The original mini furnace for melting aluminum
I want to tell you about another interesting device, which you can assemble with your own hands.
Melting furnace from a bottle
This is quite an original way to create a mini-furnace. A bottle of glass with a suitable diameter is lubricated with oil, and then wrapped with a bandage. The next layer is clay mixed with liquid glass. After drying, the surface is wrapped with nichrome wire and covered again with the clay mixture. After final drying, the glass is removed and the edges of the wire are plugged in.
In spite of their apparent simplicity, the methods described above are not completely safe to use
How to make a furnace to melt metal
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If you want to melt metal and shape it in different ways, you need a furnace that can get hot enough to melt the metal. You can buy a ready-made oven or make one yourself from a sealed waste bucket. To begin, cut the bucket to size and line the inside with heat resistant insulation. Then cover the lid with thermal insulation and stick it on tightly so that it retains heat and overpressure. Finally, install the heating element and you can melt the metal!
- When working with an angle grinder, wear safety glasses to shield your eyes from metal shavings.
- Be careful not to cut yourself on the sharp, cut edges of the bucket.
- If you do not have an angle grinder or want to make a smaller grinder, you can use a 10-liter steel bucket that is about 30 centimeters high.
- Air or other gas will enter the oven through the side opening.
- Don’t make a hole near the bottom itself, or it could get clogged if liquid spills into the oven.
- You can buy ceramic fiber absorbent cotton at a hardware store or order it online.
- Ceramic fiber wool can cause irritation when in contact with skin. To avoid this, wear clothing with long sleeves and work gloves.
Casting non-ferrous metals with your own hands. #1 Furnace
In this post I will talk about the stove. There will be a lot of letters and some pictures. This is not a universal design, there can be many variations, you can find them on google and on thematic forums. Here I am only describing my experience and impressions of the operation.
I opted for propane, t.к. With it, the furnace should be clean, there will be no debris or carbon monoxide, it requires less space. After putting a few recipes together, I bought a 24-liter hydro accumulator. Selection criterion. diameter. The internal volume will limit the maximum amount of metal you can melt at a time. Otherwise it could be a simple metal bucket, or a drum from a washing machine, or a cylinder from freon, or propane or something similar. It is better not to buy finished products, but to look for ones that are on hand, it comes out cheaper.
The resulting body I stripped and made a frame, the photo will help you see what I mean:

The lid swivels on a garage hinge that I welded on. The design with three wheels (one of them rotates) is not very stable, but it allows you to roll the stove with minimal effort and without long handles (and it is heavy).
Inside the tank I insulated it with the following composition: ground fireclay plus refractory clay in the ratio of 2/1 respectively. How to do it correctly: it is necessary to make a cylinder from cardboard, which will serve as the inner formwork and put it in the tank. And fill the void between the cylinder and the wall with mortar. Warning. The mortar should not be liquid. If the mixture is too liquid and dries, the mortar will give huge cracks, I redid after this mistake. The mortar was such that I literally shoved it with my hands, and the air was removed with a rammer (some stick).
How To Make The Mini Metal Foundry
All this dries for two or three weeks. The mortar will give shrinkage, so I filled the gaps with refractory wool, it will give additional thermal insulation. Loss of heat. The main enemy of such a furnace.
I also fill the lid inside with mortar. That it did not fall out after drying, I drilled holes in the sides of the lid and screwed bolts (heads out). The mortar clings to them and doesn’t fall down. The photo below shows the finished stove, painted with refractory paint.
Here you can see the pipe (f50) into which the burner is inserted. The pipe goes into the furnace tangentially. It is necessary to create the necessary whirling in the furnace, otherwise the flame will beat at one point, and we need uniform heating of all the cavity of the furnace. On this spigot you can see a piece of painter’s tape. It is not needed there, but it shows that during the work this branch as well as the burner are absolutely cold and it is possible to touch them with hands (this is the correct mode of burner operation).
Combustion should not take place inside the burner, it should take place in the furnace. If it burns inside the burner, it will heat up and it is not safe. This tells me that it is not working properly. How to make it work? We take the roof burner, remove the tip from it and insert it into the pipe (in my case, the diameter of about 40 mm). The length of the tube is arbitrary, the main thing is. Enough air from the blower has time to mix with propane. The wider the nozzle of the burner, the greater the heat output, air and propane flow rate. This golden ratio is to be found by experience (of course it depends on the melting volumes). For my furnace, the size described fit.
The picture also shows the supercharging. This snail from the extractor (like 600 cubic meters per hour). To adjust the amount of air I made a damper. In this case it’s open 1/4 and that’s good enough for the eye. I have seen burners in gas furnaces with a blower from a cooler. Usually people use a LATP to adjust it, but I don’t have one. The main point is to knock down the flame to the beginning of the burner and to prevent burning in the tube (and the more at the nozzle).
The picture below shows the thermal insulation of the furnace. It is this limited volume that I was talking about when selecting the furnace body, so this should be thought about in advance. I’d make it bigger, but it is what it is. You can see the lid moved to the side and the crucible in the background. The crucible is. A cut off small fire extinguisher. After heating it peels off in layers. It won’t last long.
All this stuff is powered by propane. At 1/4 (of a snail’s power) of air I’d put 1.2 atm on the reducer. It burns fine, there’s a power reserve.
2.5 kg of bronze melted and overheated in half an hour. 300 grams of aluminum in 11 minutes.
At gas consumption of 1.2 atm cylinder is covered with condensate. I read that some people put the cylinder in water so it doesn’t get covered with frost.
P.S. When I have not yet found the optimal size of the burner and thought that it would not work (it was unstable flame, low temperature), I decided to try to melt on cast coke (prepared coal). In a furnace of this size, it’s not an option at all. Space is scarce, the coal falls into the crucible. Heating is local, the cold blast air partially takes away heat. For the decomposition of coal takes a lot of energy (it seems to ignite at t
I decided to try to melt my own furnace with coke (prepared coal) (600C), it is a very inert fuel, not for this kind of furnace and not for single meltings. It’s good if you start the oven and you’re on fire 24 hours a day without stopping.
Melting furnace with his own hands
Dear visitors to the site Samodelkin a friend from the provided material you will learn how to make your own melting furnace to remelt aluminum and other fusible metals with their own hands. For remelting of fusible metals such as aluminum, tin, brass, lead, copper it is quite possible to make a self-made furnace or furnace The best fuel for such a furnace is liquefied gas Propane, capable for a short period of time to heat up the temperature inside the fire chamber of more than 1000 ° and it is more than enough to melt aluminum scrap and remelt it into workpieces, for example you can do pulleys, casters, and much more)
This furnace is made of several parts-a metal housing with a lid that has a hole for putting scrap into the crucible, inside of the two layers of insulation, the first mineral wool and ceramic blanket (can withstand high temperatures) Inside this chamber is placed crucible in which the melting of metal. In the side part there is a hole and a socket with 4 mounting elements is welded, it is needed for fixation of the gas burner nozzle during furnace operation. The crucible in such a furnace is located exactly in the center, the molten metal from it is removed with a special ladle and poured into pre-prepared forms.
And so, let’s look at the process of assembling the furnace in more detail.
- Prof-pipe square
- Sheet metal 1.5 mm
- crucible
- Gas burner with a propane tank
- mine wool
- ceramic blanket
- 4 wheels
Step by step instructions for creating a melting furnace with your own hands.
With the help of a pipe bender was bent 4 rings from a square prof-tube. Then the metal base of the furnace itself is made with a lid. The lid of the melting furnace. There is a neck, through it you can do scrap metal directly into the crucible. The furnace body has 2 layers of insulation inside. a mineral wool and ceramic blanket. At the bottom of the furnace there is a welded socket with a fixing, it is needed for fixing the gas burner nozzle during the operation of the melting furnace. Measuring the temperature. Molten metal. Pouring the sand mold with aluminum. Here are such workpieces turned out) Home-made melting furnace is additionally equipped with a frame with 4 wheels, which allows you to transport it around the garage or workshop. Additionally there is an electronic thermometer to determine the temperature inside the furnace. Detailed video instruction from the author, here more subtly covered all the main points from the beginning to the melting of the products. Enjoy the show.
Self-made boat of lumineers
For some reason unknown to me the previous post about the homemade boat was appreciated by many Picabushniks, so I just could not stop there. Besides the Navy Day with invisible pendel pushes to new achievements.
So. Once upon a time, when I was young and beautiful, and long luxurious curls hid the shiny perfection of my skull.
In the distant past, when the foreign cost as much as thirty domestic, and compatriots who do not have higher economic education do not know about the existence of the world economic crisis.
I had a fix idea. I coveted a planing motorboat out of aluminum. Of course, in those happy times it was possible to buy it, but, firstly, it was not sporty, and secondly, I wanted a boat that was superior to the production ones in terms of speed and carrying capacity.
Therefore the project of the boat was developed and calculated (dimensions and contours of “Uffa Fox’s Sea Sled” were taken as a basis). After acquiring the iron, the construction process began.
Initially a slipway was welded (the basis for the boat) from a square steel 100x100mm. And already on it were fixed pre-bent billets of aluminum sheet Amg5 thickness of 2.5 mm. They were bending right away. in the garage.
Oh, almost forgot, before I started construction, I gave my project for approval in the State Automobile Inspection, because I was planning to install a motor rated at 60l.с.
Little by little, in the evenings. By the efforts of one person. Pieces of metal began to turn into the unknowable.
The transom is reinforced just eerily. Tacks, too, have not forgotten.
Originally the plan was to make the hull all-welded, but by the time there was something to weld the of aluminum welding machines skyrocketed. Considering the fact that welding is not my main occupation it was decided not to show off and assemble the whole hull with rivets.
Yes, yes the construction profile was also used. Cheap and sulfurous. Above water (no risk of electrochemical corrosion) so why not? Then I turned the boat upside down and riveted the bottom.
By the way, near the side skis are ballast tanks, which are full when parked, and when you start moving empty in seconds.It increases the stability to a mind-boggling value.
We are turning it back, putting the beauty back and taking the boat out for inspection by the SMI.
After receiving the license plate and the ship’s ticket.
Under a 40l motor.с. The speed in the single was 58km/h.
This is despite the fact that the overall length of the boat is 52.7 decimeters.
Width overall 1,8m. The width of each ski is 0.18m. Cross bars are located on midships. The height of the radius is 4 cm.
Load capacity 600kg, passenger capacity 6 people. Tried to sail in eight as well. Everything is fine, but the SMI does not like. for some reason.
The boat has been in service for six years and is happy))) Freely goes over the wave height up to one meter, and for a planing boat is not a joke.
It’s a special thrill to sail a boat made with your own hands. And the fact that it’s square. I’m such a lousy designer. The Helicopter, by the way, is also square, and so is the KTM Adventure.
Thank you all for finishing my tedium. And happy holidays to all who are relevant.
A simple furnace for melting aluminum
But look how many rules he breaks for working with hot materials. It’s not about the fact that he doesn’t have safety glasses or special outerwear. He’s elementary at risk because he didn’t wear the most essentials in the smelting business well-protected shoes with thick leather and a high top! We mustn’t forget about the harmful effects of aluminum fumes. Ready-made melting furnaces at this store.
Important advantages of the smelter
But let’s give him credit for his ingenuity. After all, clearly lacking the necessary amount of knowledge, he was able to create a working melting furnace for aluminum, which heats up to the desired temperature and gives the output of molten aluminum. It can be obtained from beer cans. The design includes a hair dryer for blowing air and allowing the temperature to rise by supplying air, an improvised furnace from a tin can, a melting cup, or rather a mug, a protective barrier of bricks. Here is some material on other furnace options and technologies for working with aluminum.
There is something to look at here for those who are first thinking about smelting at home.
The main purpose of a muffle furnace is to heat metal. The use of such a device can help to melt metals such as aluminum or copper, as well as other nonferrous workpieces. In addition, with its help, you can successfully carry out the operation of firing ceramic products, drying them. Cremation can also be done. It’s worth noting that there is a wide variety of muffle furnaces. They can be electric, gas, air, and some other types. Also vary considerably in the type of construction. They can be standard vertical or horizontal, as well as tubular.
The main difference between the muffle furnace and the usual furnace for melting aluminum with their own hands is that it has a special section, which is called muffle. This area allows us to protect the metal that is being processed.
How to make a mold for casting
Creating a simple solder material does not require making a special mold. You can pour the metal on the steel sheet.
These materials are used to create the mold:
Alloy is poured into the mold in different ways:
The open method is characterized by simplicity. The molten metal is poured into an ordinary container, a tin, a cup, etc. д. When the material hardens, the dummy is removed from the container. If the shape of the metal object is not important, you can leave the aluminum on a solid surface.
A complex casting requires the product to meet the specified parameters, for this use shaping elements. Silica is a common substance that is often used in open casting. The product consists of two containers, in which the earth is poured and rammed. The silica elements are compressed, and the layout is placed between them for casting. In this way it is possible to obtain an exact imprint of the desired part. The dummy is removed, and red-hot aluminum is placed in the mold. For the closed method of casting, river sand mixed with liquid glass is used.
Gypsum can be used for disposable casting. Mock-ups are made of paraffin or polystyrene. The use of such materials requires work in an open space with good air access. Styrofoam is not removed from solid gypsum and is poured with red-hot aluminum. The combustion products of this substance are harmful to health.
Accessories:
Here is a list of the consumables we used:
- Insulating refractory bricks;
- Kiln cement;
- Pincers for crucibles;
- Керамические клеммные колодки;
- Высокотемпературный провод;
- Форма для выпечки;
- Графитовый тигель;
- Термопара типа К;
- Провод катушки нагревательного элемента;
- ПИД-регулятор;
- Угловой утюг 1 ”;
- Тумблер 125/250 В;
- Кабель питания 14 калибра.