The waste oil foundry strikes again...

...This time bronze falls to it's fiery furey!

You know what... aluminum is nice but after awhile it just seems, how do I say it... "old
hat." A guy like me wants more from his foundry. Sure I've melted bronze before but furnace size and fuel costs have always limited it to 1 or 2 pounds. Free waste oil fuel and burner developments have made easy bronze casting a reality. So now its time for some action! -June/20/2005 CAUTION! Metalcasting can be dangerous! Working with hot molten metal can cause serious burns and/or fires. Additionally the surfaces of the furnace radiate intense heat. The heat sources are another potential hazzard. Working around burning and/or hot oil/grease (as with oil burners) can be dangerous, especially when proper safety precautions are not taken. Water should never be used to put out an oil or grease fire. Use dry sand or dirt. Because of the variations in materials and workmanship there are no guarantees on the information in/on this web site. This information is simply what I have been successful with in my own experiments. I will not assume responsibility for any injury, loss, or damage that may result from following the instructions, advice or plans on this web site. There are always dangers in foundry work and they have been pointed out whenever possible but it is not the purpose of this web site to, nor is it possible to mention all known or unknown dangers.

This is an ingot of silicone bronze. I bought it online from Budget casting supply. The benefit of this is that there is no (or only trace amounts) of zinc and lead. So there are no toxic fumes when melting it. lso since there are no metals !aporizing out of the bronze" the alloy doesn#t change as regular brass or bronze can. But I ha!e to admit that I $% &%T li'e the appearance of silicon bronze castings. It loo's orangish rather than the golden(yellow color or regular bronze. I ended up mixing this bronze with some regular bronze. )ainly because this ingot wasn#t enough to completely fill the mold for the casting I was ma'ing and I was too cheap to buy more of this alloy.

I decided to *'ic' it up a notch* by adding an oil heater to the foundry. Some coo'ing oil is rather thic' and creamy and this heater turns it all into a loose li+uid. lso during the winter this is almost essential since the oil is !ery thic' (high !iscosity) when cold. I call this the *hot tan'* (the small cylindrical thing under the big tan') The electric water heater element only heats the oil in this small tan'. Then as oil enters the burner" new (cold) oil enters from the main tan' to replace it and is heated. To protect the element the oil exits from the top so e!en if the large tan' is empty the hot tan' will remain full. This system is more energy efficient than heating the main tan'" it only ta'es about , minutes to get the oil to o!er -.. degrees/ It burns well and is easy to ignite. 0ressure is relea!ed through the main tan' and any water in the system boils out.

This is the new oil heater assembly. It#s based on the design used to warm up old fashined blow torches. The reason for this change is that two consecuti!e electric elements burned out for no 'nown reason. I don#t ha!e time for ridiculousness li'e that so I went with the simple method as shown. 1ust pour some flammable li+uid in the pan and light it. The flames will heat the oil in the hot tan'. t 2.33 per bottle I can easily afford to use 45- a pint bottle of rubbing alcohol each furnace run to heat the tan'. nd I really only use this in the winter anyways. But I ha!e successfully melted metal 6IT7%8T a heater when the temperature was below freezing (it was 4,9 :.) and the oil burned well. Thinning it with gasoline wor's great also if no heater is a!ailable.

I also decided to step my game up and use a refractory crucible. This one is clay(graphite and was purchased on ;bay. The worst part about using a clay(graphite crucible is that you ha!e to temper it in the furnace before use. This is done by heating it to -.. degrees :. for -. minutes then letting it cool to room temperature. ;!en though this step is neccesary to remo!e moisture before the first use of the crucible" I#d much rather be able to <ust load the metal in the crucible" put it in the furnace and set the burner to *blast off/* I#m not !ery patient" But I don#t want a busted crucible so I#ll temper it... Since I#m using the refractory crucible I needed a pair of tongs (to lift the crucible out of the furnace) and a pouring shan' (to pour the metal) which had to be specially designed for this crucible size. &eedless to say I built them myself. Their actually rather crude since I <ust slapped them together in my excitment to use my first refractory crucible. These tongs are based on the pair of dollar store pliers in the center. I <ust welded attachments to them as needed.

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7ere are some patterns for the bronze castings I intend to pour with this foundry run. These are some of decorati!e paper weights of popular symbols. These patterns are freshly coated with polyurothane and drying on my special drying board. It#s basically <ust a board with nails in it to support the patterns so they can +uic'ly dry on all surfaces.

In this photo the patterns are arranged on the molding board. It turned out that I had to first ma'e a *false drag* since I wanted the items to be cast face down in the mold.

7ere is one of the molds for the paperweights I#m casting se!eral at a time using a runner system.

Page contents copyright 2005 by L. Oliver II www.BackyardMetalcasting.com

0ouring the metal is probably my fa!orite part of the metalcasting process. But unfortunetly this one did not go so well. The metal is not hot enough. The bronze should glow red as should the crucible. )ost li'ely the metal will not fill the mold... %h well" at least my pouring shan' wor'ed properly. But it was !ery wobbly. It is after all only made from 45-* steel rebar and some other scraps I had laying around/ (Click photo for larger view) I was right" the metal cooled before filling the mold. %nly the ziggurat ( ncient ;gyptian stepped pyramid) casting turned out. )ainly because it#s basically a solid chun' of metal. =et#s try this again shall we> ?o to the@ 0re!ious page (( &ext page

Bronze melting part 2 I've melted bronze several times in a steel crucible with no trouble. However these
refractory crucibles aren't as conductive of heat so my first bronze attempt with it was mostly a failure. This time I'll crank a few more BTUs from the used oil burner and get the metal nice a hot.

CAUTION! Working with or around burning and hot oil/grease can be dangerous, especially when proper safety precautions are not taken. Water should never be used to put out an oil or grease fire. Use dry sand or dirt. Because of the variations in materials and workmanship there are no guarantees on the information in/on this web site. This information is simply what I have been successful with in my own experiments. I will not assume responsibility for any injury, loss, or damage that may result from following the instructions, advice or plans on this web site. There are always dangers in foundry work and they have been pointed out whenever possible but it is not the purpose of this web site to, nor is it possible to mention all known or unknown dangers. I thin' this is interesting. 7ere is some spilled bronze. The bronze spilled out the crucible and into the bottom of the furnace where it drizzled out the drain hole. &otice how the copper has started to separate from the bronze alloy. )aybe this is a result of the other alloying metals burning away or <ust une!en cooling causing the hotter metal (copper) to cool separately from the lower melting temperature metals. (Click photo for larger view)

7ere#s a glimpse into the hot (to put it mildly) inner chamber with the crucible in place. If you loo' inside the crucible you#ll see an old bronze plumbing !al!e with pieces f copper tubing still soldered in place. The copper tubing melted along with the bronze so this metal must ha!e reached at least 43.. degrees :. 6hen melting !al!es be sure to remo!e the handle if it#s not also bronze. )any are potmetal and they burn up and produce toxic zinc(fumed smo'e. Beware of melting a lot of soldered copper or bronze <oints for the same reason. I#m lifting the hot crucible out of the furnace in this photo. This was a !ery bright sunny day so you can#t really tell that the crucible is glowing orange. This is the Ath melt for this crucible and it#s still loo'ing great.

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It doesn#t loo' li'e it but this is indeed bronze being poured. I#m casting a personalized insence stic' holder for a friend of mine. 7ere name is Y!ette and one time she told me how she has trouble finding things with her name on it (li'e 'ey chains and stuff). 6ell... when you#!e harnessed the power to melt and pour metal that problem no longer exists/ 7ey... I ne!er see my name on 'ey chains either/ (Click photo for larger view)

t bronze and iron melting temperatures typical homemade refractory mixes will :BY/ &otice how the interior of my furnace is burnt and glazed.

Page contents copyright 2005 by L. Oliver II - www.BackyardMetalcasting.com

7ere#s a loo' at some of the castings after they#!e cooled for about an hour. I decided to cast them in smaller groups rather than all at once. The mass of three castings on the left weighs about C.A pounds and the other mass of castings is about C pounds. The round castings weigh close to 4.A pounds each and the rectangular ones are a few ounces less. 7ere is a bronze casting and the cut(off gates. &otice how clean and solid the inside of the casting is. There are no gas poc'ets nor bubbles. 1ust clean bronze. The small thing on the left is actually a small riser. It was at the opposite end of the casting as the sprue and was meant <ust as a steam and air !ent. I tried casting this twice without the riser and the mold didn#t fill. So I guessed that the steam couldn#t escape fast enough from the regular !ent holes and cooled the bronze. The sprue sol!ed the problem letting air and steam flow out the mold as metal entered. (Click photo for larger view)

7ere are some of my finished bronze castings after the gates were cut off and they#!e been cleaned up a bit with a file. The can still use some more filing and a brushing with a wire brush. In the center is the inscence stic' holder (a hefty ,.A pounds/) I designed for a friend with sophisticated design taste. The inscence stic' is stuc' in the small hole at the top end. I thin' she#ll put it in the center of her dinner table designed by acclaimed furniture ma'er =enoil Be!ilo. ( ctually there#s no such furniture ma'er... that#s <ust my name spelled bac'wards...)

7ot babes really dig a guy that can cast metal// $ecorati!e bronze castings ma'e great gifts for hot chic's/ =et#s say you wal' up to a girl you#!e been watching and hand her a nice bronze casting (especially something with her name on it/). You follow up with a line such as@ *7ey baby I made this for you in my art studio/* That is pure gold/ You#ll instantly earn bonus points in her mind/ 7owe!er there could be too much of a good thing... Suppose for example she responds with@ *%h I really li'e a guy who can melt metal/ Dan I come see your studio>* %h no// This is disaster if@ . You still li!e with your parents. B. Your *studio* is nothing but a ragedy furnace in the corner of the yard and a couple burnt flas's. nd5or D. Both of the abo!e at the same time/ In such a situation you must thin' fast to a!oid complete embarrasment. 6hat usually wor's for me is one of the following lines. *8h sure... You can come to my studio. 7ow about the Thursday after next summer>* %r *ummm" yeah o' are you free on the Cth of ugust -.43>* &e!er underestimate the power of the foundry... ?o to the@ 0re!ious page.