Has anyone tried this, I have been googling and it looks quite simple to make something out of an old gas cylinder & bits of scrap

Then it's just a case of getting some old wheels, chopping them up and casting some shapes..... But is it that simple?

My first project would be making some wheel spacers, I can machine stuff down now I have a decent lathe some cast some oversize round ingots then machine down and drill, the alternative is buying stock which is getting on for £50, not much fun in that.

plenty on you tube one guy even show you have to make your own casting sand, a lot of people are smelting aluminium cans to make small ingots

Old hard drives are made of pretty big chunks of high quality aluminium

Thought hard drives were zinc alloys?!?

Lots of good books on the camden miniature steam website and also on kindle bookstore/amazon

Look at backyardmetalcasting.com

Myfordboys youtube channel is very good also

I've done it But only to make ingots from cans. Bear in mind cans weigh around 15g each and about 1/3 of that is painted coating inside. So loads of cans needed.

I used two large blow torches and a proper crucibal inside a fire brick furnace - though it wasn't very efficient. Needed to be much tighter to crucibal. Did it for a laugh.

Bear in mind that this is me at work.

[img]
Work [/img]

And a vid from a client

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTQqFdDWYUw

Cheers

Simon

[Edited on 30/1/15 by Simon]

[Edited on 30/1/15 by Simon]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHD10DjxM1g

This guys vids are good - this one does what you want

This is what I was looking at

[youtube]http://youtube/T_Fchr9u0IY[/youtube]

As I have a gas bottle, i,m happy I can melt stuff, it's more will I get something useful that I can stick into a lathe or will I end up with a porus mess?

#1 would just be a steel crucible with charcoal and a fan

[Edited on 30/1/15 by mark chandler]

I like the flowerpot furnace but think it could be improved by having the fan pipe at an angle creating a rotary flame - bit like the one at work (but that's diesel)

ATB

Simon

I looked into it a couple of years ago and still fancy having a go!

Be cautious if you are casting anything structural. The chemical composition and crystal structure might lead to weaknesses... Wouldn't want a spacer to snap and a wheel to fall out.

When I was at school in my metalwork class we melted a lot of cans down in furnace, poured it into a casting sand box that we'd made around a wooden plug and then machined it on the lathe. We were making bases for a desk lamp but it didn't come out porous at all. If 16 year olds (albeit with a bit of help from the teacher) could do that I'm sure you'll have no problems.
I remember the teacher adding something to the aluminium to make all the crap float to the top so he could scoop it off. And also there was a bit of a process to making the sand mould without it falling apart.

I cast karting hubs at school. Crazy now looking back at it.

Better than the Chinese shite i have had to deal with this week at work! !

For a blower use a dyson blower unit. £20, and just need a cylindrical housing.
Are you refering to a calor style gas bottle?

nuts I want to make one now, have 2 empty gas bottles left in the garden since I moved in.

Darren

Yes, behead a 19kg gas bottle, weld three feet on the bottom and line with fire cement, air blower in the side and a crucible out of some old steel tube or get a cast iron pot off eBay.

Then fine some old scrap ali to feed it.

Yes, I've done it. Depends how permanent you want your set up to be.
I have melted cans and light window profiles on nothing more than a couple of large coffee cans as furnace and
Canned beans Cans as crucibles regular wood charcoal as fuel and old hair dryer as blower.
Yield was small and you can use the beans cans only a couple of times before they burn through.
What you get from this may be melted again and degassed to prove results.
Be aware that working with molten aluminum is extremely dangerous am just a small drop of water may cause a vapor explosion.
In fact, if I were to do it again, I'd use professional smelter personal protection equipment.
As the first time I did I used only welding personal protection equipment
HTH

How do you know what grade of aluminium you end up with? I thought smelters added chemicals to the melt to determine grade.

Assuming it is "whatever you get" grade is there a "generic" heat treatment?

I would think it would be cheaper just to buy the correct grade and machine it after all the casting will have to be machined. Still facinating subject but a bit useless really


Cheers!

I was planning on using old car wheels, chopped into bits which should be a decent/high quality grade.

It also of course depends on what you are making, not everything needs a high grade after all.

Id not be making anything structural, ypou have no idea about the fatigue properties etc and never know what inclusions you have. Billet Ali is cheap enough. Maybe for little bodywork brackets or something similar, or just for giggles, but I'd keep it at that.