oldguy Posted March 27, 2011 Posted March 27, 2011 (edited) . When trying to melt cans they essentially burn up before melting due to the low density and high surface area that is exposed to air.This can be fixed a bit by crushing/hammering the cans, folding and crushing again to make a thicker piece. I used a $5 can crusher from harbor freight to crush AL cans. Even crushd with one of those AL cans still have a lot of surface area.As they are not strong enough, nor have a tight enough tolerance to crush a can totaly flat. So, I built one out of thicker steel, with more leverage that would.Not hard to do if you weld.Still a lot of time/labor involved using cans. What I ended up doing was spending a day running around to all the local mom & pop tire & wheel shops.Asking if they had DAMAGED AL and/or Mag wheels that they would sell cheap.Many did. So in a day & for a few bucks apiece I gathered up a 200 lb trunk full. Then used a skill saw with a metal cutting blade to cut the rims into chunks.I also graduated up from a charcoal starter & built a kiln like affair out of fire bricks with a steel lid.Then used a large jet type gas burner in the base tight under a steel grate.So, now I can use a big heavy duty camp fire type cast iron dutch oven as a crucible. Edited March 27, 2011 by oldguy
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