30 years ago myself and one of my best friends used to make copper, brass and aluminum ingots for sale at a flea market. We would leave the ingot in the mold until the next one was to be poured to keep the molds hot and ready.
Need to preheat your molds and use flux before you pour, your barswill look 100 times better. Also, flip them into water about 10-20 seconds after pouring, and there will be less ripples on top of the bar. If you watch closely after pouring, you can see the copper harden over. Then flip into water.
If you have a lot of scrap copper that's not in ingot form, then it's worth it to melt down. Not only for its "artisanal" value, but also to save on space. You're looking at a small fraction of the required space, to that of all the loose wire (especially when we're talking about higher gauge wires).
Right before you pour take a little handheld torch and heat the molds up and I think they will come out better they sure look cool when they're done don't they
In my experience I think if he poured faster out of the furnace and skimmed the top of the metal before pouring and the top of the ingots before they cool they’ll come out cleaner
Anthony Pagenkopf something like a mini torch or two sized flame with a medium thick sheet of metal should keep the heat in the molds you can heat the pans with a torch or another method. On a separate note your doing good it’s important to have flaws in your projects god knows mine do some people brush these comments off as hateful but while they should be taken with a grain of salt they’re still a great forum of knowledge
I don't know why watching guys doing metal stuff like this gets me going like this but I know I had the evening of my life right now watching it. Keep it going.
You are right every ingot is unique. I know you could make money but I can’t sell mine I love them too much . I poured a 10 Pound copper bar on my channel and my mate offered to buy it for $100 ,I told him noway not gonna happen ! $150🤔mmmmaybe . Great vid as always matey , Perfect pours mate . I love when copper pours like water it’s so much easier as you say to take it up to 100°C well over melting point to make it easier. After this video you’ll probably have 1000 watching your bars on eBay 👍🏻.
You've got a great channel, I like how your sticking to your guns and not drifting away from your casting vid's, your ticking along great, hope to see you do a special pour for your 10,000 sub's milestone
These are good for sale to small foundries. Recycling facilities pay bottom dollar for cast metals. Novelty sales to the public fetch the highest price but the real value won't exceed spot as purity can't be confirmed.
Before I pour I always set my graphite mold inside my Foundry and let it get warm and then I use a grass burner to keep the mold hot I found it work better and I like the result
Totally agree with what youre saying on the video its not scrap melted to scrap its the time the effort the gas costs etc and the end result of course id provably use a copper ingit as a fancy paper weight or door stop but knowing that it has artistic and financial value too. Well done by the way i enjoy watching the pours.
Nice scaled attempt, not bad for start!! No doubt you already know what you can improve upon. Most important looks like you had fun doing it. Welcome to the metal melting party.
Love it!! Maybe if you put your molds into a pile of sand. The sand would help keep them hot. Far better than open air at least. Or maybe just surround them with fire bricks... ?
Not only do people like a Copper Bar to keep but for many metal collectors its an investment also especially in the long run when prices go up , just like the stock market there is money to be made when the price is right , i call it smart investing .
Hi Ben, just watching your video, you said it takes 25mins for solids to melt and 40mins for wire, I don't know if you have an issue with your furnace or regulator, but I use a home made forge and it takes 15mins for wire and 8mins for solids. For copper I use .12mpa and generally put solids in first then add wire when its melted, it takes seconds to melt wire
Thank you Ben , many of us wanted to see you pouring Kilo Koppa Bars !.. Also as an option , if you want to keep bars shiny you can apply a light coat Spray Varnish Ex = Everbrite Coatings
I seen a video where they were pouring gold into ingot molds,as soon as they completely filled the mold to the point it was over flowing the rim,just as the pouring was finished, another person used what looked like a large straight edged piece of stainless steel,doing a quick swipe across the top of mold,taking the overflow off and leaving a top surface that is real smooth. The gold that was scraped off the top just fell into a hopper below. Maybe you might like to try that trick on copper .BTW,.check those bricks below the grate from time to time for cracking. Heat really does a number to that type of brick.
Greetings from Pennsylvania USA Like watching & keep up the videos!! I love when you go scraping and finding all the cool stuff. Hear in PA we have yard sales, but after the sale ends most of the left over stuff is set at the curb. and any one come pick out what you like. Also most towns have a one day a year you can set out your junk to the curb. Hang in there, and stay cool in every way!!!! Robin Jo
Total Heat/Energy (Q) = M (mass in kg) * Cp(heat capacity in j/kgC) * DT (change in temperature degC) Cp (water) = 4200 J/kgC Cp (copper) = 385 J/kgC If you wanted to cool down a 1kg copper bar from say 1000 degC to 25 deg C or room temperature, the total heat removed from the copper bar is Q = 1*385*(1000-25) = 375,375 Joules The 375,375 Joules of energy removed from the copper bar is transferred to the water. Let's say the cold tap water is initially at 10 deg C and there is about 10 liters or 10 kg of water in the container. What is the change or increase in water temperature when you drop 1kg of hot copper in the container? 375,375 = 10*4,200*(T-10) so T = 8.9 deg C At the most the water temperature should increase by about 9 deg C for each 1 kg copper bar you drop into 10 liters of water. So two 1 kg copper bars initially at 1000 deg C should increase the water temperature by about 18 deg C. Unless you had less than 10 liters of water in the container or your cold water was a lot warmer, I cant see the water getting that hot. (the other factor is that ingot weight was a lot higher than 1 kg)
it also has to due with the fact that math cant always solve everything or predict everything correctly, im sure there and many variables you are missing out and obviously you dont have the exact temperatures but still
@@Fisheiyy In cases like this, math absolutely can solve it accurately. The biggest factor the OP didn’t think about, is simply that hot fluid rises. It is certainly possible to have near boiling water at the top of a container, and significantly cooler at the bottom. If the water was well stirred, the temperature should be very close to the math.
Very, very cool. Personally I love the look of copper. Currently in the process getting the equipment to copper plate my bicycle and then clear coat it.
There's always someone to criticize what you enjoy doing because you like doing it your way. Keep doing what you enjoy my friend. Great job. Ontario, Canada🍻
I saw a video of some chinese guy selling these (supposedly) expensive furnaces for melting gold. He would measure up some gold in pellets to a pretty exact weight and then had these smallish molds that he would fill with the pellets and then put into the furnace. When the gold was melted he took it out and let it cool and it looked absolutely flawless. Not quite minted but almost. (I know it's an entire - and much more expensive setup) I suppose it's the even heat, where a pour the way you do it will "shock" the first few drops and whatnot and they cause the bar to become rough looking. Would you ever consider to try and put your small mold into the furnace with some measured-off copper and try and make a "clean" (unpoured) ingot?
Hey there, been a subscriber for a bit now. I just got my 1st furnace. Merry Christmas to me. You inspired me my friend. Can't wait to make some bars for gifts and hoard and sell. Love watching your videos you really go into detail and have helped me with my scrapping. Keep up the informative videos...Trash Pirate from the States.
I watched your other vids where you separate #1 copper, #2 copper, (what we call it -- "milberry", "burnt", etc., in your parlance), to take to the yard. When you make the ingots, does your melt include #2, or just bright #1. Seems to me, @ 1100*C, it should just go all-in. Yes?
Hai It was a good and useful information. I have a question the container which you used is made of which material? Would be great full if you answer me. Thanks
You mention the mold was too cool, leaving pits on the bottom. Would keeping the molds over a suitable charcoal fire during the pour leave them smoother?
so-where does the 6 times in value come from? If you take one of them bars to cash in for some cash, wouldn't they just give you the price of what the weight in copper is, bar form or not?
i want to try this it seems fun i also want to try a little bit of black smithing just trying to make basic knives but would be fun to smelt some scrap down while im at it i think around where i live ppl will just set free junk out on the road and i live by a rail road track so i plan on walking it for free rail spikes to try to make knives with
I have a foundry almost identical to yours i melted some copper today was not a fail but wasn’t how i would have like. How do you have your set up? I feel i need a regulator what should i buy?
Hi, I have become obsessed with these metal recycling and bar pouring videos on you tube and I have decided to get my first furnace and try to do some copper and aluminium pours. Are the Devil Forge furnaces a good product? I won't have any issue with access to scrap metal, would you recommend the 10kg furnace as a good sized starter kit? Finally what style and size of mounds do you find the most useful? I'm not interested in making them to sell, I just want to add to the collection which I have already purchased over the years from eBay. Thank you for your help Justin
Well, the top 2 scrappers I follow both use Devil Forges. If you go to BigStackD's channel he can get you 5% off a Devil Forge, and for the cost of them 5% is nothing to sneeze at. They look damn good, get up to high temperatures fast and never heard of any real problems with them though personally if I do bite the bullet and get into melting and casting my own metal, I'm going to make my own ghetto forge first. If I make money, THEN I'll look into buying a forge, and it will likely be a Devil Forge if I do.
Hi Ben, I'm loving your videos. I just started pouring my own copper bars. It is super fun. I've been pouring in green-sand molds. I need to get some graphite molds like yours to make it easier :-)
Man of you want a really cool looking pour rig you a propane torch over top center of the molds as you pour makes these real Nice ripples on the bar thats what i do with mine when i pour. But i dont pour any as big as youre doing here
The price increase would really only apply to the private market and not scrap yards. The price increase is from the cost of the foundry, fuel costs, mold costs, time of the individual that's doing the melting, but also the individually of each ingot with it's character.
Hi, I’d love to start melting my copper cable stash but it looks scary and dangerous. How do I find out how to do it safely as the gas burner scares the hell out of me.
Ben, you are truly absolutely amazing, you really really are. Brilliant! Magnificent pours and they polished up to an outstanding finish! I tip my hat to you, kind Sir!🎩
U should get one of those tiny circle grills that are low to the ground the little ones so u can put the mold in it to keep them hot leave them on there and pour
Hi cobba, could you tell me what the furnace insides material is and where I could get the stuff,looking to make a large furnace and pour a 100kg of 1kg brass and copper bars,cheers m8,awesome clip and I learnt a lot from your clip
Then they would need to be assayed to certify the purity. Otherwise he's just pulling the number out of his butt and you have no guarantee what it really is. You going to just take his word for it?
So correct me if I'm wrong but this is my understanding. For a cheaper price, you can get factory made bars with a garunteed quality standard, all of which are pure copper and the same shape and size and weight, which I would assume People who like stacking bars would want. For some reason, I can't see a reason to buy a more expensive, hand poured bar without a quality garunteed, without a garunteed of PURE copper - there is no way of knowing what other metals are in there- and they are all different, which I would assume makes stacking hard, however I am not an ingot stacker, nor will I ever be, so I can't say. I will just say this it honestly doesn't make sense to me. Any constructive feedback will be appreciated. However I do understand that as a hobby it can be satisfying and nice to know that you created it. Either way, I love your content and you got a sub from me
@@organbuilder272 There are may copper alloy wires on the market what claims to be 100% pure copper, wire, unless you source it from high end hifi system or wire from very old equipment. you can tell when you are stripping the wires 100% pure copper wire is very soft.
@@leoncryp8182 copper wire can be soft or it can be hard, it all has to do with how it's treated. Copper will get hardened by working it, and you can anneal it by heating and quenching it. So you can have high tensile strength copper wire or very soft copper wire. As for purity, wire thats produced for household wiring should be 99.9% pure. That is wiring which complies to relevant standards. Wiring inside electronics I have no idea. No stamps or tests proving it regardless however.
What do the people who buy the bars use them for ? Do they remelt them to pour again or cut them into slices ? Just wondering why buy a copper bar rather than buy sheet or tube for some projects.
That's a little counter-intuitive about the wire vs. thick material, because I would think that heat would take longer to travel through a big block, the same way as when you have a heat sink it stays cooler than just some thin stuff, or when you can get more lather faster from a lot of little bits of soap with a lot of surface area than you can with a big bar. Why does it work in the opposite way from how I would think?
I enjoy these videos. I do have a question though . Where do you get the furnaces and the crisibles. I would love to do this as I am wanting to get into making bullets also . What are the crusibles made out of . The molds look like steel and sound likebit too . Thank you.
molds are graphite, it's all available online, maybe look at the description link to my amazon store, there's furnaces, molds and equipment listed there
@@eWasteBen ok thank you for the info . Am very interested . I'm dissabled this would give me a hobby that I thinl I would enjoy . I enjoy working with metal . Thank you again for your time. Keep up with the videos.
Thanks again Ben,every one of your videos is a inspiration for me.
30 years ago myself and one of my best friends used to make copper, brass and aluminum ingots for sale at a flea market. We would leave the ingot in the mold until the next one was to be poured to keep the molds hot and ready.
Wonder if that would be profitable nowadays
@@joshschneider9766 The price of copper was going way down in June but the price is starting to pick up again.
I love the pride and confidence you display in your explanation of your every craft from copper to gold my friend...
Need to preheat your molds and use flux before you pour, your barswill look 100 times better. Also, flip them into water about 10-20 seconds after pouring, and there will be less ripples on top of the bar. If you watch closely after pouring, you can see the copper harden over. Then flip into water.
If you have a lot of scrap copper that's not in ingot form, then it's worth it to melt down. Not only for its "artisanal" value, but also to save on space. You're looking at a small fraction of the required space, to that of all the loose wire (especially when we're talking about higher gauge wires).
Right before you pour take a little handheld torch and heat the molds up and I think they will come out better they sure look cool when they're done don't they
In my experience I think if he poured faster out of the furnace and skimmed the top of the metal before pouring and the top of the ingots before they cool they’ll come out cleaner
Anthony Pagenkopf something like a mini torch or two sized flame with a medium thick sheet of metal should keep the heat in the molds you can heat the pans with a torch or another method. On a separate note your doing good it’s important to have flaws in your projects god knows mine do some people brush these comments off as hateful but while they should be taken with a grain of salt they’re still a great forum of knowledge
That's exactly how BigstackD does it and it really does turn out better than this.
I don't know why watching guys doing metal stuff like this gets me going like this but I know I had the evening of my life right now watching it. Keep it going.
I literally fell asleep watching this
You are right every ingot is unique. I know you could make money but I can’t sell mine I love them too much . I poured a 10 Pound copper bar on my channel and my mate offered to buy it for $100 ,I told him noway not gonna happen ! $150🤔mmmmaybe . Great vid as always matey , Perfect pours mate . I love when copper pours like water it’s so much easier as you say to take it up to 100°C well over melting point to make it easier. After this video you’ll probably have 1000 watching your bars on eBay 👍🏻.
Yeah i've watched your video a few times, the 10lb bar I poured turned out great too, and yeah, not for sale :)
eWaste Ben oh yeah That’s right you did it a few months ago I remember now. I watch so many scrapping casting videos I can’t keep track of them all🤨😁
You've got a great channel, I like how your sticking to your guns and not drifting away from your casting vid's, your ticking along great, hope to see you do a special pour for your 10,000 sub's milestone
eWaste Ben yeah matey I’ll have to think about something for the 10k for sure . Keep up the great content mate , Aussie Aussie Aussie Oi Oi Oi 🍻🍻🍻🍻🍻
fr
These are good for sale to small foundries. Recycling facilities pay bottom dollar for cast metals. Novelty sales to the public fetch the highest price but the real value won't exceed spot as purity can't be confirmed.
Mesmerizing! I can’t
stop watching these videos about making bars for some reason. Keep them coming!
Right!!
Well done Ben, enjoy your hobby hope you do ok with the sales.
Why you watching him and not lil uzi vert
Haha, I’m down the rabbit hole.
@@davidbaker2859 sssx
Before I pour I always set my graphite mold inside my Foundry and let it get warm and then I use a grass burner to keep the mold hot I found it work better and I like the result
This never gets old no matter how many times I watch it!
Slm
Totally agree with what youre saying on the video its not scrap melted to scrap its the time the effort the gas costs etc and the end result of course id provably use a copper ingit as a fancy paper weight or door stop but knowing that it has artistic and financial value too. Well done by the way i enjoy watching the pours.
Nice scaled attempt, not bad for start!! No doubt you already know what you can improve upon. Most important looks like you had fun doing it. Welcome to the metal melting party.
Love it!! Maybe if you put your molds into a pile of sand. The sand would help keep them hot. Far better than open air at least. Or maybe just surround them with fire bricks... ?
the bars quenching sound quite satisfying
Really enjoyed the Video. I collect fine copper bars and yours look truly artisan. Well done
Not only do people like a Copper Bar to keep but for many metal collectors its an investment also especially in the long run when prices go up , just like the stock market there is money to be made when the price is right , i call it smart investing .
How many pours from a full tank of gas Ben ?
Hi Ben, just watching your video, you said it takes 25mins for solids to melt and 40mins for wire, I don't know if you have an issue with your furnace or regulator, but I use a home made forge and it takes 15mins for wire and 8mins for solids. For copper I use .12mpa and generally put solids in first then add wire when its melted, it takes seconds to melt wire
Thank you Ben , many of us wanted to see you pouring Kilo Koppa Bars !.. Also as an option , if you want to keep bars shiny you can apply a light coat Spray Varnish Ex = Everbrite Coatings
Yeah but with coating it you'll be adding impurities again. Maybe it is an idea to vacuum them in a bag with a vacuum device?
Wow, very clean setup and nice safety precautions! Great video as usual, keep up the good work!
Bought the 1.44kg bar as soon as I saw it. I had to pause the vid. Great work, keep it up.
Thanks man, It's the nicest one for sure, choice pick.
@@eWasteBen please upload video every day.... I like you channel and always support you
Before you do a pour place the molds on top around the opening of the forge just to heat them up in the mean time
Have you ever thought of pressing the copper in hydrolic press before melting? May speed up melt
You are correct.
A steel mold and a hand hydraulic jack would work just fine for pressing.
If you wax your bars with car wax would it stay shiny for a lot longer? Or are they better solution to stop the oxidation
Where can you get moulds that say copper on it and their weight? Like 1 oz fin copper for example
I just recently got in to pouring copper and other metals. And Electronica scrapping. When you pour your copper. How do you make it look so good?
I seen a video where they were pouring gold into ingot molds,as soon as they completely filled the mold to the point it was over flowing the rim,just as the pouring was finished, another person used what looked like a large straight edged piece of stainless steel,doing a quick swipe across the top of mold,taking the overflow off and leaving a top surface that is real smooth.
The gold that was scraped off the top just fell into a hopper below. Maybe you might like to try that trick on copper .BTW,.check those bricks below the grate from time to time for cracking. Heat really does a number to that type of brick.
I've been scrapping and casting copper/aluminum/brass/zinc/you-name-it ingots for a while now.
I love molten copper. There's nothing quite like it.
Greetings from Pennsylvania USA Like watching & keep up the videos!! I love when you go scraping and finding all the cool stuff. Hear in PA we have yard sales, but after the sale ends most of the left over stuff is set at the curb. and any one come pick out what you like. Also most towns have a one day a year you can set out your junk to the curb. Hang in there, and stay cool in every way!!!! Robin Jo
Total Heat/Energy (Q) = M (mass in kg) * Cp(heat capacity in j/kgC) * DT (change in temperature degC)
Cp (water) = 4200 J/kgC
Cp (copper) = 385 J/kgC
If you wanted to cool down a 1kg copper bar from say 1000 degC to 25 deg C or room temperature, the total heat removed from the copper bar is Q = 1*385*(1000-25) = 375,375 Joules
The 375,375 Joules of energy removed from the copper bar is transferred to the water. Let's say the cold tap water is initially at 10 deg C and there is about 10 liters or 10 kg of water in the container.
What is the change or increase in water temperature when you drop 1kg of hot copper in the container?
375,375 = 10*4,200*(T-10)
so T = 8.9 deg C
At the most the water temperature should increase by about 9 deg C for each 1 kg copper bar you drop into 10 liters of water.
So two 1 kg copper bars initially at 1000 deg C should increase the water temperature by about 18 deg C.
Unless you had less than 10 liters of water in the container or your cold water was a lot warmer, I cant see the water getting that hot. (the other factor is that ingot weight was a lot higher than 1 kg)
it also has to due with the fact that math cant always solve everything or predict everything correctly, im sure there and many variables you are missing out and obviously you dont have the exact temperatures but still
@@Fisheiyy In cases like this, math absolutely can solve it accurately. The biggest factor the OP didn’t think about, is simply that hot fluid rises. It is certainly possible to have near boiling water at the top of a container, and significantly cooler at the bottom. If the water was well stirred, the temperature should be very close to the math.
some people get gold fever but i've got a thing for copper.
Your a Copper Head
It's pretty.
Yah, Copper!
And I myself has a special fond of Silver. :)
@@josephpaul0484 You have the silverbug. Check out the subreddit.
Very, very cool. Personally I love the look of copper. Currently in the process getting the equipment to copper plate my bicycle and then clear coat it.
Have you considered using a hydraulic press to compress the wire into small dense pieces. Might help speed up the melting and reduce gas usage
There's always someone to criticize what you enjoy doing because you like doing it your way. Keep doing what you enjoy my friend. Great job. Ontario, Canada🍻
I saw a video of some chinese guy selling these (supposedly) expensive furnaces for melting gold. He would measure up some gold in pellets to a pretty exact weight and then had these smallish molds that he would fill with the pellets and then put into the furnace.
When the gold was melted he took it out and let it cool and it looked absolutely flawless. Not quite minted but almost. (I know it's an entire - and much more expensive setup)
I suppose it's the even heat, where a pour the way you do it will "shock" the first few drops and whatnot and they cause the bar to become rough looking.
Would you ever consider to try and put your small mold into the furnace with some measured-off copper and try and make a "clean" (unpoured) ingot?
Different material. Cant work that way
Hey there, been a subscriber for a bit now. I just got my 1st furnace. Merry Christmas to me. You inspired me my friend. Can't wait to make some bars for gifts and hoard and sell. Love watching your videos you really go into detail and have helped me with my scrapping. Keep up the informative videos...Trash Pirate from the States.
Which forge did you get and how do you like it? I’m about to buy one now just not sure which to go with
I keep watching this video over and over, I am so excited for my forge to arrive! Great video! and good on ya for mentioning safety gear!!
I’m in the same now 2 years later. Which forge did you go with and how do you like it?
I've never seen anyone challenge a fire to a duel before.
please give me timestamp xD
I watched your other vids where you separate #1 copper, #2 copper, (what we call it -- "milberry", "burnt", etc., in your parlance), to take to the yard. When you make the ingots, does your melt include #2, or just bright #1. Seems to me, @ 1100*C, it should just go all-in. Yes?
Yes it can all go in, 1200*C
I am a Turk from Germany and love your videos,
thanks for that. :)
Hai
It was a good and useful information. I have a question the container which you used is made of which material?
Would be great full if you answer me.
Thanks
Hi which container you mean? The one he is pouring metal in? Its graphite
I have a major stock pile of bar copper wire. Should I hang on to it for a few years or what.
You mention the mold was too cool, leaving pits on the bottom. Would keeping the molds over a suitable charcoal fire during the pour leave them smoother?
Have seen multiple metal pours lay the molds on top of the furnace vent then take them off and they turn out good bars.
hello from Greece!!how much cost this machine with the pot inside?? thanks a lot!!
Great info and advice. I just bought the 10kg Devil forge. New sub, greetings from Switzerland
"The smaller one is going to be the lighter one" Such profound wisdom.
Wow...how do you know? Far out!
do you need to add flux or something to absorb any non copper added to the wire?
so-where does the 6 times in value come from? If you take one of them bars to cash in for some cash, wouldn't they just give you the price of what the weight in copper is, bar form or not?
i want to try this it seems fun i also want to try a little bit of black smithing just trying to make basic knives but would be fun to smelt some scrap down while im at it i think around where i live ppl will just set free junk out on the road and i live by a rail road track so i plan on walking it for free rail spikes to try to make knives with
I have a foundry almost identical to yours i melted some copper today was not a fail but wasn’t how i would have like. How do you have your set up? I feel i need a regulator what should i buy?
These are the kinda videos you watch at 3AM when your bored. Interesting stuff lol
12am**
3:20am
Tell me why it’s 3 am rn and I’m stuck watching these types of vids... 🤣🤣
@@aaronenriquez296 6
@@aaronenriquez296 and
Would it help to sit a carbon mold on top of a pour so it won't wrinkle?? And itll heat up the mold for the next pour.
What size crucible are you using in the video? It looks like a 5 kg or bigger. Nice pours...
god that copper looks so beautiful when its being poured. love your vids
Hi, I have become obsessed with these metal recycling and bar pouring videos on you tube and I have decided to get my first furnace and try to do some copper and aluminium pours. Are the Devil Forge furnaces a good product? I won't have any issue with access to scrap metal, would you recommend the 10kg furnace as a good sized starter kit? Finally what style and size of mounds do you find the most useful? I'm not interested in making them to sell, I just want to add to the collection which I have already purchased over the years from eBay.
Thank you for your help
Justin
Well, the top 2 scrappers I follow both use Devil Forges. If you go to BigStackD's channel he can get you 5% off a Devil Forge, and for the cost of them 5% is nothing to sneeze at. They look damn good, get up to high temperatures fast and never heard of any real problems with them though personally if I do bite the bullet and get into melting and casting my own metal, I'm going to make my own ghetto forge first. If I make money, THEN I'll look into buying a forge, and it will likely be a Devil Forge if I do.
would it help if you sat your molds on s lit grill (BBQ) as this would keep the molds at a more controlled heat at minimal expense?
We get more at a scrap yard for the ignots compared to just the wire well worth melting it for scrap here
keep in mind folks alot of scap yards will turn down already smelted alloy as they would too pay higher and dont know the quality
Ways around that
I wonder how much the propane cost eats into the income of selling the ingots.
try a little rouge and polishing wheel to get a mirror like shine. clear lacquer keep it shiny forever
Hi Ben, I'm loving your videos. I just started pouring my own copper bars. It is super fun. I've been pouring in green-sand molds. I need to get some graphite molds like yours to make it easier :-)
How did you start? and Can you tell me how much totally paid for now?
Anybody know where to get molds ?? Obviously larger sized ones .
Man of you want a really cool looking pour rig you a propane torch over top center of the molds as you pour makes these real
Nice ripples on the bar thats what i do with mine when i pour. But i dont pour any as big as youre doing here
The main thing-do not rush! Speed often leads to serious burns! Can you do the same with brass and aluminum?
I've been watching your channel for a while but this is the first casting one.
Very nice.
Do you use different melting pots for different metals
Question please Ben, how and why would the price increase by 6 ( around) times it’s value by making those bars? Thank you
The price increase would really only apply to the private market and not scrap yards. The price increase is from the cost of the foundry, fuel costs, mold costs, time of the individual that's doing the melting, but also the individually of each ingot with it's character.
Any idea how to remove lead out of the crucible before pouring?
An idea.. when u line up 3 containers to pour into..leave the middle for last and it should get a better pour...correct
polished up it would make an exclusive paperweight for an office desk or the executive in your life
Hi, I’d love to start melting my copper cable stash but it looks scary and dangerous. How do I find out how to do it safely as the gas burner scares the hell out of me.
Always pour in flip flops and T shirts
How much does it cost to get a bar of copper. Do you use cast iron ingots molds
You got to preheat your molds to prevent the popping when you pour
another cool vid Ben, thanks. Can't wait till I get around to pouring.
Well done Ben. This is an excellent skill to master, very smart.
Try mixing white vinegar and salt and placing the ingots in the mix. Should make them bright. Mix 1 cup vinegar to 1/8 cup salt.
How much does it cost in gas though to melt them down? just curious
Aren't they worth more with machining smooth & stamping? Wouldn't they be smoother without water cooling?
Would they cool faster if you left space between the crucibles?
You need a letter and number stamping set so you can imprint the weight and who made it and weigh them once you have wire brushed and polished them
Ben, if you preheat the molds, will the ingots smooth out more?
Ben, you are truly absolutely amazing, you really really are. Brilliant! Magnificent pours and they polished up to an outstanding finish! I tip my hat to you, kind Sir!🎩
can you throw the copper down on concrete. and will it turn a beautiful green on one side
*Little hint, use wire wheel in reverse as much as forward and never push down too hard. Throw them away when the bounce like the one in this video*
Ben try using a charcoal grill to keep your molds nice and hot.
U should get one of those tiny circle grills that are low to the ground the little ones so u can put the mold in it to keep them hot leave them on there and pour
Hi cobba, could you tell me what the furnace insides material is and where I could get the stuff,looking to make a large furnace and pour a 100kg of 1kg brass and copper bars,cheers m8,awesome clip and I learnt a lot from your clip
ceramic wool plastered over with some refractory mortar
Pretty nice clean ingot moulding you had made
Do you use a flux or any other ingredients to prevent the copper from oxidizing
you should stamp ur bars with weight, purity and makers mark.
Then they would need to be assayed to certify the purity. Otherwise he's just pulling the number out of his butt and you have no guarantee what it really is. You going to just take his word for it?
@@loctite222ms: OK, well then just the weight or/and mass and the maker's mark.
So correct me if I'm wrong but this is my understanding. For a cheaper price, you can get factory made bars with a garunteed quality standard, all of which are pure copper and the same shape and size and weight, which I would assume People who like stacking bars would want. For some reason, I can't see a reason to buy a more expensive, hand poured bar without a quality garunteed, without a garunteed of PURE copper - there is no way of knowing what other metals are in there- and they are all different, which I would assume makes stacking hard, however I am not an ingot stacker, nor will I ever be, so I can't say. I will just say this it honestly doesn't make sense to me. Any constructive feedback will be appreciated. However I do understand that as a hobby it can be satisfying and nice to know that you created it.
Either way, I love your content and you got a sub from me
Listen carefully - Pure Copper Wire. Nothing but Pure Copper Wire.
@@organbuilder272 There are may copper alloy wires on the market what claims to be 100% pure copper, wire, unless you source it from high end hifi system or wire from very old equipment. you can tell when you are stripping the wires 100% pure copper wire is very soft.
@@leoncryp8182 copper wire can be soft or it can be hard, it all has to do with how it's treated. Copper will get hardened by working it, and you can anneal it by heating and quenching it. So you can have high tensile strength copper wire or very soft copper wire.
As for purity, wire thats produced for household wiring should be 99.9% pure. That is wiring which complies to relevant standards. Wiring inside electronics I have no idea.
No stamps or tests proving it regardless however.
Leon Cryp
What do the people who buy the bars use them for ? Do they remelt them to pour again or cut them into slices ? Just wondering why buy a copper bar rather than buy sheet or tube for some projects.
That's a little counter-intuitive about the wire vs. thick material, because I would think that heat would take longer to travel through a big block, the same way as when you have a heat sink it stays cooler than just some thin stuff, or when you can get more lather faster from a lot of little bits of soap with a lot of surface area than you can with a big bar. Why does it work in the opposite way from how I would think?
Genuine question.... What would happen if you put copper wire with plastic still on into the melting pot?
Strangly mesmerizing watching your video .
Like working with lava. Thanks for posting.
I enjoy these videos. I do have a question though . Where do you get the furnaces and the crisibles. I would love to do this as I am wanting to get into making bullets also . What are the crusibles made out of . The molds look like steel and sound likebit too . Thank you.
molds are graphite, it's all available online, maybe look at the description link to my amazon store, there's furnaces, molds and equipment listed there
@@eWasteBen ok thank you for the info . Am very interested . I'm dissabled this would give me a hobby that I thinl I would enjoy . I enjoy working with metal . Thank you again for your time. Keep up with the videos.
Love this kind of videos, the longer the better
having a HOT mold and cooling slowly is XERY important to having a smooth sided ingot