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Metalworking (rec.crafts.metalworking) Discuss various aspects of working with metal, such as machining, welding, metal joining, screwing, casting, hardening/tempering, blacksmithing/forging, spinning and hammer work, sheet metal work. |
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Melting brass and bronze for casting
I "know" that holding brass or bronze at high temp burns off the low
melting zinc, tin, and lead and it is not recommended that brass or bronze scrap be melted into ingots per one site I checked out. None the less 1. Is it better (more consistant results) to bring the first batch of metal up from cold or to heat the crucible and furnace to near the final melt temp and add the metal at that time? 2. If it is desired to add tin to bronze or zinc to brass, how and when should this be done? Pellets or other bits of low melt metal to molten alloy? Cold mixing bits of both ingredients and heat mix? Lower temp metal melted and higher temp added? My basic stock at this point is surplus keys and what I am making is goblet stems to blow glass into and molds and tools. http://users.ticnet.com/mikefirth/castgobl.htm#CASTGOB -- Mike Firth Hot Glass Bits Furnace Working Website http://users.ticnet.com/mikefirth/hotbit46.htm Latest notes |
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"Mike Firth" wrote in message ... I "know" that holding brass or bronze at high temp burns off the low melting zinc, tin, and lead and it is not recommended that brass or bronze scrap be melted into ingots per one site I checked out. [You have no idea what's in the scrap you're melting. You'll get ingots, sure, but of what? And what would you be breathing?] None the less 1. Is it better (more consistant results) to bring the first batch of metal up from cold or to heat the crucible and furnace to near the final melt temp and add the metal at that time? [Start with all the metal in the pot. Throwing cold metal into a hot pot can be dangerous.] 2. If it is desired to add tin to bronze or zinc to brass, how and when should this be done? Pellets or other bits of low melt metal to molten alloy? Cold mixing bits of both ingredients and heat mix? Lower temp metal melted and higher temp added? [Melt the lowest-melting component first, with a reducing flame and under a flux coat, and add the higher-melting ingredient to that. Make sure it's heated enough to drive off any absorbed water before you do this. The copper will dissolve into the tin or zinc as it gets hot enough.] My basic stock at this point is surplus keys and what I am making is goblet stems to blow glass into and molds and tools. http://users.ticnet.com/mikefirth/castgobl.htm#CASTGOB [If you're doing this for an actual use, and not just as an experiment, use metal of a known composition. Even if you had good results with your mixed keys (unlikely though that is), it would be hard to duplicate with the next batch. If you want to make your own alloy, start with pure tin or zinc (or silicon), and heavy-gauge bare copper wire. Wire is generally electrolytically pure copper. Keys can be any alloy of brass, bronze, aluminum, steel, or beryllium copper (which you don't want to mess with) - recycle them some other way. Here's a good article on alloying metal in the small shop: http://www.apecs.com.au/alloyinginsmal/alloying.htm . Here in the US, most art foundries prefer to work with silicon bronze, because it melts cleanly, doesn't fume, welds well, is strong and corrosion resistant. You can buy it in ingot form all ready to go...] -- Mike Firth Hot Glass Bits Furnace Working Website http://users.ticnet.com/mikefirth/hotbit46.htm Latest notes [Hey, I've got a bin of broken glass - window glass, beer bottles, some pyrex and odd bits of stained glass - can I melt it all together and make beautiful art?] Andrew Werby www.unitedartworks.com |
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