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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Apr 2019
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    Adelaide
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    589

    Default 'Home Made' Aluminium Bar

    Does anybody on here melt aluminium and make bars or rounds to then machine?

    I was contemplating getting a Devil Forge to melt ally and copper. I would then pour it into either flat bar or round moulds. Is 'home made' metal like this good to machine and does it retain strength? I don't know much about granular structures etc so opinions sought...

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Oct 2011
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    Norwood-ish, Adelaide
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    59
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    6,540

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    Any Al you cast would come out in an annealled state. Most of the alloy you buy has some heat treatment or cold work to get the strength, so while you could cast your own it is likely to be quite soft and not very strong.

    Michael

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
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    Laidley, SE Qld
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    Default

    Home cast aluminium (at least my home cast aluminium) is never as good as the proper 6061 etc from a supplier. The grain is always coarse and there is always a degree of porosity.

    For low tech stuff where you are not worried about tensile strength, packers and spacers for instance, home cast is fine.
    But that said home casting is an interesting hobby, most start with aluminium.

    If I'm machining a complex part where I'm not sure of the machining sequence or techniques I'll sometimes DIY a suitable lump of aluminium and practice on that. When I'm confident I have the job sorted I'll buy a piece of proper aluminium.

  4. #4
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    Apr 2019
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    Adelaide
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    Default

    A future project is a heat treat oven so maybe I need to research ally heat treating...

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Near Rockhampton
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    270

    Default

    Bob's spot on. I sand cast a 100mm piece of bar stock once and the porosity was much worse than I had expected. Might have been poor melting technique or dirty scrap. I think the other important point is use known scrap. Melting items that were cast will probably produce better results than say aluminium cans or extruded window frames etc. John

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jun 2005
    Location
    Townsville, Tropical Nth Qld.
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    225

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by bob ward View Post
    Home cast aluminium (at least my home cast aluminium) is never as good as the proper 6061 etc from a supplier. The grain is always coarse and there is always a degree of porosity.

    For low tech stuff where you are not worried about tensile strength, packers and spacers for instance, home cast is fine.
    But that said home casting is an interesting hobby, most start with aluminium.

    If I'm machining a complex part where I'm not sure of the machining sequence or techniques I'll sometimes DIY a suitable lump of aluminium and practice on that. When I'm confident I have the job sorted I'll buy a piece of proper aluminium.
    I agree with everything Bob has written. When I could use the forge, I had a large deep tray made of 6mm plate that I placed different sized cans, pineapple, beetroot etc into and surrounded them with sand. I would preheat the whole lot, set it aside and then do my melt pouring the ally into each can. Used to leave it overnight to cool and the billets would slip out of each can. Never got a problem with porosity.
    One thing I did learn was to run the pour through a strainer as old car water pumps have bits of steel dowels hidden in them.
    Rgds,
    Crocy.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Location
    Sydney
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    395

    Default

    Old pistons used to be good scrap, back in the day they were ‘Y’ alloy.
    Dunno what they are nowadaze.
    H.
    Jimcracks for the rich and/or wealthy. (aka GKB '88)

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
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    Laidley, SE Qld
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    One of the articles of faith of the home aluminium caster is to only melt items that were made from molten aluminium - no extrusions, no aluminium cans.
    Pistons work well because they have a high silicon content which makes the molten aluminium flow better. That's not much of a benefit when making lumps but it is useful for casting thin section parts.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
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    N.W.Tasmania
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    Default

    No experience but I have read somewhere that aluminium car wheels are to use a much over hyped phrase, "Gold Standard".

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
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    Southern Flinders Ranges
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    1,536

    Default

    You may want to stand next to one while it’s running before you buy it. They are incredibly noisy.

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