Is painted aluminum usable for melting? Yes!

Painted, annodized, and oily aluminum scrap melts just like bare aluminum, but with two differences - the surface impurities burn off as toxic smoke and/or ends up as dross.

Thought you'd like to know.

When I started melting aluminum,this is one of those questions I worried about.

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• Foundry
• crucible
• melting
• aluminum
• DIY
• homemade
• ingot
• mold
• propane
• furnace
• casting
• smoke
• anozided
• painted
• scrap
• flames

[TOSViolator]

I'm glad you did this experiment outside- Melting aluminum cans will melt the paints on the outside, creating poisonous gases.

[amaedesign]

@TOSViolator

Good note. And in general, I'd agree melting stuff should be done outside with the open breeze to take fumes away. Even if I wasn't melting anything, it would be dangerous to run a propane burner inside. Propane creates CO and water when it burns. Carbon monoxide builds up very quick in an enclosed space and could kill you. It's also very surprising how much moisture comes off a propane burner - enough to cause things in your garage to rust if you ran the burner indoors.

[panzuman]

did you make your crucable? if so how or at least what materials?

[amaedesign]

It's a clay-graphite crucible I purchased. There are plenty of DIY plans on the internet for building your own crucible. Most people DIY the furnace, but buy a real crucible.

[panzuman]

i got ya but i got the foundry i just need the crucible and i tried a cly covered can and it worked but the clay cracked and the can melted could you give me a specific site by chance?

[amaedesign]

A thick steel pipe welded up works fine for most people, especially if you have a welder and want to build it yourself. A quick web search should turn up crucible recipes if you want to make something out of clay. But they're cheap enough that it I prefer to buy my crucibles. The one in this video came from eBay.

[Jebus495]

@lolimnoteighteen Paint on the cans is burning off... It is very obvious what's going on O.o

[lolimnoteighteen]

wtf u cant even tell whats going on in the video

[panzuman]

@SmokeTatum lol i scrapped my old design i can now melt 1 1/2 lbs of aluminum in 15-20 mins

[SmokeTatum]

@panzuman

I made my crucible from stainless coffe can, works fine for me, thin wall is getting fast hot so dont have to wait long till aluminium melts. Btw im pouring ingots for now and today was my first pour. all worked good, my question to amaedesign is how long it takes by you to melt down some Aluminium. I want to know if my furnace is not too slow, by me it takes 30-40 minutes when crucible is full

[sfchild]

hi...i'm not a salesman...just a foundry DIY person...heres a link for 'budget casting'...great people...great products...lots of imformation..

..well you-tube won't let put the link..so try this...budget casting supply dot ....no spaces..