Thanks Guys. You have been great over the years. You have enough knowledge now to move on and come up with your own innovations. Mean while i am going after life long dreams. Love you guys
@@adrianmucci4860 Graphite is mainly for non ferrous casting. You would be better off making a lot of disposable clay crucibles for iron or steel. Dry them in in the oven then fire them in the foundry. Make sure you have driven all the water out before ramping the heat up. Boiling Point of water at your altitude is critical point in the oven. My oven was 20F lower and i blew one up once i started ramping the temp. use high temp probe or thermometer.
@@rlbob1would this be sufficient to cast aluminum oxide (Al O3)? I want to make an ingot of corundum / ruby / sapphire. Honesty I was thinking of putting down a sheet of corundum and adding the chromium and other dopants to “paint” a design on it, hopefully getting the temperature just right for it to fuse and turn into ruby and sapphire without losing to much definition. I’m planning on using either map gas, or hydrogen + oxygen as the heat source. That should be sufficient right?
@@Olisha.Sahahha! growing crystals is a very complex thing, there are various processes and lots of machines have been made, that cost up to quarter of a million bucks. You can't just expect heating alumina and magically for it to convert to sapphire, the atoms must be excited and then cooled to find the lowest energy spot between them, this process requires very fine temperature control and engineering, otherwise you will just wast energy and lose money. Check out how the grow sapphire cylinders for smartphones.
First of all yer a God Damn CHEMIST my friend and second,FINALLY someone wearing proper aluminized safety protection! I used to run a 2 million pound a year aluminum smelter and the number of people on TH-cam running around in tshirts melting metal with zero safety gear on just blows my mind! Great video!
My idea why they dont use proper safety is that the metal doesnt glow red hot. People are generally afraid of red hot metals but not metals that look molten similar to when solid.
Most of what this Gentleman has revealed would in fact be proprietary knowledge / Trade secret of firms. Amazed at his out of the box thinking ! No words for his Genius ! Thank You Sir & My Respect !
This video was mad 8 years ago, has anyone tried it and please post links to any videos with improvements. Thank you good sir you will go down in history as one of the best backyard engineers. Always wondered how crucibles were made.
Thanks so much for posting this. I have wanted to build my own crucible for a while now and after seeing all the hard work you put into that beautiful crucible, I think I'll just buy one. Again thanks for posting.
brother you looked a little shaky at first, but you are the safest and one of the smartest casters on youtube period. i think your work is excellent, that same starbide crucible would cost 200 plus bucks..a spectacular job, i am very impressed, and i'm not easily impressed kudos
Its all new to me the method you are using and there may be strong reasons why you do. However i come from a ceramics background where we were slip casting. That is getting all dry clay ingredients adding to barrel of water making thick slip clay, adding deflockulent.which makes it appear thinner, more wattery. Then we added slip to dry/ semi dry plaster of paris molds. The benefit is there is definitely a higher success rate/ failures due to cracking. Dont know of this helps but just what i know
I noticed when you were hand-mixing that you started kneading the stiff clay immediately after wetting it. When I want to "thin down" stiff clays a bit, I prefer to add the clay & a bit of water to an airtight container, then forget about it for a few days. Letting the water work its way into the clay on its own is far easier, and makes for a much less slimy experience, IMO.
I don't think I can properly express how valuable your video is, Sir. I have to try it on my own! From what I see, a meat grinder should come in handy for homogenizing the mix. If you ever test it, please post what the results are. Many thanks for your work, Sir! You're doing us a great favor!
Sorry I have been away so long. So many things happen in life which make filming TH-cam videos seen trivial. I did make an experimental crucible but lost video and formula. Had the crucible professionally fired but owner of shop was so leery of it she fired up the whole kiln with just my crucible ... nothing else. Well in its raw unfired state it does like its made of gunpowder. Let me dig around a bit ... maybe i can retrieve it from old drive. Love you guys and gals. bob
Glad to hear you are alive and kicking. I get the thing about things happening in life- death in the immediate family, new job, house burnt down in the forest fires, global pandemic… been there, done that, got the t-shirt. Anyway, life does go on. I’m sure many people here would like to see your new formula. I’ll admit, I’m leery of putting glass (even powdered borosilicate) in my mix as I mainly melt cast iron and my experience with glass is that if any silica sand gets into the furnace it tends to melt into glass, making a sticky mess that can sometimes get between my plinth and crucible. Over the years, I’ve been through a few $$$grand’s worth of Morgan super salamanders and I’m getting tired of it. Asbury graphite isn’t too far from my shop and I can get bagged fireclay and grog locally too. I bought the Vince Gingery book on making crucibles many years ago as a curiosity and his formula, for a 3 pound mix (page 23) is “Hawthorne bond 35 fire clay, 38% or 18 ounces. (Or other fire clay may be substituted.)”, “Potash Feldspar 2%, or 3/4 ounce.”, “Brick grog 20 mesh 60% or 29 ounces.” He doesn’t say anything there about the graphite, but on page 21 he says “The graphite content of such crucibles is normally in the range of 30-40% or the total weight of the crucible”, so it could probably be scaled into the clay/grog mixture. He also says on page 7 “Typically a good clay was mixed with 20 to 40 percent of its weight of graphite” Those numbers seem pretty in line with yours. He mentions that of the amorphous and foliated/crystalline, the crystalline is the type used for crucibles and lubricants and the amorphous form is used for lead pencils, foundry facings, electric brush carbons, and paint pigments. I will probably give Asbury a call and see if one of their application specialists can recommend a particular product. I get the feeling from their website and elsewhere that they carry 50 or 60 different graphite products, varying in mesh, crystalline versus amorphous, and intended use. I got a 20 pound bag of powdered graphite from Budget Casting Supply years ago when they were still selling it (they’ve been ramping the business down for the last year or two, selling off inventory), but I don’t know what the intended purpose was. I’m using it as a mold wash for my gray iron castings to help it not melt and stick to the sand, which is a pain to clean. I don’t assume that just because it’s powdered graphite that it’s appropriate for crucible use. Anyway, thanks for the video. Glad you’re back! Definitely please share your recent formula (with the obligatory disclaimers, if need be, though most of these jokers commenting are just arm chair warriors and won’t actually make a thing in their lives anyway). I’ll be doing some experimenting, but it feels like a waste of time to reinvent the wheel or duplicate effort that’s already been done by others before us. Thanks again.
Happy New Year bud...... You are the man! I am so happy to see the dedication hard work and pride you have for your craft! I am a novice but learning and taking things slowly.... I was wanting to make my own crucibles just like yours so I am so happy to see it can be done! Cheers!
I'm looking to make a crucible to melt more-or-less pure quartz (silica). It melts around 1700°C. A pure graphite crucible melts around 3600°C so I think that'd work. But...do you have any idea if your graphite crucible mix could work up to around 1900° (I'd like a little temperature buffer to work with since I might have to run at 1800°C or so). I suspect since glass is a component in your mix it will cause your crucible to fail when the borosilicate melts, which is apparently 1648°C...although sometimes mixes have surprisingly different properties so maybe it could withstand higher temps? Have you ever tested it?
Hi, glad to see someone else uses the wife's oven to make furnace parts. I also know what I can do with the 15 to 20 pounds of graphite powder I end up with after making molds every month. Great video, I'll give it a try but on a smaller scale.... Nice job
ive found if you roll out your clay real thin, sun dry it and then crush and powder it. you can mix all the dry ingredients like a cake then add just enough water to make a air free mold. pack it and is way less work to get a extremely even blend
altazink Good idea. Still it would be better to use some type of motorized device to crush it. Maybe a large steel roller filled with lead on a motorized turntable. That could also be used to crush the glass from scrap Pyrex but be sure to make a cover for it. Glass as you know pops many feet when it breaks.
2nd the ball mill. It also seems extremely helpful for mixing green sand. I found an old steel hollow ball. I believe it was a tank float? Figured full of lead it should weigh 30 pounds or so. Should be plenty of weight to press the ingredients together. Far as i know anyway.
He was using a hydraulic jack to compress the rings with the collared steel tube he showed you in the beginning. @rlbob1, did you score the ring segments before setting them in the mold?
He didnt show how the mold goes together, or how it is oriented in the press. It's not clear or detailed how he packed the clay nor did it show what keeps the clay from just pushing out the bottom. How did he end up with a solid bottom if he is using a hollow ram with a flange? No information on that. How thick is the walls and bottom? Not a clue. At 10:24 you mostly see his back not a clue what he is doing there. At 10:34 he ducks down so who knows what he is doing there. All the camera shows is the same large tube with a hex flange. Whats the large tube with the hex flange for? Between 10:24 and 11:21 he shows nothing of what he is doing. Between the beginning up to 7:40 its a great video. Between 7:40 and 11:21 not so much. After 11:21 he shows what is going on again. Like most things in life you never get the full story from one source.
Unfortunately the solid steel tubes did not allow much for camera angles so I had to rely on the storyboard in the beginning. Still I think I can answer most of your questions. The large tube with the hex flange is bolted to two 2*4's which straddle the concrete blocks and firmly hold the smaller tube and the core base in place. The large washer on the core base fits snugly against the end of the flared portion of the small tube and keeps the clay from pushing out the bottom. It also centers the core and forms a nice flair for the crucible top You recall the hollow ram also has a solid end as well as the washer end. After building the clay to the top of the core you flip it to the solid end and add another inch of clay for the solid bottom. The solid end is also used to force the crucible out of the mold after unbolting a board holding the core base in place. Just remembering it is being formed upside down with the flanged top facing down and the solid bottom up and that will help visualization.
This was a very well presented diy. I noticed you don't reply to most questions. But here goes Can that mixture be used for molds? Would having the clay in powder form be a good idea? And a question I see asked is will this work to melt steel?? Thank you for your time and effort in sharing this video. It's the only one I have seen for making clay crucible. Thanks again and have a great day kind sir!!!
From everything I've read trying to find a source for a crucible w/ which to remelt some steel, any graphite crucible will just leach carbon into your steel and you'll end up w/ cast iron & a (severely?) compromised crucible. Any attempt to melt iron or steel has to deal with a couple of issues: protecting the melt from oxygen in the air [since the kindling temp of steel is below the melting point] (which is apparently normally accomplished by a layer of molten glass on top of the melt) and a bottom-pour capability (because the protective glass layer would form inclusions & other flaws if you tried pouring from the top.) I figure one of the small inductive furnaces sold for Al, Cu, Ag, Au melting would be fine, if one used a bell jar approach to evacuate most of the atmosphere & then introduced argon [widely & cheaply available from welding supplies;] the minimal surface exposure from the deep, small diameter crucibles those units require would enable one to pour a casting w/o compromising the batch, but nobody seems to offer a suitable crucible, just the graphite variety. Probably because of liability concerns... pesky injury lawyers! 🙄
Some of you have not seen D he touches blocks of just set blocks of aluminum with almost bare hands it nuts how you people endanger your lives. Thank you Loader.
While it’s been over seven years ago and prices changed and product availability may have gotten more complicated (or not), I’m curious as to what it cost to make and about what volume does this one shown hold. My small-ish (A5?) was about $35 if I remember correctly (I probably don’t).
Very nice job. Don't feel like it was too long. I would liken it to watching Julia Childs. Where most cooking shows give you a whiz-bang kind of presentation, hers really walked you through step-by-step. Incidentally, in some recent research I did find someone mentioning to glaze the crucible with silicon carbide powder. I cannot really comment on its effectiveness, because I haven't tried it yet.
The crucible can be enhanced with a sacrificial coating, painting on a well mixed slurry of plaster sodium-silicate and graphite every few times you use it. Just to give them a longer service life, since it does take a bit of time and money to make them.
I am a bit familiar with ceramic slurry casting. as that is for dishes, cups, and decorative items I know that such clay would be a poor idea for a crucible. that's not what I was thinking though. for those who aren't familiar with it, its simply pouring liquefied clay into a mould and keeping it full for a certain amount of time. that is where my question comes in: can you add enough water to make the graphite clay into a thick slurry and cast it in much the same way with at least a reasonable success rate?
I'm a amateur mechanic. I really like the foundry work, melting metal. I have a lot of car parts anything from aluminum heads, to steel leaf springs. I figured instead off tossing them why not melt them into other things. Use the old things to make New things. Aluminum heads no problem melting. 1095 steel coils very different animal. I figured if I can melt steel then everything else would be easier. Thanks cont.
At the time sold on Ebay as used Military surplus. Called a proximity suit used by Navy aboard ships. Probably all gone now. Pants and coat were cheaper than jeans at the mall.
Way to go on proper safety. YOU ARE NOT OVERDOING IT, new people take it from people with scars! May look funny, but you will really look funny not if BUT WHEN it happens. I hate burns the only thing that stops a burn is a old trick I learned from a moonshiner. Nothin like wanting to keep putting you hand in cold water and taking it out every few minutes never stops. Run it under hot as you can stand water from the tap for a couple minutes after that no sting. I think the ol hippy looks pretty cool in the suit lol, great find in eBay, I will have to look. You put a lot of work and thinking into your design and form. Your a pretty fart smeller! Keep butt the great work!
Is there any particular grit size you are using for the silicon carbide? I have some 150 grit and some 1200 grit any benefits to one grit over another?
Hi Bob, so 2 things I'm curious about. 1- you spoke of a new formula you had a few years ago. Has that worked better for you and would you care to share? 2- with these crucibles, once you do the slow process of bringing things up to temp for your first pour; do successive pours have to be slow as well? In other words my crucible is setting around for 2 weeks. Do I need to heat it up really slowly when I decide to do some casting or can I just ramp up my foundry furnace on waste oil like I normally do with a steel crucible?
thanks for your video,yesterday i made research on the net and found out about lost foam casting and slury for better surface."The prepared foam patterns were then dipped for 60 sec. into a slurry made of a mixture of Zircon flour and colloidal silicate".You can find out some more if you Google article;Process Control of Lost Foam Casting using Slurry Viscosity and Dipping Time
we have graphite heater elements for vacuum furnace,Contact Number/Wechat:+86-15617656935 Skype/Whatsapp:0086-15838243056 Email :elko@graphitemanufacturer.com Website :www.graphitemanufacturer.com
Okay bob, I've done a lot of looking around for the least expensive source of graphite and I've been eyeballing a product called Seed SLIK lubricant. It's a dry powder and can be had for quite a bit cheaper per pound than the Dixon brand amorphous powder. I'm only a hobbyist with this stuff right now, so expense is a huge deal for me. It's in powdered form and the MSDS shows only graphite and silica in the contents. Do you see any reason why this wouldn't work? Also, I plan to build myself a throwing wheel and make a jigger/jolly arm for it to make my crucibles because it seems like it would be quicker and easier. It's a sort of machining process with wet clay that uses a profiled tool to maintain consistent shape for mass production of many identical pieces. I like the idea (as opposed to by hand) specifically because I can get a consistent thickness crucible without the need for a press like you have here.
No it's way way to fine. Google "Dixon Flake Graphite." Try to find large flake and if not settle on medium. You will find plenty of sources. Be advised one carrier has it listed as hazardous so don't use them. UPS I think. Post office and the other carrier does not. Also I recommend backing off 1 LB from the formula. You will still get good thermal quality but make it a lot easier to work with. I think you should try clay at first getting your setup right then move to the more expensive graphite.
Anything around 150 up will work. Truth is I have an advanced formula substituting water with a colloidal silica mix but the darn stuff is so Hydroscopic no one could do it successfully unless they followed my instructions to the letter. First one blew up on me in my wife's oven. Flaw was I thought after drying it out in the oven I had passed the boiling point of water and went for the ramp. Later a mercury lab thermometer proved the oven about 15 degrees off. I just do not want to post a video unless I know for a fact it works and have repeated it many times.
One tip on clay: it resists water absorption if it already has any water in it, so you could pre-weigh it for your formula, then let it dry completely out. Completely dry clay absorbs water very readily and it's easy to make into a paste. By the way, what kind of metal are these crucibles for?
Hey Bob, Your videos are very professional and I am learning much from you. I am having trouble locating borosilicate glass. Will you name a supplier or two? Also, which grit of silicon carbide is best? Thank you, Kenn
This gave me some ideas on what I need to do, I want to make a crucible that will accommodate the irregular shape of my furnace and not waste any space but concerned about the heat flow as well. I don't want to break down its efficiency so any suggestions would be appreciated as for the fire chamber coverage
been thinking about having a reasonably tall kiln and cruisible combo where i can put in a complete cilinderhead (unbroken with valves springs everything still in it ) i seen it done once but the guy used a verry large burner putting the flame staight in the opening against the aluminium inside a steel barrel layed down at an angle with the catchcan under a hole in the lowest point , verry crude and wastefull in the amount of energy used to melt it but it worked the dross basicly stuck to the barrels wall on the way down while the pure aluminium dropped further and out the hole like to try it with the kiln vertical and the burner as is normally placed and have a hole in the bottom of the cruisible sitting on a hole in the bottom of the kiln , the kiln sits higher off the ground then usual and the mould is placed under it (want to make clean aluminium ingots that can be remelted and cast the normal way ) my thought is basicly to not spend a lot of time pouring or even take out and handling a red hot crusible , taking out dross and all that but just have the aluminium leak out the bottom at the same speed as it melts off the head and keep adding scrap through a hole in the top and having moulten aluminium pour out the bottom any idea how to get the dross to seperate while the aluminium drops out ? will it stay in the crusible or block the pourhole ? if the dross comes with the aluminium leaking out i was thinking on a small gutter from the leakpoint down to the mould for the dross to stick to , but it might be too cold and have the aluminium solidfy before it enters the mould or just make a bigger mess of things
Dude awesome AWESOME video. Thank you so much for the exact recipe to make my own. I know it could get spendy buying them. Glad you taught us how to save money. I do assume we can save clay for later if we do want to make smaller ones?? or should i just cut the recipe in half?? just lil curious because i dont want to use a large one all the time.. Once again GREAT job on the video. Makes it easy for some ppl like me to follow along.
I’m the type of person who would like to make things rather than buy them. Anyone can buy stuff. There is a greater sense of pride and ownership when you make it. Even though I’ll probably never do this, I at least now have an idea that it’s possible. Maybe some day.
I noticed that you had some issues mixing the clay with the dry ingredients. I have some experience mixing color powders into clay, check out videos describing clay 'wedging' techniques. Through wedging, you can gradually add a powder like graphite to clay to see exactly how much can be added before the clay is not stable.
@rlbob1 absolutely genius of our time, I do have a question, what would be the cons of have a stainless steel reinforcement in the mixture, similar to the technique of reinforcing concrete, seeing as stainless steel melts at a temperature far greater than what a home foundry could ever produce?
I love that fricking suit dude.. .can I rent it for Halloween? lol Great video... I am going to use some of your procedures, and tweek others to fit my taste. :)
+Intel Elite ★ feel free to heat it slowly for an hour or so at a few hundred degrees. in all honesty though, i don't believe it's necessary to do so, but if you're worried, then why not?
+Intel Elite ★ feel free to heat it slowly for an hour or so at a few hundred degrees. in all honesty though, i don't believe it's necessary to do so, but if you're worried, then why not?
Make sure it is dry, perhaps even dry it in in an oven before use. Most important is storage. Keep in in a dry place well heated in your house. If an accidental rain occurs be prepared to throw something over the entire foundry but always be prepared to empty it vs letting the metal cool. Never ever let molten metal solidify in a crucible
Kenneth Finger Silicon carbide look under abrasives usually available on eBay. Borasilicate glass is sold as glass frit. Look for the clear borasilicate variety. I obtained mine from crushing pyrex labware and filtering it. Hope this helps.
Everyone is a genius , but if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree it will believe it’s whole life believing that it’s stupid “ Einstein. This guy knows his stuff
Thanks Guys. You have been great over the years. You have enough knowledge now to move on and come up with your own innovations. Mean while i am going after life long dreams. Love you guys
Thanks for sharing this information. Is pure gold. This formula is enough for cast iron? Sorry for my English.
@@adrianmucci4860 Graphite is mainly for non ferrous casting. You would be better off making a lot of disposable clay crucibles for iron or steel. Dry them in in the oven then fire them in the foundry. Make sure you have driven all the water out before ramping the heat up. Boiling Point of water at your altitude is critical point in the oven. My oven was 20F lower and i blew one up once i started ramping the temp. use high temp probe or thermometer.
@@rlbob1would this be sufficient to cast aluminum oxide (Al O3)? I want to make an ingot of corundum / ruby / sapphire. Honesty I was thinking of putting down a sheet of corundum and adding the chromium and other dopants to “paint” a design on it, hopefully getting the temperature just right for it to fuse and turn into ruby and sapphire without losing to much definition. I’m planning on using either map gas, or hydrogen + oxygen as the heat source. That should be sufficient right?
@@Olisha.Sahahha! growing crystals is a very complex thing, there are various processes and lots of machines have been made, that cost up to quarter of a million bucks. You can't just expect heating alumina and magically for it to convert to sapphire, the atoms must be excited and then cooled to find the lowest energy spot between them, this process requires very fine temperature control and engineering, otherwise you will just wast energy and lose money. Check out how the grow sapphire cylinders for smartphones.
❤whoever smelts the gold; makes the rules 😅😂🎉
Superb video from a humble engineer - "please send me your improvements, I'd like to try them out". People like this are gold-dust.
they're the whole nugget bro
First of all yer a God Damn CHEMIST my friend and second,FINALLY someone wearing proper aluminized safety protection! I used to run a 2 million pound a year aluminum smelter and the number of people on TH-cam running around in tshirts melting metal with zero safety gear on just blows my mind!
Great video!
CdnCarWrapper or barefoot. Dumbasses
I think the main reason people don't use this kind of gear is because they don't know where to get it from and if they do don't have the money
My idea why they dont use proper safety is that the metal doesnt glow red hot. People are generally afraid of red hot metals but not metals that look molten similar to when solid.
I only smelt in my crocs... 👷🏽
Exactly. When we were kids we played with melting lead and nobody thought it was a safety hazard. I had the pot almost explode several times.
Most of what this Gentleman has revealed would in fact be proprietary knowledge / Trade secret of firms. Amazed at his out of the box thinking ! No words for his Genius ! Thank You Sir & My Respect !
A visible demonstration of one determined guy,I salute you.
I thank you for educating me and taking away years of frustration from my life.
I love your 3-section furnace. That makes crucible removal so much easier than what other people do.
This video was mad 8 years ago, has anyone tried it and please post links to any videos with improvements. Thank you good sir you will go down in history as one of the best backyard engineers. Always wondered how crucibles were made.
Absolutely incredible, sheer talent and professional workmanship, straight to the point, down to earth and easy to understand.
Thanks so much for posting this. I have wanted to build my own crucible for a while now and after seeing all the hard work you put into that beautiful crucible, I think I'll just buy one. Again thanks for posting.
brother you looked a little shaky at first, but you are the safest and one of the smartest casters on youtube period. i think your work is excellent, that same starbide crucible would cost 200 plus bucks..a spectacular job, i am very impressed, and i'm not easily impressed
kudos
God bless you sir, and the internet.
Its all new to me the method you are using and there may be strong reasons why you do. However i come from a ceramics background where we were slip casting. That is getting all dry clay ingredients adding to barrel of water making thick slip clay, adding deflockulent.which makes it appear thinner, more wattery. Then we added slip to dry/ semi dry plaster of paris molds. The benefit is there is definitely a higher success rate/ failures due to cracking. Dont know of this helps but just what i know
You sir are a true artist.
I noticed when you were hand-mixing that you started kneading the stiff clay immediately after wetting it. When I want to "thin down" stiff clays a bit, I prefer to add the clay & a bit of water to an airtight container, then forget about it for a few days. Letting the water work its way into the clay on its own is far easier, and makes for a much less slimy experience, IMO.
Thank you sir it is the best instruction I have seen on TH-cam for this method
I don't think I can properly express how valuable your video is, Sir. I have to try it on my own! From what I see, a meat grinder should come in handy for homogenizing the mix. If you ever test it, please post what the results are. Many thanks for your work, Sir! You're doing us a great favor!
Sorry I have been away so long. So many things happen in life which make filming TH-cam videos seen trivial. I did make an experimental crucible but lost video and formula. Had the crucible professionally fired but owner of shop was so leery of it she fired up the whole kiln with just my crucible ... nothing else. Well in its raw unfired state it does like its made of gunpowder. Let me dig around a bit ... maybe i can retrieve it from old drive. Love you guys and gals.
bob
Glad to hear you are alive and kicking. I get the thing about things happening in life- death in the immediate family, new job, house burnt down in the forest fires, global pandemic… been there, done that, got the t-shirt.
Anyway, life does go on. I’m sure many people here would like to see your new formula. I’ll admit, I’m leery of putting glass (even powdered borosilicate) in my mix as I mainly melt cast iron and my experience with glass is that if any silica sand gets into the furnace it tends to melt into glass, making a sticky mess that can sometimes get between my plinth and crucible. Over the years, I’ve been through a few $$$grand’s worth of Morgan super salamanders and I’m getting tired of it. Asbury graphite isn’t too far from my shop and I can get bagged fireclay and grog locally too. I bought the Vince Gingery book on making crucibles many years ago as a curiosity and his formula, for a 3 pound mix (page 23) is “Hawthorne bond 35 fire clay, 38% or 18 ounces. (Or other fire clay may be substituted.)”, “Potash Feldspar 2%, or 3/4 ounce.”, “Brick grog 20 mesh 60% or 29 ounces.” He doesn’t say anything there about the graphite, but on page 21 he says “The graphite content of such crucibles is normally in the range of 30-40% or the total weight of the crucible”, so it could probably be scaled into the clay/grog mixture. He also says on page 7 “Typically a good clay was mixed with 20 to 40 percent of its weight of graphite” Those numbers seem pretty in line with yours. He mentions that of the amorphous and foliated/crystalline, the crystalline is the type used for crucibles and lubricants and the amorphous form is used for lead pencils, foundry facings, electric brush carbons, and paint pigments. I will probably give Asbury a call and see if one of their application specialists can recommend a particular product. I get the feeling from their website and elsewhere that they carry 50 or 60 different graphite products, varying in mesh, crystalline versus amorphous, and intended use. I got a 20 pound bag of powdered graphite from Budget Casting Supply years ago when they were still selling it (they’ve been ramping the business down for the last year or two, selling off inventory), but I don’t know what the intended purpose was. I’m using it as a mold wash for my gray iron castings to help it not melt and stick to the sand, which is a pain to clean. I don’t assume that just because it’s powdered graphite that it’s appropriate for crucible use.
Anyway, thanks for the video. Glad you’re back! Definitely please share your recent formula (with the obligatory disclaimers, if need be, though most of these jokers commenting are just arm chair warriors and won’t actually make a thing in their lives anyway). I’ll be doing some experimenting, but it feels like a waste of time to reinvent the wheel or duplicate effort that’s already been done by others before us. Thanks again.
the sound of this alone is brilliant
I could listen to hours of peaceful relaxing workshop sounds
serious, love it :D
Happy New Year bud...... You are the man! I am so happy to see the dedication hard work and pride you have for your craft! I am a novice but learning and taking things slowly.... I was wanting to make my own crucibles just like yours so I am so happy to see it can be done! Cheers!
You did a fine job - respect!
The food channel has really improved.
All kidding aside this is amazing and inspirational.
thank you for the video sir, could you please put where you get your supplies from, thank you
good job you had a robot to help you at the end:)
I'm looking to make a crucible to melt more-or-less pure quartz (silica). It melts around 1700°C. A pure graphite crucible melts around 3600°C so I think that'd work. But...do you have any idea if your graphite crucible mix could work up to around 1900° (I'd like a little temperature buffer to work with since I might have to run at 1800°C or so). I suspect since glass is a component in your mix it will cause your crucible to fail when the borosilicate melts, which is apparently 1648°C...although sometimes mixes have surprisingly different properties so maybe it could withstand higher temps? Have you ever tested it?
Hi, glad to see someone else uses the wife's oven to make furnace parts. I also know what I can do with the 15 to 20 pounds of graphite powder I end up with after making molds every month.
Great video, I'll give it a try but on a smaller scale.... Nice job
Safety at all times cuts to clip of him handling molten metal on a wooden porch covered in leafs lmao love it
Ingenious method. Thanks for sharing and providing a decent and highly informative video.
is there any possible way i could order a custom one from you?
YA i would like to know as well
Me too.
me too
R2D2
Very good video. Very informative. Thank you for the detailed information you provide with the formula.
ive found if you roll out your clay real thin, sun dry it and then crush and powder it. you can mix all the dry ingredients like a cake then add just enough water to make a air free mold. pack it and is way less work to get a extremely even blend
altazink Good idea. Still it would be better to use some type of motorized device to crush it. Maybe a large steel roller filled with lead on a motorized turntable. That could also be used to crush the glass from scrap Pyrex but be sure to make a cover for it. Glass as you know pops many feet when it breaks.
+rlbob1
Ball mill.
2nd the ball mill. It also seems extremely helpful for mixing green sand. I found an old steel hollow ball. I believe it was a tank float? Figured full of lead it should weigh 30 pounds or so. Should be plenty of weight to press the ingredients together. Far as i know anyway.
The chair he is sitting in LOL
Informative video.
I wonder if you could use a hand crank meat grinder to break up the clay to make it easier to mix.
The formulas and how to mix the clay was great. What you were doing after you made the rings was very obscure.
He was using a hydraulic jack to compress the rings with the collared steel tube he showed you in the beginning.
@rlbob1, did you score the ring segments before setting them in the mold?
He didnt show how the mold goes together, or how it is oriented in the press. It's not clear or detailed how he packed the clay nor did it show what keeps the clay from just pushing out the bottom. How did he end up with a solid bottom if he is using a hollow ram with a flange? No information on that. How thick is the walls and bottom? Not a clue. At 10:24 you mostly see his back not a clue what he is doing there. At 10:34 he ducks down so who knows what he is doing there. All the camera shows is the same large tube with a hex flange. Whats the large tube with the hex flange for? Between 10:24 and 11:21 he shows nothing of what he is doing. Between the beginning up to 7:40 its a great video. Between 7:40 and 11:21 not so much. After 11:21 he shows what is going on again. Like most things in life you never get the full story from one source.
Unfortunately the solid steel tubes did not allow much for camera angles so I had to rely on the storyboard in the beginning. Still I think I can answer most of your questions. The large tube with the hex flange is bolted to two 2*4's which straddle the concrete blocks and firmly hold the smaller tube and the core base in place. The large washer on the core base fits snugly against the end of the flared portion of the small tube and keeps the clay from pushing out the bottom. It also centers the core and forms a nice flair for the crucible top You recall the hollow ram also has a solid end as well as the washer end. After building the clay to the top of the core you flip it to the solid end and add another inch of clay for the solid bottom. The solid end is also used to force the crucible out of the mold after unbolting a board holding the core base in place. Just remembering it is being formed upside down with the flanged top facing down and the solid bottom up and that will help visualization.
did you find that your formulas is ok or did you come up with a better one .
This was a very well presented diy.
I noticed you don't reply to most questions. But here goes
Can that mixture be used for molds?
Would having the clay in powder form be a good idea?
And a question I see asked is will this work to melt steel??
Thank you for your time and effort in sharing this video. It's the only one I have seen for making clay crucible. Thanks again and have a great day kind sir!!!
From everything I've read trying to find a source for a crucible w/ which to remelt some steel, any graphite crucible will just leach carbon into your steel and you'll end up w/ cast iron & a (severely?) compromised crucible. Any attempt to melt iron or steel has to deal with a couple of issues: protecting the melt from oxygen in the air [since the kindling temp of steel is below the melting point] (which is apparently normally accomplished by a layer of molten glass on top of the melt) and a bottom-pour capability (because the protective glass layer would form inclusions & other flaws if you tried pouring from the top.) I figure one of the small inductive furnaces sold for Al, Cu, Ag, Au melting would be fine, if one used a bell jar approach to evacuate most of the atmosphere & then introduced argon [widely & cheaply available from welding supplies;] the minimal surface exposure from the deep, small diameter crucibles those units require would enable one to pour a casting w/o compromising the batch, but nobody seems to offer a suitable crucible, just the graphite variety. Probably because of liability concerns... pesky injury lawyers! 🙄
Some of you have not seen D he touches blocks of just set blocks of aluminum with almost bare hands it nuts how you people endanger your lives. Thank you Loader.
Definitely coming back to this to craft my own crucible!
has anyone tried to make the clay mix into a thick slurry and cast a crucible that way yet?
that is a nice beard i give this video a 10/10
I'm been looking forever on how to make graphite!
While it’s been over seven years ago and prices changed and product availability may have gotten more complicated (or not), I’m curious as to what it cost to make and about what volume does this one shown hold. My small-ish (A5?) was about $35 if I remember correctly (I probably don’t).
Hi, do you have a list of the material sources ? Where would you purchase the material. Please be specific. Thanks John
I would also definitely purchase one if you sold them. Great video!
Please let me know if I can purchase one from you.
You're the kind of guy that have rituals for every thing , from eating breakfast to taking a dump . Wake up , .... dont keep me posted
Fantastic safety measures with the fire suit!
Very nice job. Don't feel like it was too long. I would liken it to watching Julia Childs. Where most cooking shows give you a whiz-bang kind of presentation, hers really walked you through step-by-step.
Incidentally, in some recent research I did find someone mentioning to glaze the crucible with silicon carbide powder. I cannot really comment on its effectiveness, because I haven't tried it yet.
What do you figure cost and all materials to make (just crucible) and what size is it in holding volume you would say?
The crucible can be enhanced with a sacrificial coating, painting on a well mixed slurry of plaster sodium-silicate and graphite every few times you use it. Just to give them a longer service life, since it does take a bit of time and money to make them.
Ah thank you for making this i always wanted to make my own graphite crucible
brilliant work dood! im currently into induction melting and making graphite crucibles is of huge interest. cheers fella
Well thought through and presented and a rather unique subject. All thumbs up!
His neighbors must call him "moon man"
I am a bit familiar with ceramic slurry casting. as that is for dishes, cups, and decorative items I know that such clay would be a poor idea for a crucible. that's not what I was thinking though. for those who aren't familiar with it, its simply pouring liquefied clay into a mould and keeping it full for a certain amount of time. that is where my question comes in: can you add enough water to make the graphite clay into a thick slurry and cast it in much the same way with at least a reasonable success rate?
I was going to ask the same question. Did you ever figure out the answer?
+Jacob Lanctot not at this time. not in a situation where I would be able to try it myself.
thank you sir, i will pass on what you have shown me to my students
awesome video. great crucible. I want one as big as this. one question though, how expensive was this to make?
has anyone made one of these crucibles? if so what metals have you melted?
I'm a amateur mechanic. I really like the foundry work, melting metal. I have a lot of car parts anything from aluminum heads, to steel leaf springs. I figured instead off tossing them why not melt them into other things. Use the old things to make New things. Aluminum heads no problem melting. 1095 steel coils very different animal. I figured if I can melt steel then everything else would be easier. Thanks cont.
I like your ingenuity. I don't feel alone. Essayons
NICE!! Where can I get myself one of those cool spaceman suits?? Thanks
At the time sold on Ebay as used Military surplus. Called a proximity suit used by Navy aboard ships. Probably all gone now. Pants and coat were cheaper than jeans at the mall.
Nope they still use them
Way to go on proper safety. YOU ARE NOT OVERDOING IT, new people take it from people with scars! May look funny, but you will really look funny not if BUT WHEN it happens. I hate burns the only thing that stops a burn is a old trick I learned from a moonshiner. Nothin like wanting to keep putting you hand in cold water and taking it out every few minutes never stops. Run it under hot as you can stand water from the tap for a couple minutes after that no sting. I think the ol hippy looks pretty cool in the suit lol, great find in eBay, I will have to look. You put a lot of work and thinking into your design and form. Your a pretty fart smeller! Keep butt the great work!
Nice press! This shape add Fe shavings to grapheme recipe and wrap w shielded copper wire and you'll have an awesome magnet!
Is there any particular grit size you are using for the silicon carbide? I have some 150 grit and some 1200 grit any benefits to one grit over another?
Hi Bob, so 2 things I'm curious about. 1- you spoke of a new formula you had a few years ago. Has that worked better for you and would you care to share? 2- with these crucibles, once you do the slow process of bringing things up to temp for your first pour; do successive pours have to be slow as well? In other words my crucible is setting around for 2 weeks. Do I need to heat it up really slowly when I decide to do some casting or can I just ramp up my foundry furnace on waste oil like I normally do with a steel crucible?
This is great! Very informative and nicely done.
thanks for your video,yesterday i made research on the net and found out about lost foam casting and slury for better surface."The prepared foam patterns were then dipped for 60 sec. into a slurry made of a mixture of Zircon flour and colloidal silicate".You can find out some more if you Google article;Process Control of Lost Foam Casting using Slurry Viscosity and Dipping Time
What type of metal are you pouring at the end of the video?
wow, your pretty smart. I didn't think it would work. Thanx for help.
Respect on your work sir
What is the temperature needed to dry and cook a graphite crucible?
I was think of trying to build one but maybe you would sell one do you sell any furnaces?
Don
aka=fatbeeman
we have graphite heater elements for vacuum furnace,Contact Number/Wechat:+86-15617656935 Skype/Whatsapp:0086-15838243056 Email :elko@graphitemanufacturer.com Website :www.graphitemanufacturer.com
Okay bob, I've done a lot of looking around for the least expensive source of graphite and I've been eyeballing a product called Seed SLIK lubricant. It's a dry powder and can be had for quite a bit cheaper per pound than the Dixon brand amorphous powder. I'm only a hobbyist with this stuff right now, so expense is a huge deal for me. It's in powdered form and the MSDS shows only graphite and silica in the contents. Do you see any reason why this wouldn't work?
Also, I plan to build myself a throwing wheel and make a jigger/jolly arm for it to make my crucibles because it seems like it would be quicker and easier. It's a sort of machining process with wet clay that uses a profiled tool to maintain consistent shape for mass production of many identical pieces. I like the idea (as opposed to by hand) specifically because I can get a consistent thickness crucible without the need for a press like you have here.
No it's way way to fine. Google "Dixon Flake Graphite." Try to find large flake and if not settle on medium. You will find plenty of sources. Be advised one carrier has it listed as hazardous so don't use them. UPS I think. Post office and the other carrier does not. Also I recommend backing off 1 LB from the formula. You will still get good thermal quality but make it a lot easier to work with. I think you should try clay at first getting your setup right then move to the more expensive graphite.
Anything around 150 up will work. Truth is I have an advanced formula substituting water with a colloidal silica mix but the darn stuff is so Hydroscopic no one could do it successfully unless they followed my instructions to the letter. First one blew up on me in my wife's oven. Flaw was I thought after drying it out in the oven I had passed the boiling point of water and went for the ramp. Later a mercury lab thermometer proved the oven about 15 degrees off. I just do not want to post a video unless I know for a fact it works and have repeated it many times.
rlbob1 use a kiln, crucibles will last many times longer.
Crucibles that you can buy have a kind of glaze finish, what would this be?
One tip on clay: it resists water absorption if it already has any water in it, so you could pre-weigh it for your formula, then let it dry completely out. Completely dry clay absorbs water very readily and it's easy to make into a paste. By the way, what kind of metal are these crucibles for?
finished product looking good.
Really nice looking crucible.
Hey Bob, Your videos are very professional and I am learning much from you. I am having trouble locating borosilicate glass. Will you name a supplier or two? Also, which grit of silicon carbide is best? Thank you, Kenn
تشکر سوالی دارم😘👏
Where are you getting the borasilicate glass?
Very informative. A mixer with a worm gear drive would enhance your daily production.
is it just me or is this guy the Walter White of clay?
This gave me some ideas on what I need to do, I want to make a crucible that will accommodate the irregular shape of my furnace and not waste any space but concerned about the heat flow as well. I don't want to break down its efficiency so any suggestions would be appreciated as for the fire chamber coverage
been thinking about having a reasonably tall kiln and cruisible combo where i can put in a complete cilinderhead (unbroken with valves springs everything still in it )
i seen it done once but the guy used a verry large burner putting the flame staight in the opening against the aluminium inside a steel barrel layed down at an angle with the catchcan under a hole in the lowest point , verry crude and wastefull in the amount of energy used to melt it but it worked
the dross basicly stuck to the barrels wall on the way down while the pure aluminium dropped further and out the hole
like to try it with the kiln vertical and the burner as is normally placed and have a hole in the bottom of the cruisible sitting on a hole in the bottom of the kiln , the kiln sits higher off the ground then usual and the mould is placed under it (want to make clean aluminium ingots that can be remelted and cast the normal way )
my thought is basicly to not spend a lot of time pouring or even take out and handling a red hot crusible , taking out dross and all that but just have the aluminium leak out the bottom at the same speed as it melts off the head
and keep adding scrap through a hole in the top and having moulten aluminium pour out the bottom
any idea how to get the dross to seperate while the aluminium drops out ?
will it stay in the crusible or block the pourhole ?
if the dross comes with the aluminium leaking out i was thinking on a small gutter from the leakpoint down to the mould for the dross to stick to , but it might be too cold and have the aluminium solidfy before it enters the mould or just make a bigger mess of things
Dude awesome AWESOME video. Thank you so much for the exact recipe to make my own. I know it could get spendy buying them. Glad you taught us how to save money. I do assume we can save clay for later if we do want to make smaller ones?? or should i just cut the recipe in half?? just lil curious because i dont want to use a large one all the time.. Once again GREAT job on the video. Makes it easy for some ppl like me to follow along.
would you like to share composition of different ingredients you used to make graphite crucible
Good job ! but I think it should be sintered at high temperature to converting the silica from alpha form to beta form.
I’m the type of person who would like to make things rather than buy them. Anyone can buy stuff. There is a greater sense of pride and ownership when you make it. Even though I’ll probably never do this, I at least now have an idea that it’s possible. Maybe some day.
Thank you for sharing it! Great work!
what are you trying to make? rubys? diamonds?
I noticed that you had some issues mixing the clay with the dry ingredients. I have some experience mixing color powders into clay, check out videos describing clay 'wedging' techniques. Through wedging, you can gradually add a powder like graphite to clay to see exactly how much can be added before the clay is not stable.
@rlbob1 absolutely genius of our time, I do have a question, what would be the cons of have a stainless steel reinforcement in the mixture, similar to the technique of reinforcing concrete, seeing as stainless steel melts at a temperature far greater than what a home foundry could ever produce?
I love that fricking suit dude.. .can I rent it for Halloween? lol Great video... I am going to use some of your procedures, and tweek others to fit my taste. :)
Thank you for sharing this, knowledge is power.
I recently purchased a Clay Graphite crucible off of Amazon. What do I have to do before I use it?
I am going to be using a mini foundry to melt just Aluminum
+Intel Elite ★ feel free to heat it slowly for an hour or so at a few hundred degrees. in all honesty though, i don't believe it's necessary to do so, but if you're worried, then why not?
+Intel Elite ★ feel free to heat it slowly for an hour or so at a few hundred degrees. in all honesty though, i don't believe it's necessary to do so, but if you're worried, then why not?
please heat slowly and let it cool down on its own!! it could crack if you don't!
Make sure it is dry, perhaps even dry it in in an oven before use. Most important is storage. Keep in in a dry place well heated in your house. If an accidental rain occurs be prepared to throw something over the entire foundry but always be prepared to empty it vs letting the metal cool. Never ever let molten metal solidify in a crucible
I make mole with clay cat litter and lastly talcum powder! Yes, baby
powder! It has fireproof properties and asbestos fiber! Very fireproof!
Beautiful piece of work!
Looks really good! About how many times do you figure it can be used before breaking apart?
what does the borosilicate glass do in the mixture?
p.s. glass powder is extremely dangerous to you lungs so always use proper safety precautions
Nice I want to make clay graphite can u send me the detail to my mail : hariharan.arul@yahoo.com
Great video thank for the information!! Where did you get the borasilicate glass and silicon carbide powder though?
Kenneth Finger Yeah I had the same question about that one. More just the borosilicate glass. Would garnet granules be a suitable substitute?
Kenneth Finger Silicon carbide look under abrasives usually available on eBay. Borasilicate glass is sold as glass frit. Look for the clear borasilicate variety. I obtained mine from crushing pyrex labware and filtering it. Hope this helps.
thanks for the information, I would really appreciate if I see a video of the new formula
Everyone is a genius , but if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree it will believe it’s whole life believing that it’s stupid “ Einstein. This guy knows his stuff