Surprisingly Easy Way to Cast Aluminum

[@funyd]

I enjoyed this a lot. I worked in an aluminum foundry for 9 years before my current job. We did permanent mold, but its amazing what you can use in a pinch. If we needed to make something ourselves we would make a mold out of wood, take a die grinder to some tool steel, or anything. It doesn't take long for solicitation so you can get away with a lot. Its especially handy to get a basic shape that you can finish out the detail with a mill or lathe. Keep up the good work.

[@memphiskyle]

Blacksmiths hate him! Check out his 3 simple tricks for bringing the forge into your garage! Get the lessons now, only 3 easy payments of $9.99!

[@badlandskid]

If you act now, we will throw in two empty beer cans for your first aluminum casting project! Supplies are limited. Shipping and handling charges apply..

[@MrJgstoner]

+M3mph1s Ten Tricks Those Aluminum Fat Cats on Wallstreet DON'T Want You To Know!

[@chopinbloc]

+M3mph1s Is that Canadian pesos?

[@boygeorgethechameleon8198]

Hahahahahahaha he saw opportunity !! Brought back memories from back in the 90s (DO YOU WANT TO TALK TO GIRLS LIKE US)?.. popping out of nowhere while watching Bob Ross.. Lol

[@beliasphyre3497]

Well shit, I'm running out of reasons not to cast something.

[@h0lx]

+Belias Phyre awesome comment

[@smallenginedude71]

+Belias Phyre me too.

[@bikingmnviking3801]

+Belias Phyre I know.... what to make... what to make.... (I did start savings cans just for this after watching another YT'ers video but still haven't a clue what to make that'd actually be useful) A mallet would probably be the perfect first try. If the handle fails to come out perfect it can be covered in dip-it or a friction tape. Also oversize and use the handle as a spout. Be good to taper the neck wide into the mallet so it wouldn't break easily. I was trying to think of something for a bike but most of it is already made and reasonably available. They even make pedals that make their own power and light LEDs inside them! (great idea because they're basically fairly theftproof) Plus I don't have a lathe to finish the project so it'd have to be something either crude is easily handle finishable. Would it make a decent handle for a camping handaxe? One could impregnate their name or logo/motto on the side. That'd be cool.

[@beliasphyre3497]

BikingMNViking If this is your first time casting, you may want to try something smaller, especially if your using this process. I was thinking some simple jewelry or trinkets just to see what kind of detail and finish I could get. A mallet is a bit ambitious for a piddly little torch like this.

[@bikingmnviking3801]

I have several furnace burners (and probably a few stove ones) I have saved and orfices from stoves I've installed if I wanted to convert them to propane. Biggest thing I think I would want to do is fence my yard in first to keep lookie-lous minding their own business.

[@DirtRider500R]

With this process and enough empty pop/ beer cans, I can build myself a new Ford!

[@dantyler6907]

You'll just need about $20,000 worth of propane. But yeah! Get on it and go...

[@mindofmadness5593]

Nope. Aluminum don't rust. A good Ford will be rusty as hell.

[@ryannu1578]

Yeah it may take you 20 years to pour enough though this guys set up isn’t very viable

[@richardgood8691]

Aluminum Heads/hood/body paneling took around 700 lbs off the f150. That's fuel economy/towing cap/hauling cap/easier on the brakes with no load.... No argument Ford made the right call, that's why they're on top

[@alfiebrotherton935]

@@richardgood8691 except they have some bad business practices and use c channel frames becuase it's cheaper

[@craig3.0]

Alright, damn, I feel like a caveman who just saw a car. There are like a dozen things you just did that are drastic improvements over what the hell Ive been doing for the last 2 years or so, like: using an actual cruicible instead of a bent piece of scrap metal and vice grips, using something to poke the oxide layer off, instead of just jiggling everything about until either the bags of aluminum pop and join together, or I spill a bit on my foot again, using magic sand instead of wood, and casting parts instead of just casting puck-ike discs and turning those into parts later.

[@bighamman]

+AvE As silly as it sounds, your channel and your sense of humor got me through some hard times, and for that I thank you.

[@StarNik94]

0:25 *Instant Gloves!!! Magical!!*

[@brandonduren5422]

Magical!

[@sweetmeatbeatz3615]

That power cord to the bottom right is a champ .

[@capnskustomworks]

EVERY. DANG. TIME. I see that "Magic Sand" anywhere I think to myself, "I'll be danged if that junk don't look just like brightly-colored greensand, I wonder if it'd take a cast, or catch right on fire?" Thanks for doing the experiment for me, brethren!!! (Also, ye don't seem to have cussed at the aluminum, ye feelin' ok???)

[@thetorchchannel357]

Thanks AvE, this looks like possibly the best solution for doing small casts of anthills ! My Sister, niece, and two nephews are visiting this summer and I thought they'd be blown away by casting some anthills. I live in Minnesota, so our anthills don't run very deep ( I hope ). I wouldn't need much more than maybe double the amount which you melted, But I'm sure a slightly larger crucible is available. Thanks again for the cool vid ( and the witty and entertaining renaming of popular sales outlets ). This is definitely the simplest and easiest method to melt smaller amounts of metal, not to mention portability, which for casting anthills I would imagine would be highly convenient !

[@AppliedScience]

Sweet! I would have bet money it was not possible with a handheld torch out in the open.

[@brice9613]

+Applied Science i done that before with a propane torch and 100 g of aluminium but its a pain in the ass and you cant cast much

[@fishhuntadventure]

Brice it’s probably easier if you do it by the ounce instead of by the gram.

[@juggernautxtr]

use to throw old aluminum rims in a fire pit with a cone shape, all the aluminum ran into a coffee can, that was before the epa started watching us peeps on farms.

[@angelusnielson7135]

I've melted soda cans in a wood campfire before. More than once.

[@mohammadgulzaib9748]

Yes it is possible i also did it few days back

[@roberthorwat6747]

My ghast is flabbered!

[@Exterminater-im2pj]

Robert Horwat

[@jacksonsteenbergh8122]

SaltyBrains

[@johnt4060]

@Jackson Steenbergh

[@jacksonsteenbergh8122]

@Drew Tatum

[@Gibberish434]

Fun Fact, we actually call that "shrink" when we scrap castings out for that. If there is a casting with bad shrink in a certain area we will add a riser to that spot which is essentially a reservoir that will fill up with metal that the casting can then pull iron out of while it cools.

[@Makebuildmodify]

I haven't seen gouging rods since college welding classes. Good video, Thanks!

[@TheOldKid]

Just when I think I've seen all of your videos a pleasant surprise shows up

[@ronchappel4812]

Ave your knowledge and abilities are so high i almost expected this video to finish with a simple method of pressure casting 😁

[@MrROTD]

I worked in Foundries for years, aluminum and zinc some bronze, if you like shaking hands with the devil every day a foundry is a great place to work LOL

[@raymgriff]

+Rex Holes I've spent time in steel foundries myself, they're definitely a hazardous work environment, but they are cool as frig to say the least. Watching 15,000lbs of steel being poured is a hell of an experience. Foundries are a dying industry thanks to the majority of casting productiong being sent overseas to China and India, so there's a major shortage of younger people like myself going into foundries or patternshops. It is actually a pretty lucrative field where you can learn a lot of cool skills. There's quite a fair bit of job availability too.

[@dpmakestuff]

I've got a box of ceramic fiber wool in Alberta with your name on it if you're so inclined

[@kingmasterlord]

you still got it?

[@mfsolutions]

great demo and info... especially the quick sand mould ... A word of caution to those who cast aluminum keep molten aluminum away from water... you will get an explosion. I visited Reynolds Aluminum in SC and watched them cast billets for extrusion. They had a 10 foot diameter patch in the ceiling where the 1 ton went when the molten aluminum leaked into the water cooling the mould.

[@uuffzz]

True. Friend of mine worked in that field and some coworker left a water bottle in a cast that got filled. The explosion ripped some aluminium around the place and some landed in a poor mans mouth, resulting in 2 teeth exploding. Police came and the case was immediatly filed as an attempted murder. (Strict work rules and laws in germany made it possible). Shits not funny.

[@samurphy]

This is definitely a good tip if you have aluminum stock to melt. I have large flat pieces like cut up mac keyboards, etc. You'd have to chop them up into nubbins to use this method. I have a charcoal + hair dryer in a coffee can setup and its easier to melt large amounts to make some clean chunks which would then go into this setup really easy. This would be cleaner than the charcoal stuff, for sure.

[@genmaxpain]

i did that with drink cans and a few frying pans melted them down poured the alloy into whipped cream cans and threw the casting into the lathe, machined it off and made diff bushes works a treat then i threw them into the deep freeze to shrink them and hammered them in with a big hammer and a slice of alloy to not damage the bushes

[@fsecofficial]

Holy moose nuts 🥜 I finally buy a furnace and AVE drops this. Canadians are the best machinists. I’m a Canadican so I’m not that good 😂

[@theslimeylimey]

I believe you can also use dirt cheap powdered Borax (twenty something team of donkeys brand) as it acts as a cleaning flux when molten.

[@pmckinlay653]

I belive Clickspring does this when tempering steel.

[@sideswipe147]

DONT USE BORAX FOR ALUMINUM! like he said potassium chloride (NOSALT) is what you want to use. use the borax for ferrus metals (iron steel etc).

[@intjonmiller]

+sideswipe147 Thank you! The borax will cause the aluminum to corrode fast and deep. Guaranteed part failure. Salt substitute ("Morton Lite Salt" is a blend of the two, and a $3 bottle goes a long way) is great.

[@HanSolo__]

@@sideswipe147 Is the NOSALT brand trademarked?

[@doubleboost]

That sand has possibilities

[@AtariXcore]

Worked at a machine shop making safety relief valves, the raw casting is exactly what you'd start off with before making it more pretty.

[@TheRainHarvester]

Dear Mr Ave, That is quite a good idea. I would like to thank you for your dedication to the diy community. Sincerely, theRainHarvester

[@atye04]

Torch sounds like a tie fighter there towards the end.. that's my enlightening cuntribution to the world of casting. ' )

[@TheJttv]

This camera angle confuses me. It's like upside-down backwards and crooked

[@KD0OWK]

+grumpybill haha

[@DarkLinkAD]

+grumpybill You ever do that thing where your half asleep and you feel yourself slipping, so you launch out of bed trying to catch yourself?? Thats this guy when he passes that damned window.

[@TheJttv]

grumpybill gg well played

[@DarkLinkAD]

Jttv You g0t ReKt!

[@mersilvaureus1525]

Hell yeah for new vids! And thank you for turning me on to Clickspring!

[@kmohr6945]

+AvE ...Narcissist

[@Rebel12guagez]

+Zachary Allen Been a long time since i've seen Geoffs face...a long long time.

[@mersilvaureus1525]

+Rebel12guagez I hope it brings back good memories!

[@Rebel12guagez]

Only the best of dancing around a field with a Gus cut-out

[@geoffbridges3149]

I was waiting for the classic " focus you fuck". is this a new, non voice activated camera?

[@zrobotics]

+Geoff Bridges A new camera is unlikely to change that, he's been yelling that longer than the camera has been fancy enough to hear him.

[@iant720]

Hahah I was too... Guess this one uses mind control

[@bikingmnviking3801]

+zrobotics really, he needs to change its focus mode or get one with a manual ring with that little tab you just rotate around. I hear the new galaxy 7 edge plus focuses way quicker than the new apple phone. Now he has a legitimate reason for the wife unit to let him upgrade!

[@iant720]

BikingMNViking Frankly I have an iphone 5s. It Focuses very fast, and I've never taken a blurry picture, long as I wasn't shaky. I don't see how a S7 could be much faster, mines already perfect

[@bikingmnviking3801]

Ian Thompson OK, put up a video of some pretend cast part in a vice and then a close up and we'll see? I'm just reporting what the reporter reported, reportedly. Seriously there is a side by side video where the guy is out at the mountains & compares focuses between the 7 edge and the iphone 6 -- whether that makes it right for Ave's more macro style of shooting is still in question as I haven't seen that video but this is YT, search around, it's probably here if anywhere since this is the #2 search engine in the world according to Alexa. I just know in one way AVE is a perfectionist, or at least expects good results for good work he does and he always calls it like it is. Why shouldn't he expect the same of his camera? Or maybe he should switch to a pinhole type camera? (IE: Non adjustable F stop, I think the go pro's are like this. I know you can get dedicated cameras for security on amazon for cheap (& small) that should be able to focus that close easily & at least be 720 HD -- I bought several for a security project I am working on. I need to spend time with them and right now I have to eat & leave.)

[@hedgeearthridge6807]

So I work at a small engine factory. When you scale the process up to really big parts, it becomes an absolute pain in the ASS. That shrinkage that occurs during the cooling process can cause something called "Shrinkage Porosity". Basically the part rips voids into itself, that resembles cracks or air bubbles. The bad thing is they can go completely unnoticed, unless it's uncovered when machining the part. I have sent a few thousand engine heads back to be melted down again, because of shrinkage porosity that goes unnoticed until the parts reach the production line. I wish i was the guy in charge of QC in the aluminum machining department. Evidently he's paid to do the absolute bare minimum!

[@TIMEtoRIDE900]

Can't you fix that with better alloys ?? The Yamaha / Mercury casting comes up from underneath. It reduces dross in the casting, and I think they vibrate the forms a little too.

[@jakelanier4042]

If you want to get rid of the shrinkage you can use the aluminum from a engine or cylinder head, or an alloy rim. You can also use a sprue, which is basically providing extra metal to compensate.

[@popcornshiner3937]

If your serious about getting into casting this is a great way to go nice and cheap if you want to cast something half the size of an ice block. the reason you see all the other diy foundries is beause you can actually cast something of use. my diy foundry was just over 1KG in size and still not happy, but if you want to make trinkets then this method will suit you fine.

[@amyasseektruth8246]

FOR SOME REASON I'M ADDICTED TO THIS CHANNEL. MUST BE THE SALTY, COCKY, ABRASIVE ATTITUDE THAT WE ALL LOVE.

[@felixcosty]

nice video can you show it using the welder would be cool to see how that works.

[@MicrowaveGenocide]

I think he did one with a welder a while back

[@theLuigiFan0007Productions]

darwin miller Wasn't that Tungsten, Titanium or some really touchy metal and didn't it fail? Think it'd be significantly easier to fry up aluminum with an arc welder though. I'd definitely like to see a demo of that method though.

[@d1gangsta]

top notch goofing around in the shop looked like a fun play day

[@trevorc.7572]

Cool trick...learned that from my journeyman 25 years ago. Thankyou for passing it on as well.

[@andrewbrown6522]

I saw a guy making transfer case housings in the sand on the ground in india iirc, another video on here. Good video with a couple useful tidbits! Thx.

[@marksmith6837]

cross section it? Just to appease us stoopidly curious?

[@BenLeBlanc1]

When you take the cross section, you need to tear it apart. If you cut it, it will distort the surface. On the casting of ingots I have done, the insides are pretty cool- but very irregular.

[@TheBrokenLife]

But will this work with Transparent Aluminum?

[@SuperAWaC]

+Maxwelhse Nah. Transparent aluminum melts at way higher temperatures. It's also transparent, so the heat tends to just go right through. You know, like how you can see through glass. Same thing.

[@IceTorch051]

+SuperAWaC what?

[@AlbosNoggins]

Admiral! There be whales here!! :-D

[@TheBrokenLife]

Alex Howard From the responses, I think you may be the only guy that really got the joke. haha.

[@TheBrokenLife]

allotribus Transparent diamond is a real material?

[@DivineMisterAdVentures]

now you're on the hook - you owe us a quality casting, MVP.

[@TheTechiemoses]

CAUTION!! Don't use table salt, without checking the ingredients. Iodized salt typically has other stuff added including sugar. Also, specialty salts like the delicious Celtic salt have other chemical structures. Also, order some Celtic salt. It will do wonders for your cooking. You can add other stuff to make fun alloys. Zinc, magnesium, and copper are kinda common. They can make it stronger and heat resistant. Adding micro ceramic balls can make it nasty to cut through. Flash freezing or pressure ovens can also make it super strong depending on the method.

[@AbbyWatkinsAbby_Cat]

I was drinking coffee right at the end then choked on it with that last little comment you made... Not much makes me laugh anymore but you damn near made me piss myself I was laughing that hard!

[@aluminumcastingsandcasting7761]

Professional casting aluminum manufacturer,very good video.

[@stewartrv]

I have an original aluminum milbro catapult (slingshot) from when I was a kid, would be great make another!

[@RinoaL]

its a shame Arc Furnaces arent as easy

[@silvermediastudio]

+Rinoa Super-Genius ..as your sister.

[@RinoaL]

800lb Gorilla i'm a single child.

[@RinoaL]

bullsballs your joking right? ok let me fill you in on the details. me and AvE were competing from like late 2013 to 2015 on making an arc furnace, i made several videos on it but didnt have time for it. i may in the future though. he was really nice and sent me some graphite and nichrome wire, then i found some large carbon brushes and connected them to my 1940s Missing Link welder to melt rock and stuff. so yes i know about arc furnaces, lol theres a reason me and AvE have moved onto other means of melting metal. arc furnace is just too messy and tricky compared to other stuff. :p

[@Tezcax]

What went wrong with the arc furnaces? My only problem with them is that they're a lot more expensive to run, the commercial ones I mean, but it looks simple in theory. I know the King of Random is a jackass but his video looked like it worked ok? at least for the easier to melt metals.

[@rrtsduf]

@@RinoaL after I was done with your sis, you then became a single child

[@jonanton8897]

I think you are my 5th subscription and you earned it from in before I finished my first coffee and in thumbnail view. You sir, are fucking great!! Looks like I got some binge-watching to do, keep it up

[@danielboughton3624]

Old shop teacher had some 4" steel pipe with a bit of plate welded on the bottom. Used a rose bud to melt the bits of aluminum. I don't recall what he used for a degasser - maybe borax. Obviously the pipe will burn out over time but for a quick deal that will last a reasonable amount of time especially for the occasional casting project it was an inexpensive way to get a decent volume of aluminum.

[@kevinduffy2502]

I use a small cast iron bowl with a lid. I put it in the coals in my wood burner in my shop and once it gets going i can do a batch about every 15 minutes, it wont do anything more then aluminum but its a fun way to store scrap

[@boomchacleKSP]

it's like pulling the black part off of a marshmellow.

[@eCitizen1]

Thanks for the heads up on the small graphite crucibles. A while ago, I got a much larger silicon carbide crucible which takes a considerable amount more heating to achieve pourable metal.

[@WoodesosGuitarMods]

I've been wanting to cast some aluminium for ages to make some guitar parts. This was the perfect tutorial for new volume and tone knobs:-)

[@marksmith6837]

Ben, thanks for the reply. I realize I was being overly simplistic with the cross section suggestion. The home gamer isn't going to polish and acid etch for an electron microscope inspection of crystal structure. I would be curious about inclusions, porosity or internal fractures from uneven cooling. I was a ME student years ago, but metallurgy was never my thing. Power transmission/geartrains.

[@fixman88]

That's pretty darn clever, most people aren't aware of the relatively low temperature at which aluminum melts (gold is the same way). There is a scientist that actually makes aluminum castings of ant hill tunnels by pouring the molten metal down the opening and then digging the casting out once the metal cools off.

[@Meximagician]

Brings back happy memories of TIG welding aluminum in high school. Probably should have gotten certified if getting through the dross is really that hard...

[@BengtRosini13]

ha, sweet. I been saving my aluminum, finding scraps and such to do a few pours, and work my way up to brass. this seems reasonable for an initial start.

[@gigmaresh8772]

Wanting to cast a new logo for my boler Camper. The original is plastic appx 4" x 8" and about 3/16" thick. If I had a steel mold created, could I use a mapp torch to melt the Al right in the mold rather than pouring it?

[@arduinoversusevil2025]

might be sticky. test first.

[@Blacktronics]

I learned this the hard way when I was randomly heating a small stick-on heatsink with a jetflame lighter, dripped right into the carpet once the oxide layer failed keeping the thing together.

[@ShuRugal]

1 weird trick that foundries HATE!

[@wendymorrison5619]

Bob's your Auntie! I thought that was a saying only used by my family. Awesome!

[@bigdoggt]

the humor side of ur videos is absolutely awesome. keep up the great work

[@oneofyou6773]

Finally! Someone doing it the intelligent way!

[@barrypurves4524]

For small projects, potassium chloride is primary ingedient in, "Accent" or other 'low sodium' table salt substitutes.

[@thedaftgamer]

I gotta say, those are some fancy instant gloves you got there right around the 25 second mark.

[@OOZ662]

+thedaftgamer I thought the little bit of graphite on his fingers suddenly became a whole lot for a second.

[@mugshotmarley]

+thedaftgamer Some say he grows them like a snake, and sheds it when it's used up.

[@MrLaffytaffyboy]

+AvE That was an impressively well done cut. It took me way too long to figure out where it was.

[@glennfelpel9785]

Excellent presentation, thank you for taking the mystery out of the aluminum casting.

[@KristínGuðmundsdóttir]

I want to thank you very much for the information. They help me a lot

[@andyolson-l7l]

That socket sitting to the side makes a great sprue.

[@travissmith7471]

Thanks for taking the time to make this video... Very helpful...

[@Zyworski]

We used to take an old cast iron skillet with us when camping and throw all the beer cans from the night in the center of the fire. When all the cans turned to liquid we would pour rhem into mold we stamped into the silica dirt and our little toys turned out amusing

[@johnsmith4630]

thx, I just learned about lost investment wax or styrafoam molding. nice to know there is a wah to do a little something w/o having to make a big smelter setup.

[@BlueMacGyver]

You actually don't even need any torch or graphite crucible to melt and pour aluminum. You can even do way bigger amounts from melting with just plain ole wood.

[@koehlerrk1]

Very nice... good to see someone promoting BASIC skills!Can't wait to see what you do next AvE!

[@morganveloz258]

i should speek for most of us we get so excited when we see new video keep it up my man!!!!

[@yes____]

ive melted a couple kilos of aluminium with firewood, but it takes quite some time (even with pleanty of airflow at the coals) to melt the aluminium im planning to melt some using Bituminous coal, the same stuff blacksmiths use to heat steel good idea?

[@bansheemania1692]

Get a good fire going after all Day. Throw in a 50lb bag of Anthracite coal...Woo whoo is it Get Hot. Pennsylvania Coal

[@MrJgstoner]

I think it's cool that the oxide melts at right about the point the non-oxide actually turns to gas (close enough to screw up if you can and are really pouring on the heat) and somebody figured out "hey, just use a/c" and that just blasts the thin oxide right off during the EP phase. "cathotic bombardment" they call it. Bet that dude got like a ten dollar gift card from GE or whomever he was working for. good for him

[@austinjohnson5040]

Yep, surprising easy, just needing all this stuff that makes it easy, but may be difficult to get your hands on.

[@metamech7383]

He almost did it...almost! Me thought, "A video I can watch with my mother in the room." My mother, sitting there with her soup in hands, a quaint Canadian gent quickly postulating the process of melting aluminum...her tender lips coming to a smile as he mentions using magic sand. And then, Wham! It quickly comes apart as the video crescendos with a crude, "Keep your dick in a vice!" Soup now puddles the floor around her. Ah, but he wouldn't be the AvE we know without that famous punchline! Sorry mama.

[@TheDesertwalker]

How did you learn all this stuff, AvE?

[@adambridges6644]

Who knew Negan was so crafty?

[@battonfive]

thanks for the share on this, im hoping it will come in handy for scale and rc parts :-)

[@kennethbeuscher47]

I think the thing he made would be a nice volume knob and thanks to the mold you can make many copies

[@ArtMechanicsLosAngeles]

In foundry class we used pool shock as a cheap upgrade to salt. Not sure if it matters but we added it once melted then skimmed.

[@duramax78]

What I would love to know ave and you are the man to ask is at work we have induction heaters that heat pipe 4.5" diameter.375 wall up to 1100 degrees in about 8 seconds, I've always wondered how much it cost to heat 1 pipe in electricity, we would do about 7000 ends in a 24 hour period.

[@TheRainHarvester]

Wholly cow! I was thinking...I should cast a part for my kitchen-aid blender (the nut on the bottom of the jar got stripped). Then I saw what you were casting! Did you strip your blender's nut?

[@rhkips]

Now all we need is a cheap and easy injection molding technique, and we're set!

[@bikingmnviking3801]

+Anvil Bound You mean build one you can pedal and hope the molten metal doesn't spew all over you and your workshop?

[@anvilbound705]

BikingMNViking Pretty much yeah. And I told em to look them up, by design they are housed in plywood or plexiglass, I don't think anyone would think it's a great idea to throw it together in your workshop without basic shielding.

[@fancyfeast1001]

I liked how you gloves were off one second and on another. I thought I blacked out and came to a couple minutes later.

Cool, knowledge is power especially when you need something in a hurry.

[@lachlanraidal5100]

Bob actually is my aunty. Love ya Robin!

[@nhrifle]

I've cast plenty of bullets, never tried aluminum. That may have to change.

[@bansheemania1692]

Needs a center core "nail" .. should work

[@chadjensen1081]

old non-alkaline batteries have graphite rods in their centers if you don't have access to gouging rods.

[@tmill328]

You're a surprisingly easy way to cast aluminum!

[@gonzobeer]

Inductive heater? I thought we weren't supposed to talk about that.

[@Beany2007FTW]

+gonzobeer It's art. Art, I tell you.

[@carolynmmitchell2240]

Beany2007FTW I think he's talking about the vid where he fucked up the inductive heater by not charging it up right

[@luckygen1001]

You should try that with cast iron.

[@radius117]

I'd still like to see you do this with the welder. I've seen what a 9 volt can do to a bit of pencil graphite. Would be neat to see what it does to a crucible.

[@mediocreman6323]

The thing is, aluminium melts at a lower temperature than your blowtorch can deliver (less than 700°C while the torch goes up to 900°C), and I found that out when I wanted to burn a paper sticker off a piece of aluminium, because it works so well with certain steel parts. Needless to say, the aluminium got a but … mushy? So, yeah, it works with that metal, not with steel or something (melts at about 1500°, so _well_ above aluminium), but with that light metal, yeah, it works.

[@mettwurst01]

so its confirmed? AvE has 4 hands? 0:23-0:29

[@carolynmmitchell2240]

mettwurst01 he actually has six hands, he is shiba.

[@ChrisB257]

Great demo Chris -- have to try that.

[@Londrino]

I've got a heap of that "kinetic sand" stuff at home, but I wasn't sure if the polymer would just catch on fire and kill my entire neighborhood with toxic fumes or some such nonsense, I'm definitely gonna try loss foam with the kinetic sand to see if I can get a smoother finish.

[@kevinjohnson7621]

if you want a smooth finish,use the foam board you get at lowes,it sands very smooth. lightly coat it with thinned out drywall mud, and let it dry for a few days in a warm area.

[@BluntForceTrauma666]

Ahhh, didn't you just love that technique of continuing to apply heat as he was pouring? Nice...

[@y33t23]

Or: Dig a hole, put wood into it, put a steel pot with aluminum trash into it (eventually also an air tunnel to get the fire hotter), done.