Metal Melting?

gamerdude1989

gamerdude1989

gamerdude1989

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Anyone into metal melting?

I have a garden full of copper and aluminium.
Old heating boiler.. copper pipes.. electric 3 phase motors.. etc etc

So bought a metal melting furnace to melt it all down and mold in ingots..
Easier to weight up and sell too..

So far ive bought: Devil Forge furnace.. A handful of ingot molds, a pair of crucible tongs etc

My question is gas related.... How long does a propane bottle last you? and which size?
I ask because, Ive got a 19kg propane bottle thats empty.. Where i am, You must exchange empty for full... So if you exchange in a 19kg bottle, You have to buy a full 19kg bottle.. and they are costly..
If the metal furnaces last quite some time on a small bottle.. I dont really want to have to folk out for refilling a massive bottle...

and vice versa... Is you go through gas really quickly when melting.. Then i may aswell refill the large bottle...

Also... How do you know what pressure to set the gas regulator to?
Is it a set figure? one is good for all metals?
Or is there a set figure for melting each indivudual type of metal?

Many Thanks
 
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just sell your scrap as it is......buying a 'furnace' to melt it all down sounds mental to be honest. unless you're one half of Steptoe and Son you can't have that much scrap mental kicking round to justify a furnace and the associated costs.
 
Just go to a local scrap yard like EMS and sell it as it is.

If you're transporting scrap as part of a business (say for example you're a gas engineer and it's scrap copper) then apply for a waste carrier licence. It's quick enough to do and free, just to cover yourself.
 
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If you are just melting a few pieces, a small propane bottle will be fine. They do freeze up though, so you'll have to keep it warm if you're using it for a while.
If you are just going to weigh it in you're wasting your time but if you are going to make things from it then go for it,
 
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I bet this is how the "golden loo" was just flipped on the black market

Surely they must have melted down the toilet and then compacted it in to a golden brick and then flipped it
 
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iron_monkey said:
If you are just going to weigh it in you're wasting your time but if you are going to make things from it then go for it
Click to expand...
^This

If you are going to make your own fishing weights or want to make your own craft pieces e.g tin soldiers, chess pieces etc then it sounds like an interesting project otherwise won't the cost of the gas outweigh just selling the metal to your local scrap merchant plus you've got the dangers of smelting metal.
 
I have a garden full of scrap but it's converted into other items, in my BBQ area , a tank that is still a water tank, but now a small widelife pond
Half an immersion tank now a plant pot
An old water tank now table and chairs
Big scrap metal plant pot , if I ever need money I can nip down the scrap yard too

Screenshot-2025-02-25-13-08-52-46-99c04817c0de5652397fc8b56c3b3817.jpg
 
gamerdude1989 said:
Anyone into metal melting?

I have a garden full of copper and aluminium.
Old heating boiler.. copper pipes.. electric 3 phase motors.. etc etc

So bought a metal melting furnace to melt it all down and mold in ingots..
Easier to weight up and sell too..

So far ive bought: Devil Forge furnace.. A handful of ingot molds, a pair of crucible tongs etc

My question is gas related.... How long does a propane bottle last you? and which size?
I ask because, Ive got a 19kg propane bottle thats empty.. Where i am, You must exchange empty for full... So if you exchange in a 19kg bottle, You have to buy a full 19kg bottle.. and they are costly..
If the metal furnaces last quite some time on a small bottle.. I dont really want to have to folk out for refilling a massive bottle...

and vice versa... Is you go through gas really quickly when melting.. Then i may aswell refill the large bottle...

Also... How do you know what pressure to set the gas regulator to?
Is it a set figure? one is good for all metals?
Or is there a set figure for melting each indivudual type of metal?

Many Thanks
Click to expand...
go speak to proper people about this. my dad used to do this regular for a living with my bros. do it wrong and you can have serious issues. for eg once doing alley gear boxes in the smelter one had magnesium in blew the door off the furnice lol.

also the amounts you need to make it worth while make a big difference. you better off just stripping the metals weighing them in as they are. motors for copper little tip do a third of what they weigh. also burning certain metals and smoke is actually illegal and can put you in prison.
 
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