Step-by-step instructions for casting aluminum at home - materials and procedure. Equipment for casting aluminum at home How to cast aluminum into molds

As a child, many people tried to start smelting lead. The material could be taken from used batteries. It melted easily in the fire and poured perfectly into simple shapes.

Aluminum casting can also be done at home. This metal is more profitable and is of some interest to many craftsmen. However, for casting it is necessary to create twice the temperature.

Aluminum: main characteristics

Before the discovery and implementation of an accessible method of industrial production, this metal was precious. Once upon a time, this material was considered more expensive than gold bars. Its properties could be useful in various industries.

Aluminum casting at home

It is possible to reach the melting temperature without the use of special technologies using different methods. Blacksmiths used to forge steel and heat it with coal. This is the first method, but to perform it you will need an oven with a special air supply.

The second method is the use of natural or liquefied gas. The process can be done in a homemade stove. There is another possibility if the melting volumes are small. In this case, you can take a simple gas stove.

Do-it-yourself aluminum casting at home can also be done if the household has an acetylene generator and a cutter. The method with a special electric stove is also suitable. Such equipment can already be classified as industrial type. But if you don’t want to make a stove, you can rent it for a certain time and order the services of an operator.

Technological process

Basically, the situation must be played out special casting with a reservation for home conditions. In any case, you need to prepare raw materials. Scrap aluminum will have to be cleaned of dirt, various impurities, and some fillers. Large parts must be crushed to a certain size.

The aluminum casting technique consists of several steps. The prepared scrap is straightened. When the fluid phase is reached, the slag is pulled off from the surface of the melt. In the last phase, the mold is filled with liquid metal. The disposable form breaks apart after cooling.

You must first select what is to be cast. Even if this is a trial version of melting, you will have to prepare at least some form. What if it’s possible to reach the required temperature? It’s interesting to see the result of melting and evaluate your work: the type of aluminum, its porosity and purity. Any experience, even bad, will only benefit you.

Conditions and special equipment

• When the secondary material melts, the coating burns, fumes are created, and smoke appears. Working in a closed room without a strong functioning hood is problematic. The best option is open space.
• Even then, an auxiliary source of ventilation will be needed. Molding of the material into foam plastic takes place with a large release of combustion products. A fan blowing from the side somewhere will remove all the smoke, which will provide excellent conditions for DIY casting.
• A well-equipped and fully organized workspace is also important. It is best to have sheet metal or another surface as a base on the table that is not susceptible to the high temperature of molten aluminum. The likelihood of splashing and spilling the liquid mass is very high. Remember that it is worth thinking about the need to perform work in a simple room.

Homemade melting stove

The easiest way is to take a couple of fire bricks and make a hearth out of them. It is convenient to do this in a certain metal container (an old saucepan), which will be taken as a frame. A hole is created on the side to remove the air supply pipe. You can supply a suitable piece of metal pipe. A part of a vacuum cleaner, hair dryer or other air supply device will be connected to the segment.

We will put charcoal (stone) inside. Let's light the fire, and then the air supply will turn on. The vessel where we will melt aluminum is placed inside the stove. It is also lined with coal on the sides. It is best to put a lid on the stove so that the heat does not go in vain, but leave only a hole for the smoke to escape.

Ideally, the firebox is created in one piece with a round arch. The necessary mixtures are used for laying heat-resistant material and lining stoves. This design can definitely be made from an old bucket. The internal vault is created, using plastic flower pots of the required size. A metal mesh can be inserted inside the reinforcement mixture. After the mixture hardens, a wonderful stove will emerge that can withstand more than one melting and casting of molds. It's not that difficult to cast aluminum and make molds if you practice a little. The main thing is to work and not forbid yourself to experiment out of fear.

There are several ways to cast aluminum in industrial settings. But if melting is planned in domestic conditions, then injection molding technology is unlikely to be suitable. The most suitable option is pouring molten metal into a homemade mold. This technology will be discussed. However, before learning the nuances of casting, it is necessary to understand some of the characteristics of aluminum.

Characteristics of aluminum

It is not necessary to know all the characteristics of aluminum, but in order to know how to melt aluminum at home, you need to keep in mind some features that eliminate technological errors. In addition, during work it is necessary to exercise extreme caution due to the high risk of injury during the casting process.

At home, melting metal on a gas stove is unlikely to be possible, since the melting point of aluminum is 660.3C, and household gas appliances are not able to create the required temperature.

Melting point reduction raw materials can be obtained by grinding them into powder. In addition, you can use ready-made raw materials in powder form. However, one more point must be taken into account here. Aluminum is a fairly active metal and, when interacting with oxygen contained in the air, can oxidize or even ignite. During the melting process, a small amount of oxide is formed, which contributes to the formation of scale. Another unpleasant surprise in the form of an explosion can occur when water gets into the molten metal. Therefore, when adding the necessary components, you need to make sure that they are dry.

Raw materials for smelting

If you plan to melt metal at home, you should not use powdered aluminum for melting. It is better to use aluminum wire, cut into small pieces, pressed using pliers, to reduce the area of ​​interaction with air.

If requirements the quality of the product is low, then to obtain raw materials it is permissible to use any items consisting of aluminum.

Melting aluminum at home

To obtain high-quality aluminum at home, fluxes are used, which help bind and bring unnecessary contaminants and impurities to the surface of the molten metal. It is better to use ready-made fluxes, but, if it is impossible to purchase them, you can make them yourself. For this purpose, technical salts are used. The coating flux consists of the following components:

• 45% sodium chloride;
• 45% potassium chloride;
• 10% cryolite.

To obtain metal with low porosity, a refining flux is required. To obtain it, sodium fluoride must be added to the coating flux - 25% of the total mass.

Personal protective equipment when melting

The smelting process at home is unsafe. To prevent injury, it is recommended to use protective equipment. Raw materials for smelting may contain dirt or paint residues, so it is necessary to protect the respiratory organs from their release due to burnout. Welding gloves will help protect your hands from burns. Goggles or a mask are suitable to protect your eyes.

Casting shape

To cast aluminum for solder, simply pour the liquid metal onto a sheet of iron and wait until it cools. But, to produce even a simple part, a casting mold will be needed.

Casting mold can be made from gypsum. Liquid plaster is poured into an oiled mold, the model is placed in it and covered with another container with liquid plaster. Molten metal can only be poured into a dry mold. It is necessary to insert some cylindrical object into the still uncured plaster to create a channel for subsequent pouring of molten metal into the mold. After the plaster has completely hardened, the two halves of the mold are separated, the model is removed, and the mold is connected again.

Melting crucible

A crucible is a special container made of refractory material with a “spout”. If there is no ready-made crucible, you can make it yourself. A piece of pipe with a fairly large diameter will do. To make such a crucible you will need a welding machine and a grinder. The size of the crucible depends on how much metal needs to be melted.

Melting furnaces

Melting process aluminum is quite simple. Scrap aluminum is heated in a crucible to the temperature required to melt the metal, kept for some time in the molten state, slag is removed from the surface, then the molten metal is poured into a mold. The melting time depends on the temperature that the furnace can create.

A melting furnace is easy to make with your own hands. The base of the oven is laid out from bricks in the form of a well, in the lower part of which a fire will be lit. Steel rods are laid on top of the bricks, on which a crucible with aluminum scrap is placed.

Melting with a blowtorch

Step-by-step instructions for casting aluminum in a plaster mold

There is nothing complicated in the aluminum melting process, so you don't need any special skills for this foundry worker All you need is skillful hands and desire.

Aluminum is a metal that is widely used in industry and everyday life.

It is used to produce not only aircraft and ship parts, but also dishes and other utensils. Therefore, there is often a need to independently manufacture aluminum parts that have failed.

Its ability to produce cast products in artisanal conditions allows it to be produced at relatively low temperatures. In order to independently produce cast aluminum products, you need to know the behavior of this metal at high temperatures and its physical and chemical properties.

The melting point of aluminum depends on the purity of the metal and is approximately 660 °C. Its boiling point is 2500 °C.

Aluminum is distinguished by its lightness and ductility, so it bends well and can be processed.

This metal is an excellent conductor of heat and actively enters into a chemical reaction at high temperatures with atmospheric oxygen, forming an oxide film on the surface. It protects aluminum from further oxidation, but when scrap melts, it significantly affects the composition of the alloy. During the metal smelting process, the structure of aluminum changes.

When it cools sharply, internal stresses and shrinkage of the resulting alloy may occur. This must be taken into account when working with aluminum at home.

Technologies for home aluminum casting and necessary equipment

The principle of casting aluminum at home should be based on the technology for its production in production, adjusted for conditions that can be used at home.

Aluminum products are produced by casting in several ways. In domestic conditions, the most common and convenient method is the technology of casting molten aluminum into specially made molds.

Therefore, to carry out the process, two things must be ensured:

• build a furnace for melting aluminum scrap;
• create the desired shape to produce a cast alloy or a separate part.

The casting process must include several stages:

1. Preparation of aluminum scrap, including cleaning from dirt, impurities and various fillers, as well as grinding it to a small size.
2. Carrying out the smelting process in the planned way. When the metal is completely melted, slag formations must be removed from its surface.
3. Filling the prepared mold with liquid aluminum melt. After solidification, the ingot is freed from the molding mass.

Let's consider how to melt aluminum at home, what designs of furnaces for melting metal can be used, as well as options for making molds yourself.

Homemade furnaces and methods for melting aluminum

In order to melt aluminum, you need to heat it to a temperature close to 660 °C. It is impossible to reach such a temperature on an open flame of a fire. Therefore, a closed space is needed, which a homemade stove can provide. It can be heated by burning coal and wood or using natural gas.

You can also use an electric muffle furnace if you have one on the farm.

With a self-made stove, forced ventilation must be provided to maintain the combustion process.

1. The simplest version of a homemade fireplace can be made from old pots.

Its design is as follows:

• As a frame, use a steel container, for example, an old pan, on the side of which you need to make a hole to supply air through a connected metal pipe.
• Air can be forced through the hose using a vacuum cleaner.
• Coal is placed inside the device.
• Then the coal is set on fire and air is supplied to keep the fire from going out.
• A container for melting aluminum is first placed inside an improvised furnace structure and lined with coal on its sides. When it burns, uniform heat distribution is ensured.
• To prevent heat from being lost to the surrounding air, the top of the “pan” stove should be loosely covered with a lid, leaving a small gap for the smoke to escape.

An ideal design would be a firebox with an oval arch made from a masonry mixture used for heat-resistant bricks. You can use a flower pot of the desired size as a frame to create an oval vault.

After the mixture dries, a good firebox is obtained that can withstand several heats.

2. The second version of the furnace involves using the flame of a household gas burner to heat aluminum.

It can only be used for piece products made of aluminum weighing no more than 150 grams. An imitation oven is created by using two containers inserted into each other with a small gap. These can be ordinary cans from canned food.

The outer jar should be larger. A hole with a diameter of about 4 cm is made in it to ensure the supply of flame to the inner can.

The flame jet should be directed towards the opening of the can. Only the inner container is heated directly, and the outer one serves as a shell that retains heat. The top of the structure must be covered with a simulated lid, leaving a gap for the removal of combustion products.

This design is disposable and can only be used for one melt, since the tin is thin and can quickly burn out.

Methods for creating a mold for casting aluminum

One of the main tasks of home aluminum smelting is preparing the mold into which the molten metal is poured. There are different options for pouring aluminum melt. The main ones are open and closed casting methods.

Open casting

The simplest is to pour the liquid metal into a handy form, such as a metal mug or can.

After the alloy has hardened, the blank is removed from the container. To facilitate this process, tapping is performed on the form that has not completely cooled down.

If you do not need to give the casting a clear shape, you can simply pour the liquid melt onto a prepared combustion-resistant surface.

Closed form

If it is necessary to obtain a complex casting, a mold is first made for it that meets all the parameters of the part. To ensure strict compliance of the product with the specified parameters, it is made from composite molding parts.

Materials for casting molds

With the open pouring method, the simplest material that is always at hand is often used, this is silica. First, the earth is laid with layer-by-layer compaction. A casting model is placed between the layers, which, after careful compaction, leaves an imprint in the silica. This mold is carefully removed and aluminum is poured in its place.

Some craftsmen use river sand with the addition of liquid glass when preparing the base of the mold. A mixture of cement and brake fluid is also sometimes used.

Plaster molds

When making a model of a complex shape, gypsum is often used, which can mainly be used for a one-time casting process. When casting aluminum into a plaster mold, paraffin or foam plastic is used as models.

The wax model of the product is filled with plaster and, after drying it at high temperature, it is melted and drained through a special hole.

If the model is made from foam plastic, it is filled with gypsum mixture and left in it until the mold completely hardens. Hot aluminum melt is poured directly onto the foam. Due to the high temperature of the metal, the foam melts and evaporates, and its place is taken by an aluminum melt, taking the shape specified by the foam.

When using polystyrene foam as a model, work must be carried out in an open space or the room must be well ventilated, since the combustion products of polystyrene foam are harmful to humans.

Many people perceive the term "foundry" as something associated with large production and professional skills and abilities. But, in fact, casting a part yourself at home is possible even for the most humanist who knows nothing about casting technology.

Aluminum is one of the cheapest, most common and accessible metals, which can be easily machined and cast. The main features of aluminum are high electrical and thermal conductivity, as well as increased corrosion resistance. The boiling point of this silvery-white metal is 2500 °C. Pure aluminum melts at a temperature of 660 °C, and technical aluminum - at 658 °C. Home heating devices are unlikely to be able to provide such a temperature, so it is better to use a crucible muffle furnace to cast an aluminum part.

Muffle furnace and its purpose

A muffle furnace is an indispensable device for heating various metals yourself at home. Such a device is capable of melting not only aluminum, but also copper and many non-ferrous metals, as well as drying and firing ceramic products.

Types of muffle furnaces

Muffle devices for melting metals are of the following types:

• vacuum;
• air;
• gas;
• electric.

By design they are divided into:

• tubular;
• vertical;
• horizontal;
• bell-shaped

A muffle furnace consists of a heating chamber and a special heat accumulator.

Making a muffle furnace with your own hands

To make the device we need the following tools and materials:

• wire;
• Bulgarian;
• brick (7 pcs.);
• protective glasses;
• hammer;
• metal bucket;
• piece of iron, etc.

Furnace construction stages:

For greater functionality it is allowed installation of two electric heaters, which can be turned on one by one or simultaneously. For example, for soldering a small amount of raw materials, only one lower heater is turned on, and if the scale of melting is large, two devices are used.

The muffle furnace with vertical loading is very compact, which allows you to store it in the country house, in the garage or on the balcony.

The principle of operation of the furnace is quite simple: the soldering container (crucible) with the raw materials placed there is installed on the working surface of the furnace where it is heated to the required temperature (660 °C). The heated metal is poured into a pre-prepared casting mold, which can be made from plaster or some other non-flammable material. To make the mold, it is recommended to use white or sculptured plaster, which can be purchased at any building materials store.

As mentioned earlier, for soldering aluminum in a furnace need a special bucket(crucible), which is made of a metal that has a melting point higher than that of aluminum or from a refractory material. Porcelain, graphite, corundum, quartz, steel or cast iron are used to make containers for melting aluminum. The ladle can be purchased at a specialized store or made independently. The size of the crucible is determined by the expected amount of raw material to be melted.

The metal must be laid as tightly as possible and slightly compressed. Since aluminum loses significant volume during melting, raw materials should be periodically added to the ladle.

Important. The added raw material must be absolutely dry, since even a small amount of moisture entering the hot aluminum can cause a sharp splash, as a result of which the metal splashes out of the furnace and can cause severe burns, especially dangerous if molten aluminum gets into your eyes.

Therefore, before starting work, you should take care of your safety: purchase safety glasses or a mask, or better yet, get a special fire-resistant metallurgist suit.

During the process of melting metal at home, an oxide film will appear on the surface of hot aluminum, as well as various slags form(old paint, particles of dirt, etc.). Its quantity directly depends on the quality of the raw materials. Before pouring the molten metal into molds, it is necessary to remove the slag using special devices. Then it is recommended to keep the aluminum in the oven for some more time to give the metal greater fluidity. This will greatly simplify its further casting.

Casting an aluminum part yourself

Let's look at the easiest way to solder a part at home.

We will need:

• metal scrap;
• smelting ladle;
• molds.

Process steps:

• Prepare a container for melting aluminum at home. A piece of steel pipe can be used for this purpose.
• Make a mold. For parts with a complex structure, the form may consist of several elements. The mold can be made from plaster (sculptural). Do not use alabaster under any circumstances!
• To prevent the plaster from sticking to the mold container, you must first lubricate it with oil.
• During the process of pouring gypsum, the container must be shaken periodically to prevent the formation of bubbles.

Important. Since plaster hardens very quickly, try to install the model of the part in plaster as soon as possible. It is also recommended to install a small object (for example, a stick) in the plaster, which will serve as a channel for pouring the future part.

• Now the primary layer is poured: in order for the mold elements to lie stable during the casting process, you need to drill 4 small holes.
• The second layer is poured.
• After hardening, carefully remove the mold from the container and divide into halves. To prevent the metal from sticking to the surface of the mold, it should be treated with soot.
• Pour liquid aluminum into the mold and wait until it cools completely.

Thus, by following the technology of casting aluminum parts at home, you can make any thing without resorting to outside help. It is only important to strictly follow all safety rules and regulations.