Is it Worth It to Melt Cans?

In this video I give my opinion on whether or not it is worth your time to melt down aluminum cans.
Music: www.bensound.com

[@garywebb4244]

As a former worker in a smelter they really don’t like you melting down your own metals. The reason being is that we had some guys were adding iron inside the ingots in order to get more money when they were weighed. They also want to see what type of aluminum is coming in because some scrap like aluminum cans is higher in magnesium.

[@backyardfoundry]

Interesting, I never thought about that. I guess I will have to use all my ingots for projects one day.

[@grnwhitewidow76239]

So will they not accept them at all ? Just curious i never planned on getting rid of the ones i make but for future reference id like to know thanks !

[@hfjchan]

In Hong Kong, elderly people who collect cardboard paper will put water on them and sell to recycle company. These companys know this and give them lower rates.

[@bradley7454]

LoL some people putting pebbles into crushed cans

[@garywebb4244]

@@bradley7454 Yes some of the people that recycled cans would try that on us, but we caught on pretty quickly and then they were not welcomed back.

[@justinloomis81]

Sorry dude, I disliked the video only because your title says "is it worth it" and at no point did you go over cost versus monies earned for selling the ingots.

[@backyardfoundry]

No apology needed I appreciate the honest advice. Thank you for taking the time to let me know.

[@austinmorgan9870]

He definitely did go over cost at the last minute of the video if you woulda watched and waited. You might not seem so stupid now.

[@MrRobertPogson]

Of course it's worth it. The result is much more aluminium stored in the same space. Time is money but so is space. The ingots are much easier to reprocess later and prices may rise. Melting is an investment, not just an expense. You also need much greater efficiency. Use a larger furnace and crush the cans. You waste a lot of time feeding them one at a time. Think shovelling... You are also losing most of your heat out the top. By melting batches you can keep the lid on. Don't get scrap prices for the product. Cast useful stuff like busbars or handles or signage or...

[@GrilledCheese2121]

Yeah if you're looking to make money via melting metal it's probably in producing creative pieces to sell at a premium. Unless of course if you're lucky enough to find a viable source of "scrap gold" lol.

[@ohsoloco5113]

If you're trying to resell as aluminum at a later date when prices are high then how is this worth it? The scrap yard I sell to will only give you the dirty aluminum price for melted aluminum since they don't know what else is mixed in with it (makes sense to me).

[@kkennyhehjeh8383]

If you factor in the price of propane or gas it's definitely not worth to melt cans as seen in video

[@drewwhitten9395]

you really got me at the beginning with the CZ sponsorship

[@scottjeans6184]

Great video!

[@awesomedee5421]

The price difference is soo much different from cast aluminum vs cans. I need 5 times more cans just to make the same amount of money if I melt them. Not only is losing money, there is the added expense of the heat. I just drive the car over the cans and makes them really flat. There is no space concern anymore.

[@michaelwillcutt2619]

Many yards pay a lower price smashed cans same reason they use a air to verify can doesn’t have weight in them . Gravel , butts or other objects

[@awesomedee5421]

@@michaelwillcutt2619 If I take the same number of cans, and I handle the new little mini cans differently, so take that out of the equation. If I sell back the individual cans

[@klee88029]

Would be nice if you listed in the description all of the equipment used, the costs of it, when applicable, and links to where you bought items you had to purchase. Thank you for considering doing this in your future.

[@backyardfoundry]

I will try and mention it in the future, but alot of the stuff I have sitting around so it was more or less free. The gallium from the video; I don't remember where I bought it from (amazon maybe) but it was about 20-30$

[@klee88029]

@@backyardfoundry Thank you 👍 🧓

[@binnicksforge9359]

I usually crush the cans before entering. That way I can get like 3 or 4 at a time. I made my forge kinda like urs. 30gal. tank and 2 linings of 2600 #10. Works great for copper as well.

[@backyardfoundry]

I feel the two separate linings just makes the whole forge so much more heat efficient. I am glad I am not the only one doing it.

[@binnicksforge9359]

@@backyardfoundry Check out my video. I just put one up. It's a smelting vid. Start to finish on what I do for aluminum cans. Trust me, you are not the only one. I found a new passion doing this.

[@rallen7660]

Definitely crush the cans before melting. Get a small pool molten first, then push the new crushed cans into it. This gets them molten with the least exposure to oxygen, and thus much less slag (Aluminum Oxide). As far as the lining goes, a dual layer system is only as good as the best layer, the other is just taking up space in the furnace. Thermodynamics and energy transfer, it's a b*tch.

[@slackstax2854]

Hello , just subbed. Thanks for the video, I haven’t tried my new furnace yet

[@backyardfoundry]

I appreciate it! Your comments made my day

[@cmennare]

Here in Michigan our beer and pop cans have a $.10 deposit on them so we don't turn them in for scrap. However, we can remove the tabs from the cans and melt them. Also some energy drinks have a screw on lid that is aluminum and that doesn't need to be turned in with the can for deposit. There are plenty of cans out there that do not have a deposit and those are worth melting. Our aluminum prices are a bit better also.

[@backyardfoundry]

I also read some where that the pop tab is made of a higher grade aluminum. If I remember correctly it was "the same aluminum alloy as the Bradley armored fighting vehicle."

[@cmennare]

@@backyardfoundry I can't speak to that for lack of knowledge. I know that Ronald McDonald House has run a donation campaign based on those pull tabs. They had a collection barrel that would get turned in for scrap whenever full. The donations would go towards funding the operations of the house and it was a very successful campaign.

[@alan30189]

I suggest having a long steel cylinder that you can feed the cans down through, into the crucible. It would be long enough to fit as many cans as it takes to fill up the crucible with melted aluminum. That way you don’t have to stand there and feed cans in, one at a time. That long cylinder would also preheat the cans, making it faster for them to melt. Just an idea.

[@backyardfoundry]

That is actually a brilliant idea. I wish I thought of it while doing the video.

[@jonarment1229]

That's a great idea, but how would the cans make it into the crucible after being warmed? I'm having a hard time picturing how that would work. Would the cans need to melt inside the cylinder and pour into the crucible after reaching their melting point? If you had to remove the cans from the cylinder by hand, then it seems like the juice wouldn't be worth the squeeze, because of the danger of having to handle an extremely hot cylinder full of tacky metal that probably wouldn't easily come out.

[@bradley7454]

I've done this type of things on an industrial scale. I found unusual alloys when the molten aluminium makes contact with the dirt. Also the dirt becomes magnetic from iron in it.

[@backyardfoundry]

That is actually pretty cool! I might have to get some fine iron powder and see if perhaps I could for that alloy. Sorta like an aluminum ferrofluid

[@bradley7454]

@@backyardfoundry well, because the dirt where I was doing it was clay, it turns like a terracotta red or orange because of the iron. Then you get a magnet and the fired dirt is magnetic. Internet says Clay minerals are hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates sometimes with variable amounts of iron. So it just combines

[@JsStack]

That's a lot of work. What size crucible were you using? Looked like a 4kg. It's a lot of work, but, can melts tend to get lots of views.

[@backyardfoundry]

I believe it was a 5kg crucible. And yeah it was a ton of work. I condensed something like 5 hours of footage down into that 15minute video

[@BotConcealed]

If you're going to melt down cans for profit, you're better off using molds for jewelry or decoration. You could sell a 2in crucifix, for example, for about $7 profit after polishing it.

[@backyardfoundry]

This is honestly the best way to make some money doing it. I couldn't agree more!

[@johnrodgers2018]

great video

[@backyardfoundry]

Thanks I appreciate it!

[@levuonganh5426]

😍

[@jeplica7011]

There's no garbage service where I live, and I have an energy drink addiction. The cans add up quickly and by the time there's theres so many that you have to do something about them, the raccoons have destroyed the bag for some reason and putting them in the car isn't an option. Touching each one is necessary one way or another. I'm considering melting them, if only to learn a new skill and solve the problem

[@fanofmetal1]

Rinse the cans out with water after you are done with them. The sweet smell of the syrup is what brings raccoons and wasps or yellow jackets to them. I've tried it both ways and have dealt with far less pests since I started rinsing.

[@backyardfoundry]

What fanofmetal said would work fine if you just want to get rid of the cans. Otherwise making an aluminum foundry is pretty easy due to the low melting point and, in my opinion quite fun! Just be safe.

[@ATF.California]

I’m number 90 sub 😎

[@backyardfoundry]

"And where did that bring you. Right back to me"

[@strangus]

It's just fun to melt things.

[@backyardfoundry]

Thats the truth brother

[@walter2990]

Other than the personal satisfaction that you (or us other smelting fools), it's not profitable to melt cans. But it IS satisfying on another level! Just do yer thing, brother!

[@backyardfoundry]

Thanks brother! Nothing quite like molten metal.

[@walter2990]

@@backyardfoundry Keep on keeping on, Young Brother!!

[@TheJusticefornone]

I feel like its a decent craft lol!

[@chuckwolf3221]

Cans will not make it; prices are way down. Copper, brass, and bronze if you can find scrap make ingots and wait till the price goes back up to sell.

[@binnicksforge9359]

It's really worth the copper in brass, and bronze. Tin, and zinc aren't worth really anything.

[@anthonycampana9904]

just found this channel with some luck safe to say i will be keeping tabs on this handsome man

[@kissfan8675309]

How long does a propane tank last using these?

[@backyardfoundry]

For melting aluminum a tank will last a long while. I spent 4-5 hours on this video alone and had a good amount of gas left. For melting something like copper since you need the gas jet at a higher pressure you go through much more gas. I went through a whole tank for my most recent video.

[@nunyabidniz2868]

In any state with a recycling deposit, you're not likely to match the value of the cans as recycling vs. the value of the aluminum ingots. Focus your efforts on refining *other* aluminum castoffs and recycle the cans for cash...

[@backyardfoundry]

What you said is 100% true. The only reason I see to melt can is if you're really bored, or you have no other source of aluminum for casts.

[@lifeoftraveling8330]

Have you ever used a waste oil burner in a 55 gall drum to melt cans put a hole in the bottom for the metal to pour out waste oil will melt it engine blocks in 5 minutes that are made of aluminum once it hits temp and that takes about 15 to 20 minutes I'd like to see someone melting barrels of cans in one I'm planing to build one I saw some that use fire bricks in the bottom and all the flag is caught by the fire bricks as the metal runs down around them I'm going to use an old 100 pound propane tank when I build my melting furnace it don't need insulation on the drum the burner is so hot

[@TheJusticefornone]

Of course, do Ingots normally sell for a decent price, say how much money would I receive for an Ingot that was 10kg?

[@backyardfoundry]

I havent heard from my local scrap yards yet how they feel about the ingots, but I have had other viewers mention that some scrap yards would prefer the cans as compared to ingots. Its best to check with your local scrap yard.

[@teet7918]

First step before melting- hit on cans with big hammer.

[@masterpython]

Does anyone bother collecting cans when there is no deposit? In most of Canada 300 cans would get you $15 of deposit back.

[@backyardfoundry]

I don't know many here in Ohio that bother collecting for that very reason. Unless done industrially it isn't worth it.

[@sirlinkthefourth6755]

There are a few inefficiencies you need to iron out your cans not being crushed is one of your biggest time wasters running them threw a can crusher first is a huge time saver secondly you were really sheepish about your slag the faster you take it out the less aluminum stays in it don't use tongs that's just slow use something to scoop it out if you feel like there's aluminum in your slag re melt it or save that for later also in a lot of places you get more money from cans than the aluminum value for recycling them something you can do then is rip the pull tabs off and eventually you'll get a few thousand and melting that down is mostly just pure aluminum it's true that you get more aluminum from the scrap yard if you're in the money making business you shouldn't be focusing on aluminum anyways but if you're in the hobby business pull tabs and some cans can be a near free source of extra aluminum if you do it right

[@backyardfoundry]

Oh yeah! As a hobbyist craftsman melting cans is a fun easy way to get some extra aluminum for a project. If ease of use is a concern I would collect the tabs like you mentioned. Much more metal compared to the space they take up.

[@sirlinkthefourth6755]

@@backyardfoundry i think you might like the youtuber bigstackD Casting thay do a bunch of casting and you can pick up stuff just by watching if you pay attention also his email is publicly available and he constantly offers it for discounts on devil forge products and for some advice seams like a cool dude from what i can see

[@sirlinkthefourth6755]

@@backyardfoundry also if you wanna talk shop on something a little bit more convenient than KZbin comments i can drop you my discord

[@binnicksforge9359]

Have to take slag out. I melt my cans at around 10-12 psi.

[@GrilledCheese2121]

You can just scoop the slag off the top with a steel spoon right?

[@backyardfoundry]

Yeah that would work great

[@massimilianoilardi3571]

Cosa significa che fondi alluminio

[@backyardfoundry]

Se a qualsiasi metallo viene impartita sufficiente energia cinetica, si verifica la transizione da solido a liquido. Quindi riscaldo semplicemente le lattine di metallo solido finché non diventano liquide. Mi scuso se la traduzione è scadente.

[@handduggraverdronline]

Far melting them this way no. You need to melt them in mass amounts that the molten aluminum then drips into water then you could possibly use this setup

[@trevorthompson572]

Spoiler: the answer is no. Just sell em to the scrapper. No melting necessary.

[@handduggraverdronline]

Definitely not worth it if your going to sell it. Cost money to melt them plus you loose money converting them to cast

[@gravyboat2370]

Save 10 minutes of extremely boring video content, the answer is no.

[@backyardfoundry]

I appreciate your input. How do you think I could improve upon it?

[@wang744]

Just a fyi wether you take into consideration or not.. Less arm flailing shows your not nervous amd know! What you are doing as well as talking about..

[@backyardfoundry]

I appreciate the input! It is often hard to notice such things when you are filming and editing it all yourself.