In this episode we'll test the metal foundry we built in the previous episode
Hi folks, I'm Custom Cez for Roma Custom bike and I welcome you to part two of the metal
foundry project.
In the previous episode, if you have missed it check the links in the description, we
have built our new foundry using an Ikea vase, sand, refractory mortar and some steel wool.
So now that is ready we can get to the fun part, melting metal, METAL!!!!!
Alright guys, we are finally ready to met some metal
we have everything we need starting from our foundry
our crucible, a muffin pan that we'll use to make some ingots
something to stir the metal with
a pair of pliers that we'll use to grab the crucible
we have a propane torch and a starting flame
and here we have some chips from working the cnc machine
aluminium chips that we'll use as a primary source of aluminium
we also have some stuff left over from the Triumph project
some gloves to protect our hands
and we are really ready to go, I'm so excited so let's get melting
I want to get melting right away, but first I need to fill up the crucible with aluminum...
no, no, no what are you doing!!!
No that's not for eating!!!
It's for melting!!!
Ok, everything is ready, the foundry is ready, the crucible is ready, I'm ready!!!
Let's start the show!
Wait a minute though, I'm not so sure that melting metal in a wooden shop is the best
idea...even with a fire extinguisher ready.
So, let's move it outside!
Much better.
As you can see I'm ready with all the gear to keep me safe, face mask, heavy jacket,
welding gloves... but still, please don't do any of this at home, and if you do, be
really really careful.
I'm using the little torch as a starter flame.
And there we go, let's try this thing!
I put on the lead to keep as much heat inside the foundry and after a few minutes I'm already
curious to know what kind of temperature we have reached.
The laser thermometer reads out about 430 degrees Celsius, aluminum melts at 660 degrees
Celsius so we are not far from it.
I'll give it a stir and wait a bit longer.
Another 5 minutes have gone by and the temperature has gone over the limit of my little temperature gun.
but it looks like it should be almost ready.
The crucible is red hot and stirring the aluminum chips we can see that there flames in there,
but it doesn't look like anything is melting yet.
Let's wait a bit more....
Another 10 minutes have gone by and I can clearly see that the contents of the crucible
are red hot, but not melting.
I'm taking it to the limit, both the foundry... and the "not so appropriate" tools we are
using, but I'm determined to see it though!!!
At this point it has got to be melting, everything looks red hot and after opening the lead...
it almost seem to be staring at the sun!!!
Yet still nothing is melting, the chips seem to have hardened into rocks, so I figured
to add a bit more aluminum... you know, they say that the definition of insanity is doing
the same thing and expect a different result...
I do feel a bit insane right now!
After almost 45 minutes of full blast I decide to stop and try to assess what is going on.
Round one: failure!
I wait a few minutes to allow the foundry to cool off and, although the first attempt
at melting aluminum failed miserably, I'm happy to ascertain that the structure seems
to have held up pretty good.
Upon further examination of the contents of the crucible, I realize that, I might not
have been able to melt aluminum, but I've definitely managed to make rocks, I don't
care who you are that's pretty nice right there.
Before trying to figure out what went wrong let me just take a second to thank you all
for the support you demonstrate every day by hitting the like button, by sharing our
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At this point I remember what I've learned during the making of the tig welding episode.
The reason because you can't weld aluminum with a DC welder is because you need the AC
current to remove the aluminum oxide present on the surface of the material.
The oxide melts at 2000 degrees Celsius, 3600 Farenight while the aluminum melts at only
600 degrees Celsius, 1100 Farenight.
So, based on that, what I think appended is that the chips from the cnc, being really
thin, had more surface than volume.
Consequently, since the surface oxidizes very easily, I ended up with pretty much a bucket
of aluminum oxide.
This would explain the much higher temperature required to melt it and the resulting rocks
instead of liquid metal.
On the plus side though, we figured that our foundry can withstand over 2000 degrees Celsius,
3600 Farenight, and that is good news.
Now, to try to fix the oxide problem, I'm going to cut up a bunch of left over aluminum plates.
This plate was left over from my chain cover, it is 5mm thick so I better use the grinder
to cut it down to pieces.
I think that now, I have what I need for a, hopefully, more successful take 2!
In the mean time I've rigged a studio microphone stand to hold the propane torch, freeing both
my hands for other operations.
I've also cut up a piece of sheet metal to close the torch hole, this should help keeping
the head inside the foundry.
This time I'm starting with an empty crucible, I'll wait for it to heat up before putting
in the aluminum.
It takes just a few minutes for the foundry to reach temperature and max out the laser
thermometer, the crucible is red hot and I think it is time to start dropping in the
scraps.
I start with a 3 millimeter thick piece of aluminum and let's hope for the best.
It takes not even a minute for it to start showing signs of softening, until... it collapses.
And there we have it, finally molten, liquid, metal!!!
We have opened Pandora's box, who is gonna stop us now!!!
Another piece goes in, same size, the liquid at the bottom now serves as a media for transferring
the heat to the new piece much quicker, in just a few seconds it melts down.
So now another, then an other...
I want to fill it up good!
Even a stick of 5mm thick aluminum disappears in just seconds, so now it's time for some
faulty pieces that didn't came out that good, like this brake lever.
It melts almost instantaneously... very cool... this could be addictive
One last piece...
I want to go for a 10 millimeter square section rod and look at it go!!!!
This is way too much fun!
Now that I have enough liquid metal I want to skim the impurities off the top, so that
I can be left with pure aluminum.
Using the remains of my barbeque fork I try to remove the top layer, were those impurities collect.
This is it!
This is the moment of truth, I'm ready to pour the molten aluminum in the muffin pan,
this could make or break this project Look at it flow, still red from the heat!
After flipping the muffin pan I'm glad that I used a layer of dirt underneath it.
The heat perforated the pan and the sand contained the spill like a secondary mold.
Otherwise the aluminum would have flown straight onto the floor.
I want to cool it off and pull out my first metal muffin!
Using my lovely persuader, I convince the muffin to came out of the mold!
There they are, my very first two pure aluminum muffins!
I'm a very proud of these!
I have to tell you, after the first failure
i got pretty demoralized
but in the end we got our first metal muffins.
They are awesome and... they pack some weight.
now we are going to proceed with creating a mold for the actual objects we are going to make for the bike.
Stay tuned Indeed, cause the next step will be to:
Create a design that will fit on the motorcycle so that I can make a 3d foam mold of it!
Look at it flow, just beautiful!!!
Anyway, for this you'll have to wait for the next video: the 3rd and final part of the
#foundry project! so make sure to ring the bell to be notified
when the next video will be published.
Well I'm very happy with this successful attempt at melting metal, and what do you think?
Let me know by visiting my facebook page called RomaCustomBikeEng or by commenting right here
on youtube.
If you'd like you can also visit our site www.romacustombike.com to find the accessories
we are producing and our t-shirts.
That's it for now, I'm Custom Cez for Roma Custom Bike and I'll see you next time!