Backyard Aluminum Casting

This is the set up that I run for my propane foundry. The steel drum was supplied to me by a close friend from college that had made a similar set up years earlier. The steel drum is filled roughly 5-6 inches of refractory cement and then wrapped in a heat blanket material to keep the heat inside the drum. The pipes are 2" diameter with two PC muffin fans connected to a 12v battery from a old person scooter (Thanks Oma, you probably would have never guessed it would be used for this!). Inside this 2" diameter pipe is a smaller 3/4" pipe that blows the propane straight into the foundry. The tools that you see to the right of the foundry are just some pieces of weldable steel from my local Home Depot that I quickly used a welder to weld together.

The flames inside the foundry swirl around the crucible making the temperature inside the foundry heat up very quickly. I believe all in all, once I purchased the correct regulator I believe we were able to get the aluminum up to temperature in less than 30 minutes. Initially, I attempted to use a simple gas grill regulator but it simply wasn't enough to really heat the foundry up.

My Dad is on foundry duty while I snapped some photos to document our entertaining afternoon. 

As one of my friend's always joked about, "Liquid metal just looks so amazing, I just want to lick it!" Well it would probably be a bad idea to lick this aluminum that I would estimate is >1200 degrees Fahrenheit, but instead I will just admire its beauty from afar.

My Dad is using a screw driver to excavate our aluminum pieces from the greensand.

I used my fathers old Craftsman bench vice to clamp the aluminum while I use a metal hacksaw to cut off my pencil thick sprues. 

Finished parts, not too shabby for my first aluminum pour in my propane foundry!