Melting magnesium chips

[oldguy]

. 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