Found Dreaming

over at this thread http://founddreaming.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=190 everyone is talking about buying aluminum. I'm curious as a catl, what are you all doing with all that aluminum? I hardly ever melt aluminum, but rather do most my work in brass.

I admit, i'm doing almost all ornimental work, and shiny yellow is what all the customers want. maybe you are all doing practicle work

I cast both metals but more aluminum then brass in a 80% to 20% accordingly. Aluminum jobs fill up most of my morning work then do the brass jobs near the end of the work day since the furnace is at its top temp so the melts go fast. I have a group of regular routine jobs that make up a good 60% of my casting work with the rest being custom jobs that are done in both aluminum and brass melts. On average I go though about 1 to 2 ton of aluminum a year. My two main sources are alloy wheel and scrap transmission cases. I just picked up 120 alloy wheels at a straight run at $10 a wheel. On average they are around 18 to 20 lbs each. My last load of trans cases were gotten at $.50 a pound. This is because I go and pick them up and pay cash. I bought a log splitter to reduce the wheels and cases to a useable size for melting also used to reduce my brass.




Brass is wherever I can get a sizable amount at a decent price. Having been at this for some time I have a fairly good network of guys that keep my supply steady for the most part. Bob


Fire truck brass parts.


Boat parts.




Door lock assemblies.



Door hardware and the list goes on. On average I have been getting my brass at a $1.50 a lbs.

Nice score on the wheels Bob, I would love to get that large of a haul at such a great price.

HT1, the bulk of material I go through is for the cast cnc kits I sell. I am gearing up to do a bunch of flasks though and that will use 2 or 300 lbs there. I am also trying to stock up, I would love to have a few tons of aluminum on hand to give me more flexibility in buying while it is low. I am probably closer to 1/2 ton a year right now myself but would love to see that go to two tons.

As light as aluminum is it is pretty amazing how little space a ton takes up when in ingots so its just the matter of putting the cash away and in the long run I dont see where I could ever lose since I think it will be worth considerably more in 20 years if I ended up holding onto it.

Harry wrote:Nice score on the wheels Bob, I would love to get that large of a haul at such a great price.

Thanks, I gota get em when the deals are out there before they're gone. Cash is still King when it come to a final price deal. I may have to look at what you do to reduce the wheels down to ingot size. The big scrapper!

Will be starting on that real soon, my foundry guy is bringing me 8 bags of Mizzou in a couple of weeks and I am going to pick up the shell next week, the shell will be a 48" diameter 24" deep galvanized stock tank. A local feed store has the tanks for $100 and even though it is a little larger diameter than I had planned I think it is going to work great.

I am hoping to be able to run over 100 lbs an hour (well really hoping for close to 200 but we will see) with it into ingots and also be able to use it for a tilting reverb for pours up to 200 lbs if I ever decide to pour something really big.

Will be starting on that real soon....

I will really be looking forward to the build, I hope you document it well. I remember reading your posts on the old forum about your plans. I remember your solidworks rendering of the big scrapper plan, and I have been holding my breath for you to get started lol

Picked up the galvanized stock tank yesterday, this thing is going to be huge. The tanks vary in size somewhat for each general size because they make like three that fit inside of each other for shipping. I looked real hard at the ~36" tanks thinking that would be large enough but ended up going with the ~48" x 24" deep one to make sure even larger wheels would fit no problem. The tank was $139 plus tax so just under $150

Will get started on the frame that will support it and have the tilt built in. Surplus center has an electric trailer jack I will be using to power the tilt. This furnace will be different from my last tilting scrapper in that it will run normally flat then tilt to pour where the old one ran tilted and leveled to pour.

Hopefully my foundry guy will bring me the Mizzou I am wanting, if not I will have to make a trip to Bakersfield to one of the places there that sell refractory.

Will be updating the Big Scrapper thread here with some pictures as I progress. Still have nearly 300 lbs of ingots from the last run so I am not in a huge rush but I do want to get this together. I figure I will only use this a few times a year unless it works out well for large pours and I end up thinking of something big to make.

I am looking at total cost somewhere around 5 or $600 so while not a huge investment it is going to be a few duckets involved along with the work so I plan on taking my time and making sure it comes together as good as I can make it.

that big a diameter what you gonna make the lid out of????, surely your not going to leave it open that would be a waste of a lot of heat.

What type of refactory are you using, high strength or high temp 3000 degree insulating????

Man thats going to be a lot of refactory are you planing on putting any of the stainless steel slivers is what I call em, they have a trade name. but are nothing more then chopped up stainless steel for reinforcing the refactory in the mix.

I hope you got a concrete mixer for that much mixing.

Will reply over in the Big scrapper thread as this is really drifting here.