Monday, June 4, 2012

Tiny Aluminum Pour!

Last night, between rainstorms, we got to see a tiny outdoor aluminum pour and it was incredible.


It started off with the tiniest little crucible I'd ever seen...

  

...and the cutest little furnace (I understand that tiny and cute are generally not words that go with pouring molten metal but I feel they are fitting...so there.)

  

Even though it was her first metal pour, Olivia was far more concerned with the puddles than anything else.


Getting set up...


...and fired up!


 And because one fire is never enough, we had to light another one for cooking veggie hotdogs...

 

That's the aluminum being put in through the hole in the top of the furnace so it will melt down.

 

Such a fabulous set up that Gus made.


Preheating the ingot mold on the edge of the furnace.


Scraping off any slag off of the molten aluminum.
 

Almost ready to pour! See how the crucible is glowing? It was so beautiful...


Poured! 
Gus poured the aluminum into sand molds he had made, and I was lucky enough to see him make another on the spot after pouring the first two, which he then poured into for a total of 3 castings. I would've taken photos of the sand mold process but Olivia stole my phone at some point. I'm sure we'll be doing this again soon so not to worry...

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