- Thread starter bash'it
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Most folk just call me; Orange Joe
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Sounds like a good idea to me, it would make good use of loads of useless bits of aluminium. Probably best you don't make anything especially critical from it though as it will likely be far more brittle and weaker than most common alloys.
Oh, and smelting is what you do to ores to turn them into metals, this would be melting
.
EDIT: I didn't notice you said drinks cans, I was thinking of scrap aluminium. Drinks cans will surely be a waste of time. Empty cans weigh maybe 15 grams, but having such a high surface area will mean a lot of it will oxidize as Seadog said. If you assume you get 10 grams of useful metal per can, a 2" long piece of 2" round will require 28 cans (Probably a little more as the surface won't be perfect, so you'll have to make it bigger and machine it down). You'll to melt a few hundred to get a decent amount to cast, and even once you've crushed them, hundreds of cans will take up a lot of volume, so you'll be adding them to the crucible one by one, which will take ages and waste loads of gas.
If you do try it, do it on a windy day, because the burning paint and sugary residues absolutely f'kin stinks
.
Oh, and smelting is what you do to ores to turn them into metals, this would be melting
.EDIT: I didn't notice you said drinks cans, I was thinking of scrap aluminium. Drinks cans will surely be a waste of time. Empty cans weigh maybe 15 grams, but having such a high surface area will mean a lot of it will oxidize as Seadog said. If you assume you get 10 grams of useful metal per can, a 2" long piece of 2" round will require 28 cans (Probably a little more as the surface won't be perfect, so you'll have to make it bigger and machine it down). You'll to melt a few hundred to get a decent amount to cast, and even once you've crushed them, hundreds of cans will take up a lot of volume, so you'll be adding them to the crucible one by one, which will take ages and waste loads of gas.
If you do try it, do it on a windy day, because the burning paint and sugary residues absolutely f'kin stinks
.
Seadog
Save the planet. It's the only one with rum!
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I'm not speaking from experience. I did, however, watch a youtube video last year from a well respected amateur foundryman, who spent some time trying to get a decent amount of metal from cans, without much success. Commercially it's melted under an inert gas I believe.
The_Yellow_Ardvark
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I have melted beer and soft drinks cans, the effort needed to get a decent amount is not worth it.
Save them up, crush them and weigh them in.
My local scrap yard will take them, if you ask nicely (choccy Hob nobs work best) they may allow you to take some ally castings home to melt in a furnace.
The issues I found with cans.
Method 1, in a metal paint kettle.
The cans worked best if crushed down, but did burn away very fast.
You needed a pool off melted metal in the kettle to place the cans in.
The fuel I was using was wood and a blower. I did get enough to pour into cup cake moulds to re melt.
Fun if chilling by the fire.
Method 2
4" pipe with a base plate with a 19mm hole in it, placed in a chimera.
Worked best with fire was well stacked around tube, equally round the tube.
Add cans to top and watch them disappear into tube.
A good run, but needed a plug to control metal run. But by far the best.
This method works better with a good base of charcoal./ coke and a force air blower.
But both use a lot of wood, fun to do and a great learning experience.
Both worked best with broken up ally castings.
Don't worry about the widget or paint they both burn off. Jon Smiths cans will give a sweet green hue to the flames.
Save them up, crush them and weigh them in.
My local scrap yard will take them, if you ask nicely (choccy Hob nobs work best) they may allow you to take some ally castings home to melt in a furnace.
The issues I found with cans.
Method 1, in a metal paint kettle.
The cans worked best if crushed down, but did burn away very fast.
You needed a pool off melted metal in the kettle to place the cans in.
The fuel I was using was wood and a blower. I did get enough to pour into cup cake moulds to re melt.
Fun if chilling by the fire.
Method 2
4" pipe with a base plate with a 19mm hole in it, placed in a chimera.
Worked best with fire was well stacked around tube, equally round the tube.
Add cans to top and watch them disappear into tube.
A good run, but needed a plug to control metal run. But by far the best.
This method works better with a good base of charcoal./ coke and a force air blower.
But both use a lot of wood, fun to do and a great learning experience.
Both worked best with broken up ally castings.
Don't worry about the widget or paint they both burn off. Jon Smiths cans will give a sweet green hue to the flames.
zx9
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I don't know about doing it correctly but............................ Many moons ago we had a big week long party in a castle in Ireland, this castle had a huge fire place and a huge pile of free logs, much beer was consumed and empty cans were thrown on the fire, well what else would you do. Each morning tidying up the place and cleaning out the fire a small gob of aluminium was to be found. Later in the week all the small gobs of metal were heated in a metal can and using the fire tong was cast into an 'ingot' on a lump angle iron.
Do not try the above, it is not something I would do now that I am older and wiser.
Do not try the above, it is not something I would do now that I am older and wiser.
The_Yellow_Ardvark
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mike 109444
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So that would be Smell-ting thenSounds like a good idea to me, it would make good use of loads of useless bits of aluminium. Probably best you don't make anything especially critical from it though as it will likely be far more brittle and weaker than most common alloys.
Oh, and smelting is what you do to ores to turn them into metals, this would be melting
EDIT: I didn't notice you said drinks cans, I was thinking of scrap aluminium. Drinks cans will surely be a waste of time. Empty cans weigh maybe 15 grams, but having such a high surface area will mean a lot of it will oxidize as Seadog said. If you assume you get 10 grams of useful metal per can, a 2" long piece of 2" round will require 28 cans (Probably a little more as the surface won't be perfect, so you'll have to make it bigger and machine it down). You'll to melt a few hundred to get a decent amount to cast, and even once you've crushed them, hundreds of cans will take up a lot of volume, so you'll be adding them to the crucible one by one, which will take ages and waste loads of gas.
If you do try it, do it on a windy day, because the burning paint and sugary residues absolutely f'kin stinks
brightspark
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its re melting unless your using ore then its smelting 
unless your using ore then its smelting 
There is a video on Youtube that got me thinking about melting again, I once had a gas furnace at one time, but the gas cylinder and precautions I took meant I ran out of space. I once managed to melt cast iron in it and that was fierce heat.
back to the video, it showed using carbon rods from batteries as an arc to melt metal. I was wondering about the carbon arc gouging rods with a stick welder if that would generate enough heat to do anything of reasonable size in a crucible.
Here is the vid anyway.
Adrian
back to the video, it showed using carbon rods from batteries as an arc to melt metal. I was wondering about the carbon arc gouging rods with a stick welder if that would generate enough heat to do anything of reasonable size in a crucible.
Here is the vid anyway.
Adrian
