Necessary materials:
- aluminum cans;
- bricks;
- firewood and coal;
- grate;
- hair dryer or regular hair dryer;
- any pipe with a slightly larger diameter than the hair dryer diffuser;
- thick-walled steel pipe or old fire extinguisher;
- fittings or thin steel tube.
How to melt aluminum cans into blanks with minimal investment
A crucible is made from an old cut fire extinguisher or a thick-walled pipe in which the metal will melt. It is a bowl with a welded handle made of a tube or fittings more than a meter long.
Using a hammer, you need to form a spout on it to accurately drain the liquid aluminum. The surface of the spout should be smooth, so it will need to be sanded.
A simple furnace is made from any brick, but preferably fireclay. Laying is done without mortar. The bottom of the forge is made of 3 bricks. After this, along its longitudinal sides, masonry is made on the edge, on which the grate is laid. Next, everything is bricked up.
A pipe with a hairdryer connected at the other end is inserted from below under the grate of the forge. It needs to be pressed down with brick halves so that the air supplied under the forge can only pass upward.
Firewood is placed in the forge; as soon as it burns well, coal is added a little at a time. After adding it, the blow dryer turns on. When the coals turn red, a crucible is placed in the forge to heat it up.
At this time, the jars are prepared. They need to be flattened as much as possible. After heating the crucible, they are thrown into it. As soon as one can melts, more cans must be added until the level of molten metal is sufficient. To make the process go faster, you should cover the forge with a lid. Sheet steel is suitable as a material.
As you melt, you need to stir the contents, since new cans will fall on the floating slag and will not be able to heat up quickly. Before casting, floating debris is removed from the crucible. It is convenient to do this with a tablespoon tied to a rod.
The blanks are cast into cut tin cans of the required diameter and height. Anything from deodorant, shaving cream or canned food will do. The metal must be poured in one gulp without pauses, so that voids do not form in the blanks. After this, the aluminum must cool slowly, so it should not be thrown into water.To remove the blanks, you need to break the mold.
