What is the easiest metal to melt and cast. ?

Question

I tried melting aluminum but it became brittle and flaky. I think it was because the fire was to hot. What temperature should I keep it at and is there any easier metal to melt in a cheap flower pot forge?

Answer 1

Probably Woods alloy - It melts at 70 degrees celcius.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood's_meta...

It's used for taking impressions in industry as it has such a low melting point.

For ease of use, I would go for a basic tin / lead mix.

You can use scrap lead car weights, and Lead free solder is almost pure tin - so a combination of the two is ideal for small figures.

Don't inhale the fumes though, and make sure your moulds are completely dry.

Building plaster, plaster of paris, concrete and charcoal make excellent moulds. Some modelling clay is also excellent if it is the type with real clay and paper strands.

Next up are the bronzes - copper tin alloys. Scrap copper wire and lead free solder will produce a good bronze.

Use of firebricks, smokeless coal, and a decent snail fan is basically all you need connected to a couple of steel car wheels - with a few scraps of steel as a base. Use an exhaust pipe for the air inlet. That's about it.

Forgot to say, you should buy a proper crucible. They aren't that expencive, and form some reinforcing bar to make a holder for it - or use long pipe grips.

I found it was easier to drop the crucible into the ring of the rebar, and use another long piece on top - to stop the whole lot falling out.

If you only want small ammounts, use a steel kitchen ladle - with a little V shape to help pour.

Throw sawdust onto the top just before pouring, as an aid to removing the oxide layer, which you will need to skim off.

As a model engineer, it's easier to cast your own components from cheap scrap, than buy expencive new bar, then machine where needed.

Answer 2

Pb, or Au if you can find it.

A simple propane torch will melt the Pb easily.

Answer 3

Try lead: that has a conveniently low melting point.

Answer 4

Lead free solder it is tin

http://www.amazon.com/Alpha-Metals-AM139...

Ag is silver it would be expensive depending on how much you use

Aluminums melting point is 660.32 °C  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminium

for copper you could "theoretically" use pennies

Answer 5

low melting temp alloys of bismuth/lead/tin (see link below)

lead, tin,aluminum,brass,zinc are some common ones for casting.

the fire was to hot?the fire wasn't away from hot?

to=towards

too= excessively

2ortwo=1+1