temperatures will leak into iron atoms and molecules producing excessively high carbon content in your cast iron and reducing its quality .
Cast iron scrap is very close to the eutectic point and will not absorb the graphite from the crucible. If it did absorb graphite it would have to dissolve the clay and then eat a hole in the crucible which it does not.
Have a question about reducing slag damage. Can you use borax (dried in an oven 1st) as a flux to dissolve the slag in or will it increase the acidity too much?
Very interesting lucky, I will save those links. Good crucibles are a must then! I’ve only recently started peeling/pulling the lumpy remnants of the metal out while it’s very hot still, how do you keep the insides nice and clean for your next melt? I’d love to know because im probably missing something! I’ve not seen much on how to clean your crucible. Cheers
It is important to keep the inside of the crucible clean otherwise it will build up over time and is harder to remove. To clean the crucible I use a 25mm X 5 mm flat strip of steel and bend it 90 degrees. I then grind a radius that is the same as the inside dia. of the crucible and use that to scrape off whats left in the crucible. I used to use a screwdriver but it can put deep scratches in the crucible.
Very informative video, thankyou. Always appreciate you sharing your knowledge. Just curious, how many cast iron melts do you think a silicon carbide crucible would last for?
I used to get my crucibles from refractory and ceramic but they have changed their name to Skamol Australia. Their website gives all the contact details.
@@luckygen1001 thankyou. Yes I looked up refractory and ceramic, still listed but there web link was dead. Will check under the new name. Thankyou for your quick reply👍
So if one wants to purchase cast iron quality crucible...where would you say is the best place to order from? I'm preparing to start melting cast iron in the spring(USA) so match April once I get the foundry built. Thank you for sharing this valuable information. Blessed days sirSir, Crawford out
@@luckygen1001 I'm glad someone else agrees. At the silver refinery where I work, the tilt furnace operators are changing out a 300# crucible every other day. The old timers are blaming the new guys, saying they're dropping the 70# ingots into the furnaces. I say look where the hole is. It's at the top of the crucible just below the spout where the level of molten silver is, look at how many shovel full of borax you're throwing in there. Those guys will add borax to thin out the melt then add sand to thicken it up.
RUclips will not let me change my email so I can be contacted. If you want to put your email address in your reply and then I can contact you. I was in QLD about six weeks ago visiting the steam show at old petrie town.
Very useful information. It's ironic I just spent ages trying to clean out a gunky mess in my crucible as I tried to make my own bearing bronze alloy from scratch. For some reason I ended up with a glassy slag with metal included which refused to budge even if I tried overheating and scraping. I resorted to scraping/chiselling the cool crucible to carefully to remove it which took an age. I noticed the base clay graphite is very soft too. Maybe it is a poor quality item but has done about twenty brass melts.
@@luckygen1001 I didn't use a flux for the melt but resorted to adding Borax after to see if it would free the slag. Wished I hadn't! It made it worse! Trying to make the bronze was interesting but zinc addition to molten copper was an eruption. Am thinking maybe adding Brass to give the zinc content would be safer option. Alloy was 83%Cu, 7%Sn,7%Pb and 3% Zn.
I make aluminum bells from cast aluminum. I need to know what other metal I could alloy into it to give the bells a more sustain in ringing. Would you know an answer on this?
@@luckygen1001 Is it possible for you to write your email here in the comments as an associate of mine needs a casting job done, and i have no way to contacting you.
Your videos are very thorough and informative so I thought you'd be the right person to ask. When choosing the biggest crucible for your small furnace, do you simply pick the one that will give you enough side clearance to get your removal tongs in or is there more to it? Cheers.
For my small furnace the height of the crucible limits to how big a crucible I can put in there but you are right side clearance does matter so the tongs will fit in there.
@@luckygen1001 Thanks for that, just wondered if there was an optimal proportion for the efficiency of the melt. I will order one, I take it you find Salamander's the best quality/value?
From a backyard casting group im a part of - the recommendation from there is about an inch overall diameter as a minimum between the furnace inner diameter and your crucibles outer diameter so about half an inch and up to an inch gap on the radius which is more than enough for lifting tongs :)
@@lloydmilton Thanks for that I was just about to order one! I presume, like everything, there are good and bad crucibles and I was wondering if it was worth buying a Silicon Carbide Graphite one made in China or are they rubbish? I plan to do a fair bit of casting I want a reasonable life out of it.
@@MegaPoxie I cannot say if they would be rubbish or not, I use steel crucibles (oh the shame) for my aluminum melts, I don't do cast iron yet. That said I have a kilo of Graphite and a 5KG block of kaolin clay as well as some grog I want to mix and pressure form into a crucible for casting - when I get off my arse and make the mould for it :D Also before people get their tits in a knot over using a steel crucible for aluminum melts, remember these 2 things, I inspect the crucible prior to each melt, and I coat it in a fireclay wash to not only protect the crucible from the molten aluminum but also to reduce the scaling that occurs when you heat steel until it's orange hot. The steel I use is old fire extinguishers and without treatment they will fail after 4 - 5 melts, with treatment, i'm up to 10 melts on the current one and its still as thick as it was when I first used it but have not done any casting this year yet...
Hi It's Ali talking to you from Azerbaijan We are interest in to come in have a fabric in Canada ... We have 20 years experiences in casting the most materials
@@luckygen1001 I dont think I get that many melts per crucible. 35 would be pushing it, 25 is about the life span and then I use pliers to pinch off the thin edge to get a few more out of it. That may be because of the difference in our burners. I also use Morgan super clay graphite like you do. I have read that silicon carbide isn't necessarily a good option for iron. I've never used one so I what I read could be wrong. Also, I use a shank that's just big enough to wrap the base then I have two steel bars the height of the crucible welded to the shank base that the crucible lays against as I pour. I'll email pics later.
I am interested in melting Aluminum, Brass, and Copper and favor the idea of keeping dedicated crucibles as separate for each metal being melted. Since I am new to the crucible selection process, I was under the impression that the Salamander Super Clay Graphite Crucibles were of good quality, but from watching your video I now have doubts. Which crucibles do you personally endorse? Do you have your own method of breaking-in a crucible or training a crucible when spanking new, before used for melting metals? Thank you for sharing your insight.
Im planning on making my own crucibles from our red clay and some manner of powdered graphite. I plan on melting steel, some wootz experiments not pouring cast iron. Any tips for the novice would be grand, I look forward to buying a nice salamander or other fancy crucible someday, but I want to start here
I have had a go at making my own crucibles and all were failures so I cannot help you there. You could try watching youtube videos on how to make crucibles.
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In the Navy we had both Clay Graphite and Silicon Carbon crucibles. We limited the use of a Clay graphite crucibles to non ferrous metals because of the amount of carbon both Iron and Steel would pick up (from the graphite) ruining/changing the mechanical strengths of the castings. In the odd time that we were forced to use a Clay Graphite crucible to melt steel or iron we would make a wash with a refractory mix and paint the wash in the crucible to act as a barrier between the molten Ferrous melt and the crucible. Suggestion; if you want to lengthen the life of your Clay Graphite crucibles, paint a refractory wash in both the outside and inside of the crucible. The wash worked well for us, it might work for you.
What was the name of the refractory wash you used?
That is interesting. I would have thought that the silicon carbide crucibles would have a higher tendency to dissolve in molten iron and impart higher contents of silicon and carbon to it. After all, silicon carbide is used in commercial foundries exactly to that end, to raise the content of silicon and carbon of the melt. It's used because it dissolves easily in molten iron, and doesn't react with oxygen as much as either pure carbon or pure silicon thus the losses to oxidation at high temperatures are less.
@@luckygen1001 I've heard some use satanite refractory mortar as a furnace coating and as a crucible wash.
I've heard of people using slip investments as crucible liners...
@@luckygen1001 You can use almost any refractory that is dissolved in either water or alcohol. At the time we used a rammable refractory but powdered refractory is easier to make a wash with. Dissolve the refractory until you have a liquid that is easily paintable with a brush and will run into all of the nooks and crannies. Allow the wash to dry fully, give it a second coat and allow that coating to dry as well. As long as the refractory is rated for the temperatures you'll be reaching, it should help a lot. Still enjoying your videos, keep it up!
Informative. Thanks!
این قالب ها ازچی درست میشه ممنون میشم راهنمایی کنید
Even my old school teacher said that this is quality info :D so let me ask about crucibles: What brands you consider a good quality and what is bad ones? I'll be starting doing my own casts in around september....
Vesuvuis crucibles are the best but may be harder to get, next best is morgan crucibles.
@@luckygen1001 Hi. first thank you for sharing your knowledge with others. A question, what number or size of crucible do you recommend to melt pieces of 20 kg? They are for making weight plates for the gym and the heaviest is 20kg. In advance, I would be grateful if you could guide me in this regard. Regards
I thought "slag attack" was what happened when you went down to the pub in my town wearing your nice shirt.
You bugger I was about to post "Sounds like a night out in Newcastle"
baik,,terbuat dari apa ya?
Excellent! Thank you for sharing your knowledge!
Great video
Good points to remember when I get around to casting
I allways paint my crucibles with a zircon based refractory wash & keep the crucibles for one metal, [salamander suprex] & I have a "home made" steel crucible from the bottom of a co2 gas bottle for alloy & as you will know alloy attacs steel as well as contaminating the melt so it's essential to coat it inside, interesting info thanks.
Graham.
What do you use for riser"adhesive"?
Ecramer@bex.net
Very informative!
You have a lot of experience and wisdom.
Thanx for sharing! :D
the fact your crucibles deteriorate more on the outside suggests a reaction with the flame of your furnace... I use an induction casting machine and find that my crucibles don't deteriorate at all on the outside.... all the wear is on the inside where the metal contacts the crucible...also my crucibles don't have a glaze on them..
As I showed the crucible with the glaze flaking off the material underneath was effected by the flame. Also some crucibles seem to be affected more by the flame than others.
I had an eBay crucible that went plastic and caved in when I picked it up with a load of multiple cast iron. Those cheap crucibles just can't hack it.
Take a drink every time he says deteriorate. All kidding aside very through video. Nice work.
someone help me plz is morgan crucible good quality?
casting bronze im lucky to get 25 casts from one pot.
Thật tuyệt vời lời chào thân thương từ việt nam ❤❤❤
What is the coating? Can you referb the coating?
I want to learn how to cast iron as you do, what books do you recommend reading to learn how to do it, I already found aluminum as a job since your work has inspired me to dedicate myself to this beautiful art, thank you very much for everything !!!
Read books by C.W.Ammen (casting iron)
Hello teacher can we know the names of the mixing materials made by the crucible of kravet
You would have to ask the people who make the crucibles.
این قالب ها از چی درست میشه جنسش چیه کسی میدونه راهنمایی کنه... ممنون
Make the slag right and the alloy makes itself.
Thanks! That was important information to have in mind. Also interesting, the link to MorganMMS crucible manufacturing video.
Can someone please suggest :
1. How much propane it`s supposed to take for melting 10kg (22lbs) of iron ?
2. do I need 2 torches for that ?
3. Can you melt iron with cooking gas tank (the big ones) and a bitumen welding torch ?
If you now how bulid a good nossle system you can use diesel.
@@jbone9900
Thanks.
Do you have a link for a video on that?
Great content where can l purchase Crucibles , in Melbourne Oz thanks. Have spent considerable looking. Keep up the videos.
I just watched yours + the 2 awesome. Place in Germany 🇩🇪 wow !!!!
What do foundries use for pours? I'm noodling on a cast iron lathe bed but the amount of iron needed would be quite a lot larger than could go into these little pricy crucibles. The crucible could be treated as disposable but it has to be robust enough to be able to let me pour a few hundred pounds of iron.
I have a question I’ve begun melting and my crucible is forming very glossy large bubbles am I doing something wrong?
Thank you, very informative. I had a suspicion that the clay graphite crucibles get thinner from the outside in, and not as much due to slag attack though that is a factor) but because the more intense hear on the outside than inside (because that's how you heat them, from the outside in) which causes vitrification and micro-chipping of the outside surface. I have since taken the habit of applying an extra refractory lining to the outside of my crucibles (outer walls and bottom). I use Satanite for that, I make a thick paste of it and apply 2 layers (about 2-3mm per layer). I let the first layer dry thoroughly then fire the crucible (empty) once before I apply the second layer, then fire it again.
I have found that my crucibles are much, much less prone to degradation after this treatment. An extra bonus is that they don't become stuck to the plinth anymore either.
I must try that one day. As I don't have satanite I will try zircon paint which I do have.
@@luckygen1001 Zircopax or superpax should work. I'm not sure it would hold itself together quite as well; I have some Superpax but haven't tried it for that purpose. The Satanite is much cheaper per pound too, and it has the consistency of mortar when properly mixed. It holds together very well. My propane fired melting chamber is lined with ceramic wool coated with 3 coats of Satanite too. It has held together beautifully for the past year and a half since I made it.
(edit) maybe if you mix the zirconium silicate with a small amount of regular refractory mortar it would be more dimensionally stable. The satanite is rated for 3200F.
Do you temper your crucibles and what is your procedure if you do. Also, I am seeing on RUclips, that some people are coating the inside with borax. What is your opinion on this, as I haven't seen this before. Love your videos and thanks for all the information you provide.
Well, it's actually _not_ exactly the same crucible, because if it were then you would have just moved the tall one back in.
How mach this corshble
Can you use graphite spray or reglaze it? I know people also use borax to cut down on slag.
Very informative video, thank you!!
مينفعش تبقى مونة
It gives me Big Pain when I see you have only 16K+ subscribers - when you are so good - There are many Idiots out there talk rubbish - Copy cats yet - they have more....must be same types
كرفيت....كن....٣٠٠.ل.س...
Pls I want to make this crucible what items and materials do need?
Awesome video 💥💥 Thanks for sharing 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Man you are the God of pouring molds!!!
I want to do aluminum mold making.
SO because of the copper oxides from melting copper, must be what is making my clay graphite crucible change from a dark lead color to a light copper brown color. I have been wondering about this and this video sort of answers the question etc. Now how many pours will i get with one ? Thanks for the video!!!
That is hard to answer just keep melting until the crucble is too thin to use.
😮
Awesome video; it answers a lot of questions...
Interesting stuff. My crucibles come uncured, as in the glaze is still a raw chalky black coating which I have to fire in the furnace before use. Manufacturer recommends a heat soak at 200 Celsius for a couple of hours then ramp up to 800 Celsius as quickly as possible then slow cool before charging with material. Aluminium in my case. The end result is the same gray black glass like glaze.
But the carbon from the graphite at high temperatures will leak into iron atoms and molecules producing excessively high carbon content in your cast iron and reducing its quality .
Cast iron scrap is very close to the eutectic point and will not absorb the graphite from the crucible. If it did absorb graphite it would have to dissolve the clay and then eat a hole in the crucible which it does not.
Any sense in coating the crucible with a kiln wash type coating or something from ITC coatings for refractories.
I have never tried that.
Were the original crucibles made of clay? It had to be something that didn't melt with the ore right? please can I have a serious answer.
Yes it is.
Hello. I have to melt 1 gram of iron in 300 grams of copper. Do you know a way to do it? My oven can reach 1250 ° C and is electric.
! gram of iron should dissolve slowly in copper at that temperature.
Have a question about reducing slag damage. Can you use borax (dried in an oven 1st) as a flux to dissolve the slag in or will it increase the acidity too much?
Borax is a great flux but it will eat away your crucible. Use only in small amounts.
DIDTAS ,
Great site . where can i buy the crucibles {australia]
I love how at above 2000°F corrosive material slowly eats it away, it's incredible how slowly it does that.
Even normal materials at 2000°F degrade most materials. Oxidation gets us all in the end!
Moi je veus apprendre la fonderie avec vous a distance parque vous ete un chef.
I'm just starting again and it was good to refresh my mind and pick up some good tips
Can I use a cast iron pan to melt aluminum and let it cool in the frying pan, like poring into a mold?
Yes you can.
Iron will eat your graphite on top of the slag. Plus iron carbide at high temps fluxes the clay.
What will we do
Are graphite crucible any good for cast iron?
thank you interesting video
I nid size 150 how much
Very interesting lucky, I will save those links. Good crucibles are a must then!
I’ve only recently started peeling/pulling the lumpy remnants of the metal out while it’s very hot still, how do you keep the insides nice and clean for your next melt? I’d love to know because im probably missing something! I’ve not seen much on how to clean your crucible. Cheers
It is important to keep the inside of the crucible clean otherwise it will build up over time and is harder to remove. To clean the crucible I use a 25mm X 5 mm flat strip of steel and bend it 90 degrees. I then grind a radius that is the same as the inside dia. of the crucible and use that to scrape off whats left in the crucible. I used to use a screwdriver but it can put deep scratches in the crucible.
@@luckygen1001 nice tool i will make one cheers. Do you do it while the metal/rubbish is still hot and flexible?
For cast iron I do it when the crucible has cooled down but for bronze and brass it has to be done when it is hot because I use a flux.
luckygen1001 ahhh thank you lucky. good to know what a pro does
Very informative video, thankyou. Always appreciate you sharing your knowledge.
Just curious, how many cast iron melts do you think a silicon carbide crucible would last for?
I have never used a silicon carbide crucible.
At the risk of being pedantic, it's deteriorate rather than detereate. :-)
Is it a good idea to brush the glaze while its hot? I noticed the glaze chipped after something stuck to it.
I'm not sure but the glaze would dry quicker.
Hi luckygen. Just curious where you source your crucibles from in Australia. Cheers.
I used to get my crucibles from refractory and ceramic but they have changed their name to Skamol Australia. Their website gives all the contact details.
@@luckygen1001 thankyou. Yes I looked up refractory and ceramic, still listed but there web link was dead. Will check under the new name. Thankyou for your quick reply👍
So if one wants to purchase cast iron quality crucible...where would you say is the best place to order from?
I'm preparing to start melting cast iron in the spring(USA) so match April once I get the foundry built.
Thank you for sharing this valuable information.
Blessed days sirSir, Crawford out
The Morgan crucible in the video seems to hold up well to cast iron and most foundry suppliers have them.
@@luckygen1001 thank you very much sirSir for sharing and for pointing me in the right direction and for the super fast response.
Another factor that eats up crucibles is overuse of flux, especially boron fluxes like borax.
So true, fluxes can shorten the life of a crucible.
@@luckygen1001 I'm glad someone else agrees. At the silver refinery where I work, the tilt furnace operators are changing out a 300# crucible every other day. The old timers are blaming the new guys, saying they're dropping the 70# ingots into the furnaces. I say look where the hole is. It's at the top of the crucible just below the spout where the level of molten silver is, look at how many shovel full of borax you're throwing in there. Those guys will add borax to thin out the melt then add sand to thicken it up.
Great video, what is the best way to get in contact with you? I have tried your email but it bounces back.
RUclips will not let me change my email so I can be contacted. If you want to put your email address in your reply and then I can contact you. I was in QLD about six weeks ago visiting the steam show at old petrie town.
Very useful information. It's ironic I just spent ages trying to clean out a gunky mess in my crucible as I tried to make my own bearing bronze alloy from scratch. For some reason I ended up with a glassy slag with metal included which refused to budge even if I tried overheating and scraping. I resorted to scraping/chiselling the cool crucible to carefully to remove it which took an age. I noticed the base clay graphite is very soft too. Maybe it is a poor quality item but has done about twenty brass melts.
Were you using a flux with it? I found that bronze containing lead makes a very hard to remove slag after a melt.
@@luckygen1001 I didn't use a flux for the melt but resorted to adding Borax after to see if it would free the slag. Wished I hadn't! It made it worse! Trying to make the bronze was interesting but zinc addition to molten copper was an eruption. Am thinking maybe adding Brass to give the zinc content would be safer option.
Alloy was 83%Cu, 7%Sn,7%Pb and 3% Zn.
I make aluminum bells from cast aluminum. I need to know what other metal I could alloy into it to give the bells a more sustain in ringing. Would you know an answer on this?
The harder and denser the metal is the ring lasts longer. If you made a bell from lead it would not ring at all because it is too soft.
@@luckygen1001 well what could I alloy with the aluminum to make it harder?
@@jondoes8222 Silicon makes it harder but it also makes it more brittle.
How do u clean the cast iron out b4 using for aluminium
Scrap off all traces of iron oxide slag until you can see the clay graphite surface inside the crucible.
sir how metal
once again i am asking you to fix your email coz it doesnt work, can you supply a working email?? thankx.
RUclips will not let me fix my email problem.
@@luckygen1001 Is it possible for you to write your email here in the comments as an associate of mine needs a casting job done, and i have no way to contacting you.
I like to keep my email address private. I only do castings for myself but thank you for asking.
Great info many thanks
Great Video!!!
Can i make one at home!!
I tried and failed!
Your videos are very thorough and informative so I thought you'd be the right person to ask. When choosing the biggest crucible for your small furnace, do you simply pick the one that will give you enough side clearance to get your removal tongs in or is there more to it? Cheers.
For my small furnace the height of the crucible limits to how big a crucible I can put in there but you are right side clearance does matter so the tongs will fit in there.
@@luckygen1001 Thanks for that, just wondered if there was an optimal proportion for the efficiency of the melt. I will order one, I take it you find Salamander's the best quality/value?
From a backyard casting group im a part of - the recommendation from there is about an inch overall diameter as a minimum between the furnace inner diameter and your crucibles outer diameter so about half an inch and up to an inch gap on the radius which is more than enough for lifting tongs :)
@@lloydmilton Thanks for that I was just about to order one! I presume, like everything, there are good and bad crucibles and I was wondering if it was worth buying a Silicon Carbide Graphite one made in China or are they rubbish? I plan to do a fair bit of casting I want a reasonable life out of it.
@@MegaPoxie I cannot say if they would be rubbish or not, I use steel crucibles (oh the shame) for my aluminum melts, I don't do cast iron yet.
That said I have a kilo of Graphite and a 5KG block of kaolin clay as well as some grog I want to mix and pressure form into a crucible for casting - when I get off my arse and make the mould for it :D
Also before people get their tits in a knot over using a steel crucible for aluminum melts, remember these 2 things, I inspect the crucible prior to each melt, and I coat it in a fireclay wash to not only protect the crucible from the molten aluminum but also to reduce the scaling that occurs when you heat steel until it's orange hot.
The steel I use is old fire extinguishers and without treatment they will fail after 4 - 5 melts, with treatment, i'm up to 10 melts on the current one and its still as thick as it was when I first used it but have not done any casting this year yet...
Thank you.
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Great demonstration.
How are your crucibles holding up after all the iron melts that you do?
@@luckygen1001 I dont think I get that many melts per crucible. 35 would be pushing it, 25 is about the life span and then I use pliers to pinch off the thin edge to get a few more out of it. That may be because of the difference in our burners. I also use Morgan super clay graphite like you do. I have read that silicon carbide isn't necessarily a good option for iron. I've never used one so I what I read could be wrong. Also, I use a shank that's just big enough to wrap the base then I have two steel bars the height of the crucible welded to the shank base that the crucible lays against as I pour. I'll email pics later.
I like how your pouring shank is a go/no go gauge, very nice!
I am interested in melting Aluminum, Brass, and Copper and favor the idea of keeping dedicated crucibles as separate for each metal being melted.
Since I am new to the crucible selection process, I was under the impression that the Salamander Super Clay Graphite Crucibles were of good quality, but from watching your video I now have doubts.
Which crucibles do you personally endorse?
Do you have your own method of breaking-in a crucible or training a crucible when spanking new, before used for melting metals?
Thank you for sharing your insight.
Yes I use salamander super clay graphite crucibles and I don't break in crucibles.
Im planning on making my own crucibles from our red clay and some manner of powdered graphite. I plan on melting steel, some wootz experiments not pouring cast iron. Any tips for the novice would be grand, I look forward to buying a nice salamander or other fancy crucible someday, but I want to start here
I have had a go at making my own crucibles and all were failures so I cannot help you there. You could try watching youtube videos on how to make crucibles.