Save your fuel and time - scrap yards frown on accepting cast ingots they always assume the worse of the seller in that his/her ingots are contaminated.
Nice scrap to work with an get predictable castings, pistons, hydraulic pumps, transmission casings, any engine parts made of aluminum.
I strongly recommend silicon carbide crucibles, for straight aluminum melts you will get a year or more out of it, melting copper and bronzes much less because of the addition of fluxes.
The graphite crucibles are alright, but your not going to get the same millage as the carbide is going to give you.
When ever I'm doing a casting that needs to be machined - I degass, for example a large dish or motor mount for a vibratory lap similar to the one shown below.
The fishing weight mold was cast in Petrobond without the addition of a degassing agent.
The flat lap used in lapidary work for polishing the flat surfaces of stones is easy to make, the small motor has an eccentric weight attached to the motor shaft which oscillates the flat plate.
That particular lap sells for $343.65 the home foundry is one of the few hobby's that can pay off in real dividends.
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