+2 on the can melting. if you can quickly submerge the crushed can in a batch of already melted aluminum the dross will minimize but the end result is still CRAP.steamin10 wrote:Its not the reading, its ducking the aluminum POPS, wasting time on unusable blobs of scrap, and making the same part multiple times without a good one. Getting hands on will quickly teach you what DOES NOT work. Been there.
there is an austrailian (sp_dude on youtube named dave (also goes by "oil burner" ) that in a series of great utube videos will show you how to get some good aluminum as in car or truck wheels, melted down into some great product. im currently rounding up parts and pieces to make a 55 gal. barrel burner using drain oil for a fuel just as he has. wheels, automatic transmissions, and engines are excellent candidates for mass melting. i have a couple boxes of piston material that i melted in my pro[pane fired furnace and iron pipe crucible. i have done quite a bit of "lost foam" casting of trinkets and things, using aluminum and also brass. that requires a much higher temperture but the results are beautiful. ive followed the alloy avenue forum for quite a few years and there are some absolute wizzards on there, and like many other forums they are so helpful when asked.
i could go on and on about lost foam and casting, i really enjoy it. simple and the results for me have been very good, not all but mostly. i could post some photos if i can figure out how to do it. . .
davidh