Homemade Aluminum Casting

Short steel pipes used by plumbers make an ideal aluminum crucible.

Aluminum casting is the art of melting aluminum, pouring it into a mold and letting it harden. When it cools it is removed from the mold and has taken the shape of the mold. You can cast aluminum at home, using aluminum foil or old cans as raw material.

Furnace

An aluminum casting system needs a furnace to melt the aluminum. A pot made of masonry cement works well for home casting.

Mold Making

To make the mold, press the object that you want to duplicate into green sand. The term "green sand" is something of a misnomer. It isn't actually green. The "green" refers to the fact that it is easily shaped. You can make your own by mixing fine grain sand, clay and water.

Air Circulation

You also need a blower or billows to blow air into a hole in the bottom of the furnace. The furnace itself can run on ordinary charcoal briquettes, though hardwood charcoal works a little better.

Sundries

Finally, you need a wooden box to hold the mold in, tongs and a thick-sided steel tube to hold the aluminum while it melts. A plumbing supply store carries many short, steel tubes that would be suitable for a home system.

References

• Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology: Metal Casting; Carlton Kenney; 2010
• University of Illinois: Aluminum Smelting and Refining

Resources

• University of Denver: Aluminum; J. B. Calvert; Novermber 7, 2002