Making Pure Copper Eggs - Melting Scrap Copper Pipe

[@MeltandCast]

Hope you like this one. Cheers everyone, thanks for your continued support 😎😎😎🍺🍺🍺👍👍👍

[@Shad0wBoxxer]

Watching that copper bar go from black to copper was awesome! Also when doing a larger piece like the solid egg, ive noticed many different casters use a vent hole to prevent the off-gassing from breaking up the mold :) another great cast!

[@MeltandCast]

I read somewhere that Petrobond doesn't need venting as it self vents and the gases produced in the casting are beneficial.... In practice it's not so easy to get the sand compression right to allow for self venting... much as I'd like to not use vents, I think I need a lot more practice before I can cast without them. Cheers Andy 🍺🍺🍺

[@Shad0wBoxxer]

MeltandCast learn something new every day or check your pulse! I didnt know petrobond would “self vent” google here i come!

[@MeltandCast]

In practise it's hard, because if you get it wrong, that's your casting down the toilet... In my defence I was trying to cast a very thin casting... Luckygen does it without venting , but he's a pro. I tried a couple of times but I always end up compacting the sand too hard... like I say I need a lot more mould making experience !! But yes apparently Petrobond will self vent and the gases produced are supposed to beneficial by creating a reducing atmosphere in the mould... Cheers Andy 🍺🍺🍺

[@leonidasmiglioriniplaster]

@@MeltandCast What kind of oil you use in your petrobond sand?

[@Metal_89]

the swirls in the freeze pattern in the bar was incredible! not too many youtubers that do melts show super up close detail shots like that so it was really interesting to see!

[@MeltandCast]

Thanks Metal, that was one of the prettiest bars I've poured to date. It's one of my favourite ingots, I'll have to look at some of the others now to see if they are the same... hehe.... Andy 😎😎😎

[@bigstackD]

Good work Andy I love it 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[@MeltandCast]

Hey BigD how are ya mate ? Thanks for stopping by, really appreciate it. Glad you like em buddy, if it wasn't for your videos I wouldn't be doing all this stuff, really loving all this casting caper !!! Cheers Andy 🍺🍺🍺😎😎😎👍👍👍

[@dooleyknoted5951]

@@MeltandCast Third vid I've watched! Nice. Saw BigstackD give you kudos, HAD to sub!

[@MeltandCast]

@@dooleyknoted5951 Thanks Dooley, appreciate it mate. Cheers Andy 🥂🥂🥂

[@Jobobn1998]

Take my like for that level of precision and care when making the molds!

[@MeltandCast]

Thanks Murphey, really appreciate it mate. Cheers Andy 🍺🍺🍺

[@adamtemple9417]

The epic soundtrack is like an 80's montage piece where science is curing cancer

[@MeltandCast]

And behold.... the eggs were born.... yeah see what you mean... more cheese anyone ??? 😜😜😜 Cheers Andy

[@NenadKralj]

HAHAHA 😁 I agree 🍻 on soundtrack but level of f precision and care when making the molds is astonishing 😳

[@JulianMakes]

Very cool eggs, lovely finish on them. lovely shot on the roiling copper too, great video

[@MeltandCast]

Thanks Julian, I still need to do some work on my polishing setup, hand polishing from 240 grit upwards takes far too long... I'll have that mirror finish one day... I always seem to run out of time though... Pitfalls of being self employed I suppose... Hope you enjoyed your mini break, best wishes Andy 😎😎😎🍺🍺🍺👍👍👍

[@JulianMakes]

Cheers Andy! Actually watching you from the hotel. Back home tomorrow :) Cambridge is incredible

[@castingtechnology3338]

Another great video my friend. You are growing by leaps and bounds!

[@MeltandCast]

Thanks Chris, appreciate it mate, Cheers 🍺🍺🍺👍👍👍

[@Struthious]

Had to come back and watch this again. Hope your hand is okay after the close call at 11:43. Beautiful work.

[@MeltandCast]

Cheers Anthony, yeah all good mate... no harm done hehe 🥂

[@anthonystrunk5360]

Copper eggs are cool!

[@MeltandCast]

Cheers Anthony 🍺👍😎

[@earthlingjohn]

You've a good eye for cinematography Andy 👍 The lighting on the finished products @ 13:00 really pops the texture on the ingot and gives the entire scene a kind of "early morning -- golden sunrise" touch. Great production quality all 'round on the video !

[@MeltandCast]

Thanks John, much appreciated mate, glad you liked it. Cheers Andy 🍺🍺🍺

[@francoiscarra8503]

Wow. Just wow !

[@bigredbullion3883]

Very awsome pour and awsome work bro love the look of them

[@MeltandCast]

Thanks Red, appreciate that mate. Cheers 😎😎😎🍺🍺🍺👍👍👍

[@mikewolff645]

Very cool. 1 day I will have a Devil's Forge to make some cool stuff!

[@jagboy69]

Don't buy that over priced furnace. You can make the same thing for around 150bucks. Kaowool, Satanite, and some parts from the plumbing dept at the homeless depot.

[@MeltandCast]

They are great furnaces, I went for the FB2M which is the 10kg cement version, the Kaowool version of the same model is a lot cheaper and lighter, and probably all you'd need. As WT mentions, if you have the time you can make your own easily enough and save some cash. There are some simple rules of thumb regarding the hole size in relation to the internal volume etc. You should find it with a Google search easily enough and there are plenty of videos on YT. If you go that route, I'd definitely recommend using one of the Devil Forge burners though, they're tried and tested, work well and are fairly reasonable. Cheers Andy

[@Thewulf56]

Very nice Eggs, they turned out awesome. I see what you were saying about the metal pushing up the sand. How deep was it in the sand?

[@MeltandCast]

Thanks Wulfman... These were in my smaller mould boxes... I'm getting low on Petrobond so have switched to the slightly smaller boxes until I order more. I think they are 4"x1" so iI guess the top of the egg was only a couple of inches from the top of the mould, It's why I raised the sprue a bit. Didn't realise the hydraulic pressure would lift all the sand out, apart from quite a lot of flashing it didn't affect it too much luckily, unfortunately the solid egg came out a bit wonky as the pattern moved a few mm in the mould, I should have put a pin in to secure it. Another school day haha.... Cheers Andy

[@donniebrown2896]

@@MeltandCast new subscriber, check out sandrammer, he has got the information on the company that sell the ingredients to make your own petrobond, he's a retired Navy foundry man and with his knowledge I rank him up with luckygen and olfoundryman

[@MeltandCast]

@@donniebrown2896 Hi Donnie, Thanks for the sub mate, much appreciated !! I'd not heard of Sandrammer before, i'll check out his channel now, thanks very much !! I'd like to try and learn the right way if I can, although it seems there's a whole different set of rules for each metal... And there are also so many variables that can affect the outcome of a particular casting... For me, trying to add too many techniques at once is counter productive, so I'm trying to keep things fairly simple to make it easier to troubleshoot my mistakes. I just don't know where to find reliable info on casting copper at the moment, so a lot of what I'm doing is guesswork, informed choices and trial and error !! Next step for me is to try and find a good way of degassing the copper... the fizzing looks cool but I'm sure it's not a good thing hehe. I'd love to make my own Petrobond, but without a muller it's not supposed to be easy... I need to order more, £250.00 for 100kg is totally bonkers though, I can't understand why it's so expensive !!! Cheers Andy 😎😎😎🍺🍺🍺👍👍👍

[@wisewaun]

That solid egg is outstanding! Do you ever sell your stuff?

[@MeltandCast]

I've not sold anything yet, never really thought about it... Maybe someday I might if I ever make anything I'd consider worthy of selling haha. I'd be happy to make a custom piece for someone though if they had something I could put in a sand mould. It's always interesting to try something new. Cheers Andy 🍺🥂👍

[@KowboyUSA]

The -Goose- Devil Forge that lays the copper eggs.

[@MeltandCast]

Haha... Cheers mate 😎🍺👍

[@TooManyHobbies786]

You should have way more subscribers than you do! +1 more :) I Loved how these turned out! Devil forge here I come :)

[@MeltandCast]

Thanks mate, that's kind of you to say so and cheers for the sub... Andy 🍺👍😎

[@Inimbrium]

Damn that sand must have been seriously hot to touch. Good all-round job tho. I actually like the solid egg. Its imperfections give it charm.

[@MeltandCast]

Yeah it gets really hot, Inimbrium, every now and again you forget... you soon remember when you touch it though haha. Shame the solid egg turned out a bit wonky, but it's still cool... need to give them both another polish soon, they have dulled up quite a bit... Cheers Andy 🍺👍😎

[@mrhobbyskills4945]

Great surface finnisch

[@MeltandCast]

Cheers Skills, appreciate it mate. Hobby Skills has just started a casting channel, do check it out people... 😎😎😎🍺🍺🍺👍👍👍

[@jagboy69]

Those look good. You going to turn them green now?

[@MeltandCast]

Thanks WT 😎. First item to get patina'd will be tomorrows casting of a starfish as it's for a friend. I'll run a second batch of patinas with salt solution before that and see how they turn out and I'll pick one of those. I'll save the rest until I can find a brighter patina from that recipe list. I'd like to try some of the Cupric Nitrate recipes you mentioned and see how they turn out.... Cheers Andy

[@expatconn7242]

My copper does not look like that. I have a devil forge . What is your regulator set at for copper? Ty . nice work

[@OriginalMomo]

The Styrofoam egg wasn’t that spectacular, but that two-part clamshell egg… I’m surprise that cast so well with how small the tolerances are within that box. Very impressive

[@MeltandCast]

Thank you, Scott... Yeah the foam egg was pretty poor, I didn't secure it properly, it slipped in the mould and it came out wonky with a lot of flashing on the join. It's kinda hard to fix an egg shape without making it worse... I was pleased with the other egg though, I wasn't sure it would work but it cast well and the lid didn't really need any sanding to fit... I need to spend a lot more time with the finishing off though, it could have been a lot better. Cheers Andy 🍺🍺🍺

[@kenwiggins5088]

I'm wanting to do "open" casting my question is can the cast sand be reused?

[@MeltandCast]

All sand can be re-used, Ken, It just dries up or burns off when you cast something. Greensand (regular sand with water and Bentonite) will dry up and need to be re-wet from time to time depending on the volume of sand you have to work with. If you're using Petrobond the oil will burn off and the sand will turn black and powdery. Scrape off the black sand and keep it in a bin or something. Once you have enough you can re-add some more oil and re-wet it that way. Anything under the charred layer with Petrobond should still be fresh. With my Petrobond I lose a kilo or two of sand with each casting, sooner or later I won't have enough sand to fill a mould so I'll need to add more oil to the old stuff to make a new batch. Petrobond is very expensive so you definitely don't want to throw it away !!! Have a Happy New Year.... Andy 🥂🥂🥂

[@kenwiggins5088]

@@MeltandCast thanks

[@wisewaun]

Would you consider making me an egg like this out of nortic gold?

[@smartroadbiker]

You know, if you didn't have that hole in the top of the oven it would get hotter, think of all the heat being lost!! ;) hehehe (jk for those that missed it ;)

[@normoloid]

Could real eggshell be used as mold?

[@MeltandCast]

You could mould an ostrich egg, they are very strong... nice idea. Cheers 🍺🍺🍺

[@noviceartisan]

Great video, enjoyed a lot. I noticed a touch of porosity in the end results, I heartily recommend watching some of the videos on swdweeb channel, he's got some interesting innovations for sandcasting mould design that seem to help a lot, like a tapered sprue rod and traps internally to catch sand and let things flow better :)

[@MeltandCast]

Thanks David, I've watched a lot of Swdweeb's videos along with Olfoundryman and Luckygen1001. The porosity in the ingot is primarily down to the temperature of the ingot mould before pouring. Although preheated beforehand it was still fairly cold when I poured the metal in. I've noticed porosity can be greatly reduced by having an extremely hot mould, the hotter the better, and even better by having a blowtorch flame pointing directly in the mould whilst pouring . As the metal freezes from the outside edges inwards, the gases in the metal are forced to the middle (the molten part) which is why you see most porosity on other peoples ingots are grouped in the centre of the ingot. As it continues to freeze more and more gas is pushed to the centre until the final freezing locks all those gases in the middle of the ingot. Prolonging the freezing process as long as possible can give the gases longer to escape from the metal as it freezes, reducing porosity greatly. I have made ingots with almost zero porosity using this process. Although most of the time its impossible for me to work a camera, pour metal and hold a blowtorch at the same time. I have tried with using a lab stand to hold the blowtorch whilst pouring but again in practice it's not easy. Next time my son is around to hold the torch I'll put this in a video and show you what I mean. The pouring basin was around 30mm deep with a 10mm lip at the bottom using tapered sprues in both cases. The solid egg used a slightly larger sprue with less of a taper which could have caused some air to be sucked into the mould, I probably didn't pour that one fast enough to keep the sprue filled on that egg. Perhaps smaller sprues might help. Traps may also work, but my train of thought with copper runs a little different due to the speed at which it freezes in the mould. My main goal with copper is to get the metal into the mould as fast as possible, even though I generally pour at 1300C, the copper still freezes almost as soon as it touches the mould. It's also the main reason I'm not using vents or feeders in the mould cavity. One of the benefits of Petrobond is the hot gas created in the mould actually helps the metal to flow and creates a reducing atmosphere. A feeder could be used, but I figure if the part is already frozen then a molten feeder will only serve to create a hot spot on the part, something that can also cause undesirable results. I do have Cudox tubes to degass the copper, but each one is designed for a 50kg batch, so I'm waiting until I make some larger copper castings before I split them down and use those. Trouble is there is actually very little information online on working with molten copper. Copper isn't easy to work with consistently which is why I guess most people don't touch it !! I love copper though, so I'll keep at it. Maybe Martin will read this and be able to suggest some improvements. Thanks for your comments, David. Really appreciate it... Andy😎😎😎🍺🍺🍺👍👍👍

[@AsylumET]

So close to burning the heck out of your hand! Great video though.

[@MeltandCast]

Haha Thanks Asylum 🥂

[@jonlihou668]

Miso metal....

[@Kompieter]

NIce video but worst choice of music ever.