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Saw this homemade furnace on FB a few months ago for melting aluminum cans and turning them into ingots.
In "theory", that's something I could do. I have the land and I did a foundry course way back in college (then, we used an induction furnace for aluminum). Assuming there are no Class D fires awaiting in this concept, why not? (ie, being aware of such, it would be heavily researched first).
The question is, though, why? When those after me go through my estate, will they find these ingots and wonder why in the heck did she keep these (probably)? Will they then go searching for that huge ball of silver chewing gum wrappers.....which they will never find because it doesn't exist.
Granted, can aluminum is probably not the grade of aircraft aluminum, but still there is something, if for some perverted delusional reason, to having the ability to have such in storage, done the cheaper the better.
A thing that occurred to me post original post is that metal, perhaps especially in ingots is a potential bartering resource (must be from my Navy days). One may not have a use for low grade aluminum but, say, an artist might.
So, the good feelings of being self reliant aside, where's the basic difference between stockpiling metal ..... and that dreaded H word?
I'd say that if one has the means to process it or has it in a form ready for use (ie, the person who has bought the junked car and has since stripped it for parts), it's stockpiling.
On the other hand, if one is storing all those cleaned cat food cans for the aluminum furnace they will one day build, to pour into the casts that they have neither yet the sand nor the Hydrocal (just an example) around for............then it is probably that dreaded H word.
AFTER ALL, one will probably have a new source of aluminum cat food cans......each month.
A thing that occurred to me post original post is that metal, perhaps especially in ingots is a potential bartering resource (must be from my Navy days). One may not have a use for low grade aluminum but, say, an artist might.
So, the good feelings of being self reliant aside, where's the basic difference between stockpiling metal ..... and that dreaded H word?
nth.
Organization and use.
I have a bin I throw aliminum cans into. They aren't piled all over the place.
At some point I'll take them to be recycled. (when I'm going, or there's enough to make the trip worth doing.)
I save my fired brass to reload.
It goes in bins and gets sorted, cleaned and prepped.
My mothers neighbor has piles of old newspapers all over her house, and cannot use her house due to do much "junk" (she has "trails" going from room to room.)
A friend of mine spent his career at Anniston proving grounds and has a wall of all the plackards off the cannon they destructive tested, and a private museum (people writing reference books see him) of most of the military small arms of the 20th century.
Nearly racked, cleaned, labeled, and sorted by country and era.
Not hard to see the difference.
If you save your junk mail to burn it in your wood oven in the winter, or if you put piles of it "wherever" in your house and it sits ere fr 10 years.....
My blacksmith buddy made a rack for his scrap metals.
They are sorted in accordance to the type of metal.... And he uses them (yes, sometimes it sits there for 10 years but when it's the right type....)
Saw this homemade furnace on FB a few months ago for melting aluminum cans and turning them into ingots.
In "theory", that's something I could do. I have the land and I did a foundry course way back in college (then, we used an induction furnace for aluminum). Assuming there are no Class D fires awaiting in this concept, why not? (ie, being aware of such, it would be heavily researched first).
The problem with heating ALUMINUM is that when it gets into a molten state, it may splatter if there are air bubbles in the mixture.
I worked in a plant where they melted AL ingot into liquid aluminum for AL castings. They have on display the face mask worn by a worker when a bubble exploded. The whole front of the mask was covered with aluminum. Fortunately, the worker only suffered minor burns as he was wearing the proper protection.
The problem with heating ALUMINUM is that when it gets into a molten state, it may splatter if there are air bubbles in the mixture.
I worked in a plant where they melted AL ingot into liquid aluminum for AL castings. They have on display the face mask worn by a worker when a bubble exploded. The whole front of the mask was covered with aluminum. Fortunately, the worker only suffered minor burns as he was wearing the proper protection.
It is NOT worth the risk.
Good note.
In the early days of dreaming about using all the excess inventory "out there", part of the thought process was working on what it would take to build a remote controlled facility.
Moving more into the "fantasy motivation" part, it's figuring out ways to build remote stations that might be used as part of exploration such as the glass making facility described in a subplot of the novelization of "Outland"........or where "they" came from in the movie "Screamers". As I said, fantasy motivation.
Anything so destructive to a person (and for that matter, mostly any subject), I'm going to research it throughly before I start fiddling with it. Anytime anyone talks of heating aluminum, my thoughts immediately go to the Belknap http://www.naval.com.br/blog/wp-cont.../12/cg26_1.jpg
and the Sheffield http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/image...heffieldpa.jpg
, ie Class D fires, so it's not something I'm going to approach thinking that FB has all the answers.
Get a book on basic foundry operations. Read the safety section first. Be very careful about any dampness or water in your metal, melting pot or molds.
For the aluminum and copper based alloys a wood or charcoal fire should be hot enough. Adding a source of pressurized air helps. An old tank type vacuum cleaner set up as a blower works very well. A big propane weed burner is a cleaner alterative. If you are really serious about reaching higher temperatures for iron or its alloys a coal or coke fire will be needed.
I suggest you just collect the stuff and recycle it. Then buy raw metal from a supply company so you know the actual alloy you are working.
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