Copper explosion!

Hey all.

So I just finished my hot water tank furnace, and got all excited to melt some COPPER! So I set up an area of my garage with welding screens, donned my leathers, face shield and respirator, and got my first copper melt on.



Now I've been using some old pistons as molds, but have only poured aluminium on them so far. I just melted a tiny bit of copper to test, so put a torch to the one piston to get rid of any moisture, then poured my copper and KABLAM - copper everywhere. All my PPE and safety screens worked out Millhouse, no damage or injuries, and a valuable learning lesson: rust retains moisture, so even though I "preheated" my molds with a torch, there was too much moisture for the 1100C metal, and the piston is too thick to properly preheat.

So, all molds must be clean, bare and dry - I'm getting some more crucibles and graphite molds in the mail, ready for my first real melting batch!

I do: one of my local scrap yards buys "Metal in any shape or form". I poured a ... more successful batch of just under 3 lbs today, will use that to ensure they actually will. If not, I have a few elements i'd like to add to my smithed plant hangers I could use those scraps on.

Originally Posted by WhiteSquirrel

I do: one of my local scrap yards buys "Metal in any shape or form". I poured a ... more successful batch of just under 3 lbs today, will use that to ensure they actually will. If not, I have a few elements i'd like to add to my smithed plant hangers I could use those scraps on.

'Rearden metal' plant hangers ?