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Tools/castingcrucible: Difference between revisions
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== Introduction ==▼
[[File:crucibleinuse.jpg|250px|thumb|The casting crucible in use with aluminium. The molten metal is being poured into a lost-PLA sand mold]] Our casting crucible can melt up to a maximum 2 litres of brass, bronze or aluminium which equates to about
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== Current Status ==
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| 10th September 2018 || Fully Functional || No reported issues.
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▲== Introduction ==
▲[[File:crucibleinuse.jpg|250px|thumb|The casting crucible in use with aluminium. The molten metal is being poured into a lost-PLA sand mold]] Our casting crucible can melt up to a maximum 2 litres of brass, bronze or aluminium which equates to about 15Kg of copper alloys or just under 5Kg of aluminium and pour it into a variety of molds to form cast metal objects. It's rated for a maximum temperature of 1100C which is sufficient for aluminium, brass, bronze, lead, zinc and tin, but is not suitable for any type of steel, The high-temperature thermocouple from the [[tools/forge|Forge]] can be used to check what temperature it's operating at and make sure that it is not over-heated. Owing to the obvious safety needs when working with large ammounts of hot metal, this tool requires [[tools/castingcrucible/induction|induction]]. The crucible is normally kept in the main workshop, under the workbench on the west side of the the hackspace, and some of the sand and accessories are kept underneath the storage shelves in the lobby area. The casting tray is kept outside behind the rear fire escape door.
== Costs ==
There's no official charge for using the casting crucible, but it does have some costs when it's in use. It consumes gas at the rate of approximately 1Kg/hr, which at 2018 prices is about £2/hr. The crucibles cost approximately £100 and last for a few dozen casts. If you're using scrap metals from around rLab for casting then scrap Aluminium is 75p/Kg (July 2018) so a full crucible would be about £
== Casting Caretakers ==
=== Inductions ===
Ian-P provides [[Tools/castingcrucible/induction|inductions]] on the casting equipment
=== Workshops ===
None yet, want to [[Workshops|start one]]?
=== Maintainers ===
Ian-P and Steve-R maintain the casting equipment and should be contacted to report any issues.
None found - Casting equipment fully functional and no immediate changes planned or expected
▲== Recent Updates ==
== Image Gallery ==
<gallery mode="packed">
File:Impressionmold.jpg|Forming a conventional impression sand-mold using a 3D printed former
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File:burningout.jpg|Burning out the PLA in a lost-PLA casting of a burr
File:finishedburr.jpg|The finished burr cast in aluminium, the dull grey surface is a result of contact with burning PLA during the casting
File:Metling metal.jpg|Aluminium beginning to melt as the crucible heats up
</gallery>
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