How to Make Silicon Bronze: Beyond Tin and Copper.
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 ม.ค. 2024
- In this video I break the apparent myth that silicon bronze does not exist, so I take you through the steps to actually make it. This is DIY silicon bronze so if you are a professional feel free to add your input.
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I had no idea there were so many types of bronze. Great educational video! It's even more impressive when we know you actually make art out of it the metal instead of just ingots😁
Thanks for making this video, I hadn't reaised that disolving silicon in molten copper was quite so quick and easily achievable!
Mad props for using a clip from that brilliant SNL George Washington sketch 😂
best tutorial i've ever seen
Awesome video, I have made all sorts of bronze in the past ,but silicon bronze is by far the best and that's basically all I use these days. I buy my ingots from a supplier as it's getting increasingly harder to buy silicon metal.
Great video. Si bronze is my Choice for casting also...and always in Kilograms, just so much easier!
Imperial equation. 6 percent of 10 pounds...10 X 16 X 6 = 9.6 oz.
I split the zinc and copper alloy in half to make the 7.25 alloy and mixed it 5 times as it didn't want to mix all that well. It made the mix into file eaters. 2 or 3 sets killed new Nicholson files. I did a video on cleaning up the rough chopsticks. When trying to bend the pieces it was a no go.
i love the allways postive vibe you radiate man😁
Good info. I love your humerous out clips.
Love it as always people will always try to put others rite, it's great you corrected them and a great way to do it.
Great explanation on the bronzes. I’ve been using Silly bronze for years, great alloy gif sculptures, easy to cast, easy to weld, but more difficult to work than other softer bronze alloys but compensated by the foundry benefits.
Metallurgy is so complex and so fascinating; there's just so much to learn about it. I'm not surprised that you got people trying to correct you in the comments.
Love it ... very informational!
Very nice!!
Very cool and educational video. I always wondered how they added silicon to aluminum to make it more fluid.
at the explanation of manganese dissolving in copper I just hit subscribe button Great Video !!!
I used to make silBronze belt buckles with rods and an acetylene torch. Love the material.
Fantastic!
Great post. I know copper and silver (primarlym silver) work well together so I will do up a 5 OZT of bronze so I can see what the end metal will be like. I have made my own Sterling with Silver/zinc/copper before for my chopsticks and the end result was like steel it was so hard. I will save this post. Thanks bud. You make a good video fella.
Interesting. Silverton is something I’ve never worked with.
Love your videos!
I've been playing with 95% copper/5% Silicon, but would like to get some Manganese to make my own Everdur.
Where did you get your Manganese from?
I got it from Alibaba of all places.
Specifically came here to learn how to make Silicon Bronze because I knew of Tin Bronze and Aluminum Bronze, learned about many other kinds that sound just as interesting.
grate to work with. i use 3% and 2%.
Is there a specific reason for those ratios.
Silicon is used in casting alloys as is increases fluidity, e.g.: aluminium casting alloys most usually contain silicon. And, as you pointed out, silicon is used in bronzes brasses, etc.
Nice job. I’ve seen silicon bronze ingots for sale but never seen someone make it with a home setup so assumed it wasn’t doable. I’ll have to try that myself somewhen. 👍
I had a customer on Etsy leave me a 1-star review and essentially call me a fraud for selling Aluminum Bronze (C95200)... the alloy analysis was clearly labeled in the photos and description, btw. He said bronze is made of tin and copper ONLY! I had to send him an 85/15 tin bronze ingot before he changed it to a 4-star...
😆 hopefully this video will make people aware that there is more out there to explore.
thanks
Silicon Bronze is incredibly useful.
I have found aluminum bronze to work really well and I love the gold color.
I like it too. I do find that is shrinks a little more than other bronzes though.
@@lundgrenbronzestudios i hear this can be reduced by mixing other metals in the alum bronze
@@lundgrenbronzestudios not only it shrinks way more, but also has a tendency to develop microcracks and bubbles because of dissolved gas which is released by the aluminum as it cools and solidifies
It would be interesting to see if your ingot by way of open pour had any porosity issues- Just a curiosity for sure- but overall awesome video- Bravo!
You inspired me to try to make my own silicon bronze….Oh did that silicon melt in NICE. Previously I done tin (from scrap pewter) because I liked the repurpose and traditional aspect….but I think I’m converted.
I still make tin bronze and aluminum bronze. Just depends on the piece.
You missed a few bronzes in the enumeration at the end. Antimony bronze and bismuth bronze. Well the latter isn't much of a bronze (just like lead bronze isn't really a thing because lead and copper don't dissolve in one another, the lead stays as separate droplets dispersed throughout the copper mass - bismuth does the same). But antimony bronze has some pretty interesting properties and colors. I did some work with it. For instance, if you want a bronze that is close in color to silver, about 15-18% antimony in copper will do that. It is even rumored that at a certain percentage of antimony in that range (and perhaps some heat treatment) the metal color can turn to blue. I did a little experimenting with that but never got actual blue color.
Blue color happens in a certain range of temperature. At 480 degrees Fahrenheit, steel turns brown. At 520 degrees Fahrenheit, steel turns purple. At 575 degrees Fahrenheit, steel turns blue. At 800 degrees Fahrenheit, steel turns grey. For each kind of metal or alloy will be a different temperature ^^
Also iron bronze. And Cunifer, copper nickel iron alloy used for automotive brake lines.
Maybe I would like to try this someday, but I already have way too many projects to work on. I still need to set up a workshop.
Thanks for mentioning colour match - had fun trying to get a good colour match on some copper jewellery.
Do you happen to have a recomendation for brazing materials for copper that DO get a nice colour match?
I really don’t do any brazing so I’m not to knowledgeable on that. I know for some metal types people with use the sprus they cut off as welding rods to ensure the color matches. But that’s different than brazing.
Good stuff. Virtually all modern copper alloys seem to be referred to as bronzes despite "traditional" bronze being a tin alloy. This is why I get so frustrated that the trend in recent years has been to refer to beryllium bronze as "beryllium copper". It's like calling steel "carbon iron".
Everdur bronze is such an amazing metal to cast with. Flows SO well into the thinnest things with the silicon in there. I wonder what happens if you push the % of that up higher?
I believe the metal starts to get brittle with too much Si.
Can you make a video about how to make icosahedrite? It would be very interesting!
Maybe but I’ve never heard of that before.
Thank you for this, exactly what i was after! Been working on some projects that require me having a more flowing bronze then the regular copper/tin alloy ive been using.
Can you say what the purpose of the manganese is in this particular alloy? Could i just go with copper and silicon without manganese?
I don’t know what the manganese does to the alloy but it just seems to be part of the recipe.
@@lundgrenbronzestudios Alright, thank you. Ill have a go without it once i can source some silicon.
Ah the joy of metric (says he, currently designing in imperial and with schedule pipe) 😁😎
Can we make alloy with Cu, P and Si?
Can we use the Silicon powder?
I think you were generous to describe people saying that Bronze is an alloy of Copper and Tin as 'not wrong.' Perhaps you were just trying not to cause offence, but the truth is they are wrong. It's like saying that a big cat is a Lion. A lion is a big cat, but that's not the same.
If I might make one minor suggestion - would you consider some safer footwear? I'm not sure exactly what the rules are in a professional foundry but I know that they take the risk of spillage very seriously and I doubt that sneakers are allowed.
As I understand it, slag is Flux+impurities. Dross is impurities skimmed without flux. Have you tried putting a KCl flux on your bronze? I like a small amount as it provides an O2 barrier (especially when dealing with more reactive metals like aluminum.)
I’ve tried borax but I don’t use it often. I’m not very knowledgeable on fluxes.
Not recommended to use flux with silicon bronze - just melt, skim and pour.@@lundgrenbronzestudios Making silicon bronze requires a cover flux(brown glass, borax, examples)
@@lundgrenbronzestudios borax works well in my experience with copper alloys, except for aluminum bronze (borax reacts with aluminum in molten state). For alloys containing aluminum, my go-to flux is an equimolar part of NaCl and KCl (58 parts NaCl plus 75 parts KCl). That mix forms an eutectic that has lower melting point than either of the components alone.
@@mevk1 silicon is reactive with oxygen when red hot, and a significant part of it will be lost to oxidation forming silicon dioxide aka sand. It's good practice to add an oxygen barrier before adding the silicon.
@@stamasd8500 that’s good to know. And makes a lot of sense.
Non tin bronzes have been used for thousands of years it was always used interchangeably almost any alloy made mostly of copper was called bronze the only outlier in english is brass.
gently whispers in your ear: "1% germanium"
if you know, you know. hahaha lol
Do have any opinion on aluminum bronze?
I like it. But I don’t use it much because it does shrink a little more.
@@lundgrenbronzestudios I've heard its a bit more difficult to cast with. Just curious about things like bubbles and whatnot.
Dang, if they're mad about silicon bronze, wait till they hear about aluminum bronze.
When melting pure copper using a flux cover may be advised?
Break up a brown beer bottle and float the glass on top of the metal. As you keep adding to the melt, slowly slip it down the side of the melt to not disturb the cover.
Is that just to keep the air away from the metal so it doesn’t absorb gasses? I didn’t think flux was that important with bronze?
Exactly, the glass just keeps the air off the copper. When you pour your newly made bronze, have someone hold the floating glass back and you can pour from underneath it. Or skim it off, your call.
Fluxes aren't necessary when melting bronze. Making it and melting it are 2 different things. Melting straight copper is a pain in the ass which is why I don't mess with it.😒
Found a link for DIY bronze alloy recipes (youtube deletes, but you can google Internet Archive (c.w. amen sand casting .pdf)
For tin bronze and several other bronzes the fluxes consists of a Charcoal cover, and less than a percent of 15% phosphor/copper shot added after copper is melted, and shot added again after tin and lesser zinc/lead are added.
Other fluxes mentioned for brass include: glass, borax, salt, bone ash, soda ash, plaster of paris, sea coal, fine coal, whitening, etc.
Alu nickel bronze!
Can a guy buy a sculpture (casting) of the Wapiti that you show on here?
I have an Impala that I can sell you.
Thank you for the offer, and very considerate of you, sir. I must decline however. I am very interested in the (red deer) Monarch of the Glen to add to my collection of cast figurines.
Silicon is recognized as a metalloid. But I understand the need to leave that out of this video. 😂
I don't think we can make the Cu-Si alloy easy like this.
I mean just did it in the video so….
A lot of people apparently were very confident in their limited knowledge.
Bronze=Copper+Anything!
Hey there, but well not too much because you will enter the "brass" kinda thing ;)
Until Sil-bronze costs more than my wax, I refuse to make the stuff. ;-)
I usually buy it but I wanted learn a bit about metallurgy.
Wait the internet/comment warriors were wrong...... NO SAY IT ISN'T SO!
😆
They are entirely wrong. Bronze refers to copper based alloys.
The know it allness of people on TH-cam is unreal. Like, you're a sculptor who deals with this stuff for a living and some real estate agent from Dublin, Ohio is trying to correct you on bronze 😅
😆
Sili-wrong no-tin bronze!?
...and now my tongue is shtuck in my tooths. 😬 I enjoy when a silicone youtuber makes a thousand know-it-alls eat bronze crow. 😂
Hmmm. Aren't we here to watch and learn? I wonder how many attention seekers are going to troll their "knowledge" in this videos comments? 🤡