gon3r

i just read that article last week. seems cool, but not really practical. the article on nuclear fusion was a bit more interesting.

CXyD

if your making some small trincets maybe but if you are making control arms, engine brackets, tbs, etc. soda and beer cans are made of the wrong alloy for any real stress.
better of getting a job a non-ferrous foundry and learning how to develop castings. I am learning how to do just that I work in a brass foundry but we do pour Aluminum and some small amounts of cast iron. Developing patterns and core box (if the casting requires cores) can be challenging b/c you have to pay attension to how the casting needs to gated, height of risers, pouring temperatures, gaseing, and shrink. Its one thing to make a very simple part it is another to make a casting with any dimensional accurace.
With aluminum you have to heat the metal to well above 212 deg F to get all the water off the metal (due to atmosphere conditions) then you can place it in the crucibal to be melted. This procedure is cut done gasing because water will get trapped in there and boil in the aluminum for a while long enough to show up casting and ruin the integraty of the casting. There is a lot more involved but if you really want to do this. Let me know I can give a procedure that you have to follow if you want a good casting and doing it safely. Because if you do not prepare the aluminum right you could end up wearing liquid aluminum at 1500 deg.











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TurboGuy

I was only looking to do small non-structural items, simple and one piece. Throttle bodies, t-stat housings, etc. And, I've brushed up on the procedures

Toysrme

60-75mm toyota/nissan v6 throttle bodies for $5-10 and you can get 90mm v8 throttlebodies for $5-45 if you watch for them. why would we want more tb's lol
i can see anything short of all out home casting of manifolds (lol) that would be worth anything. anything else can be found done far and away better used from oem's and junkyards ebay forums or craigslist

TurboGuy

ITB's man, like 40mm. Seems like everybody who has ITB's think they are gold, and it really dosen't cost too much to make them. I was considering making a flat slide type ITB, to see how it might work.

Smith-02

why use a throttle body smaller than a oem port

TurboGuy

Can't locate where I read it, but if it was correct and my memory is right, the ST has 38mm tapering to 32mm dia ITB's.

Either way, I'd be looking to go a little bigger, atleast 2mm over the BT's 42mm tapering to 36mm spec.

jackfrost1031

looking back through this ---- makes me want to cast aluminum, too. Ugh. I need another hobby like I need a hole in the head :1

stealthiskey

I tried the thing on Dan's Workshop, but in the process found a simpler design.

For the heating coil get an old stove burner.
Cut it free from its frame and you can easily bend it into a cylinder.
Get some of that furnace sheet metal piping he mentions so you have at least a 12" dia and put a cap on one end.
Add Perlite in there and put the heating coil so it is centered. Might need some more sheet metal to keep the perlite outside of the heating coil.
Make a sheet metal lid with a nice long handle on it.
Find a 220V source and go!

Should be able to fit about a soup can sized crucible in there, but the design can always be expanded. Soup cans don't last very long as crucibles though. I got mine up to 2000 deg F, measuring with a thermocouple.

btw it takes a SHITLOAD of beer cans to get any appreciable amount of aluminum. Old lawnmower engine blocks on the other hand...


Also you can dissolve aluminum in a cast iron pan on the stove at around 700 deg F if you melt a bunch of post 1982 pennies (zinc). Gives a nice zinc aluminum alloy.

josh19wrc

http://www.backyardmetalcasting.com/

And 92cxyd is right... Pop cans are a bad idea. Tehy explode if they're not preheated, and even then, they're still a bad idea. Go to any aluminum foundry and aluminum cans are banned. I work with aluminum engine die castings, and the foundry we get our castings from has huge signs up all over about not throwing aluminum cans into the furnace.

If you want to make anything with any kind of real structural integrity, I recommend starting with A380 alloy. thats a good base alloy.