Think About Melting Down Aluminum At Home

If you've decided that you've always wanted to make things with aluminum, you may think that you are going to have a hard time getting the raw materials that you are going to need—except for the fact that it's actually pretty easy to get aluminum to melt it down so that you can use it. So, how can you go about melting down aluminum so that you can use it to create things?

Foundry 

The first thing that you are going to do is to make sure that you have a foundry or some other kind of place where you can set up a very, very hot fire. Make sure that you are doing it safely, which is why you want to have some kind of container for the fire so that nothing unsafe happens. You can buy a small foundry that you can use at home. These foundries are generally only big enough for a small crucible, but there are various sizes that you can buy. 

Crucible

Once you have your foundry, you are going to need to make sure that you have a crucible. The crucible is the metal container which the raw materials are put into. Then you put it in the foundry and let the metal that is in there melt. When you are melting aluminum, you will want to go with something like steel for your crucible. That's because steel has a higher melting point than aluminum does, so you can get the fire hot enough to melt aluminum without damaging the crucible. When you are buying your crucible, make sure that the container isn't too large for your foundry. Measure the inside opening and then look for a crucible that is a little smaller. You want to make sure that the heat and flame can get all around your crucible, so you don't want one the exact same size as your foundry. Contact a company like Malcom G Stevens INC for help finding a crucible.

Raw Material

Getting raw material to melt down is a lot easier than you may think. That's because every time you drink a can of soda or beer, you are drinking out of your raw material. You can flatten the cans and put a whole lot of them in your crucible and then into your foundry. Don't worry about the paint or any other impurities because that will all burn out during the melting process. 

You can create your own aluminum sculptures by melting down aluminum at home. 


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