I bought a Kiln What can I use for?

[LNSvince]

Melting metals is fun , but yes can be dangerous.
Proper gloves, Face/eye wear
Borax to coat your crucible ?
Graphite to carve a mold out of ?

You can build a small furnace with pipe and fire wrap/quilt [ is what I call it ]
Youtube university is actually a great place to learn and also watch people make mistakes and just about kill themselves !

the main thing is to keep water away [ unless its your quench pot ]

 

[Trueno]

While this thread is going, how dangerous/unpredictable are molten metals/melting down metal?

Spill it everywhere or the handle breaks off the ladle and you no longer have any feet.

t

 

[Btl_Rkt_Sci]

In addition to firing ceramics, according to Wikipedia:

To dry green lumber so it can be used immediately
Drying wood for use as firewood
Heating wood to the point of pyrolysis to produce charcoal
For annealing, fusing and deforming glass, or fusing metallic oxide paints to the surface of glass
For cremation (at high temperature)
Drying of tobacco leaves
Drying malted barley for brewing and other fermentations
Drying hops for brewing (known as a hop kiln or oast house)
Drying corn (grain) before grinding or storage, sometimes called a corn kiln, corn drying kiln.
Smelting ore to extract metal
Heating limestone with clay in the manufacture of Portland cement
Heating limestone to make quicklime or calcium oxide

I don't think a ceramic kiln will get hot enough to turn into a foundry (for melting aluminum). Even still, you could make a foundry out of much cheaper materials rather than than risk ruining the refractory in the kiln if you have a mishap.

 

[Trueno]

I don't think a ceramic kiln will get hot enough to turn into a foundry (for melting aluminum).

I specialize in Aluminum welding, only takes about 1100* to melt Aluminum.


just sayin,

t

 

[LNSvince]

Easiest mistake to make is to have an air bubble in your melt that would "POP"
Like a hollow tube that you pinched the ends on while cutting it off/down
Hammer small items flat will suffice

 

[rtr_rtr]

Melting metals is fun , but yes can be dangerous.
Proper gloves, Face/eye wear
Borax to coat your crucible ?
Graphite to carve a mold out of ?

You can build a small furnace with pipe and fire wrap/quilt [ is what I call it ]
Youtube university is actually a great place to learn and also watch people make mistakes and just about kill themselves !

the main thing is to keep water away [ unless its your quench pot ]

Spill it everywhere or the handle breaks off the ladle and you no longer have any feet.

t

Easiest mistake to make is to have an air bubble in your melt that would "POP"
Like a hollow tube that you pinched the ends on while cutting it off/down
Hammer small items flat will suffice

Thanks for the info. I've worked with a lot of dangerous chemicals before, but never done this stuff. The air bubble "popping" is one of those "unpredicted" things that might catch me off guard. I'll make sure to look into it a bit before actually trying it

 

[Btl_Rkt_Sci]

Thanks for the info. I've worked with a lot of dangerous chemicals before, but never done this stuff. The air bubble "popping" is one of those "unpredicted" things that might catch me off guard. I'll make sure to look into it a bit before actually trying it

Also watch out for bending over the crucible and dripping sweat into it...the water will quickly vaporize and creat a similar pop. Similar to how grease fires start when you get water in there....but...you know...molten metal on the face. By the way, wear a hood.

 

[Btl_Rkt_Sci]

I specialize in Aluminum welding, only takes about 1100* to melt Aluminum.


just sayin,

t

Good point, I didn't want to do the legwork. I'd still personally prefer to build a foundry out of maybe some carbon steel piping w/cap and a charcoal lighter. I'd hate to see OP ruin a good kiln by damaging the refractory.