DIY Foundry: What not to wear!

Melting down more scrap aluminum, pouring ingots, all done in flip flops on the back patio.

This is not a safety video.

Let's just call it "What not to wear in the foundry."

That's right folks, you have to wear safety gear, even if you see a guy on youtube pouring metal while wearing shorts.

Also shows off my new ingot mold, made by welding together some 3/16" x 2" flat bar and 3/16" angle.

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• Foundry
• crucible
• melting
• aluminum
• DIY
• homemade
• ingot
• mold
• propane
• furnace
• casting

[learning41230]

I don't see the point: ingots melted to make ingots..... Lots of good safety tips though -- thanks.

[amaedesign]

@learning41230 Actually, we were melting scrap to make ingots. The translucent plastic bin on the left side of the furnace is full of aluminum heat sinks we were melting that day. Glad you enjoyed my tongue-in-cheek safety tips.

[amaedesign]

Hit the "1" key and then the "9" key. It will jump you to the beginning and end of the video. If you watch the plastic bin, you can see it getting emptied of the scrap aluminum. Voilla! Ingots.

[infector101]

Where did you get your ingot mold from?

[amaedesign]

Made it myself! Each cavity is actually a section of 3/16" angle steel. The sides are 3/'16" flat bar. The handle is a piece of 5/8" round bar bent using a vise and a TIG torch to get it hot (redneck, I know).

@infector101

[amaedesign]

One more detail - the spiral wire handle is the kind you find on the doors of a wood stove. But I actually bought a welding hammer from Harbor Freight, removed the spiral part and threw away the hammer. =)

[fedaikn]

5 stars from me because there is a fire extinguisher at hand....just in case

[Fighter4Street]

The best part was when he removes the top from that furnace contraption, and he lifts his foot over the molten metal. He wasn't even looking. Take a look at around 50 seconds.

[NLCasting]

What a grand display of ignoring all basic rules handling molten metal. Having people in such a close range of the pouring area is probably the worst thing in this video.

And yes.... accidents happen. I've seen my freshly poured ingot jump out and the molten metal was all over the place. No problem when wearing full body protection, with absolutely no room for taking changes. I will post a video soon, let's find out what I am doing wrong ;)

[1foxtrot70]

color me too cautious...I was cringing the whole time I was watching this video.

[cfield30]

0:54 close call. I was waiting for the law of natural selection to kick in, maybe next time. 

[ninjacatmagic]

The Propane tank seems to be way too far away from the foundry.....My advice.....Get rid of the fire extinguisher, switch to Rayon clothing, and wear a wife beater instead of the golf shirt....But I have to admit that the flip flops are a nice touch.....Also.....A 12-pack of Old Milwaukee's best never hurt anyone..... :D

[inthefrey]

This video should be entitled, "Backyard Foundry. Reckless Endangerment made easy!"

"He Dad, Can I move the camera to the side so the world can watch the molten metal pour onto you bare foot?"

The foundry is cool. However, this video should be an example of exactly what not to do with a foundry.

[svenp]

This video gave me the heebie jeebies.

[Joseph24300]

its hard to take your safety tips seriously if you don't follow a single one... its youtube you don't have to be politically correct.