A lot can be cast from aluminum, ranging from souvenirs, home decor, and ending with parts of various complex mechanisms. To melt metal, a smelting furnace is required. You can make it yourself.
Materials:
- 20 liter motor oil drum or tin paint bucket;
- door hinge;
- self-tapping screws;
- sand;
- cement;
- welded mesh;
- 3 liter paint tin;
- Styrofoam;
- fire-resistant wool;
- gypsum.
Melting furnace manufacturing process
The furnace body is made from a motor oil drum. The roller on top is cut off with a grinder to remove the lid.
Then a door is marked on the wall at the bottom of the barrel. It should be cut out on one side, and the door hinge should be installed with self-tapping screws.
The door is then cut out completely. It’s much more convenient to install the hinge this way than later, when the door has already been completely cut out. By screwing one self-tapping screw into the door, you can get a handle.
At the level of the door, a hole is made a little to the side for air supply.
Then, from polystyrene foam, you need to cut out a plug for the door opening with an end rounded inward, to fit with a three-liter tin can.
Next, concrete is prepared from cement and sand in a ratio of 1:4. It is poured to the bottom of the barrel to the level of the door. Then a reinforcing cylinder made of mesh is inserted into the barrel, with slots for the air hole and door.
A tin can without a bottom is inserted into the center of the barrel and filled with sand. The foam plug from the door and the cardboard tube from the blower hole rest closely against it.
The barrel is filled with concrete up to the sides of the can. Then it rises higher and is again filled with sand. After this, concrete is also poured higher. With such transitions you need to top it up to the very top of the barrel. Then the jar is removed and the solution is smoothed.
While the concrete hardens, you can make a crucible for melting. The bottom of a fire extinguisher can be used as it.
After the solution has set, you can remove the sand and remove the foam and cardboard tube.
Fireproof wool is glued to the oven door using plaster.
Handles are installed on the body of the smelter.
The resulting smelter can be used for both smelting non-ferrous metals and cooking.
In the first case, a plastic tube is inserted into it, and the combustion chamber is clogged with sawdust.
Then the tube is removed, a fan is connected to the air supply pipe, and the sawdust is set on fire. You can place a grill on top and cook.
Directly to melt aluminum, you need to place charcoal in the chamber and light it with a burner through the door.
Then a crucible is placed on it and the aluminum is melted in it.
