things aren't always what they might
appear to be for example this decorative
house plant you're looking at is
actually an artfully disguised metal
melting furnace in this project we're
using equal parts of sand and plaster to
make a simple backyard foundry that's
powerful enough to melt scrap metal in
seconds but still pleasant enough to
keep around for decoration let's start
this project with a big bag of place and
and some plaster of Paris both of which
you can find at your local hardware
store for under $20 we're also going to
need a 10 quart steel bucket and a
tablecloth to cover anything important
because chances are this is gonna get a
bit messy I found that this two and a
half quart bucket can be used for
measuring the ingredients but it also
serves a more important purpose that
you'll see in just a second now the
recipe I'm using for this makeshift
refractory lining is one in three
quarter buckets full of plaster of Paris
one and three quarter buckets full of
sand and one in one quarter buckets
filled with water the moment the water
touches the dry mix the clock starts
ticking and we've only got about 15
minutes before it all hardens up so
let's get busy mixing everything
together it's really important to get
all the dry powder wet and work out any
lumps as quickly as possible and after
mixing for a couple of minutes it should
be fairly runny in roughly all the same
color now when you're convinced there
aren't any lumps of powder left in the
bucket the refractory mix is ready for
pouring so let's carefully transfer it
to the steel bucket as slowly as
practical to minimize the splattering
there should be just enough fluid to
fill the bucket about three inches from
the top and now if we bring back our
plastic measuring bucket we can use it
to form the center of the foundry I
filled my bucket with water to give it a
bit of weight but anything like sand or
rocks will work as well and you can see
that as we push the bucket into the
center the mixture Rises upward but it
doesn't spill out now it's obvious that
the mix is already starting to firm up
so let's try working the bucket up and
down a few times to help level it before
it sets all we have to do now is hold
still for two to three minutes this will
get the plaster just enough time to
harden so the bucket stays in place even
when we let go all right time for a
little cleanup everything will still
need about an hour - really hard enough
but the plasters still soft enough that
we can clean and shape it to look really
good and while we're here we may as well
wipe the bucket down as well now I found
that
we dampen a rag and gently drag it
around the top the surface cleans up
really nicely and gets a cool texture in
the process when it looks the way you
want it to simply leave it for about an
hour
now while we're waiting why don't we
turn this old steel fire extinguisher
into a custom crucible you can tell it's
made from steel because when we hold a
magnet to it it sticks and magnets won't
do that with aluminum i de pressurize
the tank and unscrewed the valve from
the top to make it safe and easy to cut
in half with a hacksaw which you can see
just happen in less than a minute now
the bottom part of the extinguisher is
what we want for the crucible because
it's basically a steel cup three inches
in diameter and five inches tall that's
going to be the perfect size for our
custom backyard foundry at this point
the plaster should be pretty well set so
let's dump the water from the bucket
then use something like a pair of
channellocks to grip one edge of the
pail and pull jelly toward the center
now if we grip it with both hands and
give it a bit of a twist you can see the
whole bucket pops loose and pulls right
out this just created an amazingly
smooth surface which gives this
makeshift foundry a surprisingly
professional look the only features were
missing now are an air supply port and a
lid so let's make those next now I found
that a 1 and 3/8 inch hole saw was the
perfect size for accommodating this
1-inch steel tubing and if we Center the
metal cutting blade with the top line on
the bucket we can carefully begin
cutting through the metal wall once
we're through the metal it's easy to
burrow down at about a 30-degree angle
because the plaster hasn't fully cured
yet and it cuts away like butter now we
have a tight downward sloping hole that
the blower tube fits perfectly into and
it's strategically placed a few inches
up from the bottom this way if a
crucible fails and dumps molten metal
into the foundry it'll stay in the
foundry instead of dangerously flowing
out of the pipe now the blower tube is
really easy to make and starts with a
one-inch steel pipe like this this is
the business end that'll sit next to the
hot coals in the foundry we're also
going to need a 1-inch PVC coupling as
well as some 1-inch PVC pipe you can see
the threads on one half of the couplings
screw onto the steel pipe and the slip
adaptor on the other end simply pushes
onto the PVC - it's that easy now let's
go one step further and make a lid to
help retain the heat I got a couple of
4-inch u-bolts from the hardware store
and stood them up right in a 5 quart
bigmouth bucket filled with a
half-measure
our insulating mix after an hour you can
see the plaster is set and the whole
thing pops free from the bucket giving
us a nice little custom lid for the
foundry it still needs a vent hole for
relieving pressure buildup and you could
just form one when you're casting it or
you could try drilling one with a 3-inch
hole cutting saw like this with a hole
in the center you can see we end up with
a nice thick lid that kind of looks like
a giant white doughnut this design works
great for venting pressure and gives us
the option to melt metal as well without
even having to take the lid off the
furnace just for fun I picked up a can
of burnished amber spray-paint and gave
the foundry a couple coatings to make it
look a little more attractive if we get
it fired up you can see the mini foundry
gets so hot on the inside that it'll
melt soda cans within seconds and fill a
crucible with liquid aluminum we'll try
to do that in another project video with
this homemade furnace we have the power
to liquefy aluminum in the backyard and
cast just about any object we can think
of the best part is when you're not
melting scrap metals rather than taking
up space and looking terrible you can
drop in a planet and instantly transform
it into fashionable home decor with this
transforming flowerpot foundry there's
certainly more than meets the eye and by
the way if you run out of soda cans to
melt you could try using it as a
blacksmithing Forge or even a barbecue
for summertime grilling after all it is
fueled by charcoal briquettes well now
you know how to use commonly available
materials to build the mini metal
foundry powerful enough to melt metal in
seconds but still pleasant enough to
keep around for decoration well that's
it for now if you liked this project
perhaps you'll like some of my others
check them out at the king of random
calm hey guys happy new year and I hope
you've set some good goals for 2015
thanks so much for joining me in this
project and even though you probably
won't build one of these things I hope
that in some way it's at least inspired
you and expanded your mind to some
possibilities now on a completely
different note something you probably
will be doing this year is shaving
harrys.com sent me a kit last month so I
could test the razors on myself and not
only do they look cool but I found that
if you buy the razors in a 16 pack they
cost as little as a dollar 56 each
that's way better than the $4 per blade
I'm hanging on my other
I also discovered that Harry's bought a
blade making factory in Germany so they
could get better engineered blades and
cut out the middleman so rather than
paying $32 for an eight pack of blades
you can now get them at Harry's comm for
half the price
and of course for supporting me and
sharing my videos Harry's comm has
agreed to give you the entire starter
package for $10 that's a razor
moisturizing shave cream three razor
blades and free shipping to your door
for $10
I'm trying them out this year so why
don't you try them out with me simply go
to Harry's comm right now and enter the
coupon code the king of random when
you're checking out that'll save you
another five dollars on grooming your
face this month thank you for supporting
my videos and I'll see you in the next
project bye