Terry Coombs wrote:
Cydrome Leader wrote:
Terry Coombs wrote:
Ignoramus11126 wrote:
I wanted to melt copper and cast an ingot.

My question is, can I melt it in an iron tray and cast into a cast
iron pot?

Or will copper dissolve/stick to iron?

You need a real crucible (probably a clay/graphite at those temps)
for those temps , and green sand or oil bonded sand for the mold .
What kind of heat source and enclosure di you have in mind ? There
are naturally aspirated LPG/natgas burners that will put out that
much heat , but forced air is probably more efficient . I suggest
you start with aluminum and work up to the hotter melting metals ...

If the next question is "can aluminum be melted in steel or irons
pots" the correct answer is no, unless they're coated. Molten
aluminum will eat away and dissolve the steel, and far faster than
you might imagine at first.

Did you read that somewhere or do you have experience to back it up ? I have
been using steel containers to melt alunimun for several years , and the
majority of damage I see is caused by the flame . Get too much air and it'll
scale badly and eventually develop holes . Aluminum will dissolve a very
tiny fraction of a percent of iron , but absolutely not the kind of damage
you're attributing *under normal conditions* .

experience, using Lodge 2 cup cast iron fat melting pots with aluminum. I
had no idea what was going on at first.