Building the Metal Melting Foundry

You fellas must have read in the previous post where Team Degon had to achieve critical temperatures for quenching the blade. To achieve these quenching temperatures, they had to build a metal foundry. They had designed and fabricated two versions of the foundry. In this blog, we look into the various factors and techniques used to construct the Metal Foundry and also the inspiration that led to this build.

Metal Melting Foundry v1.0

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/c5cb36_a988ff3b4b8a47ca9e85f1a88cb2764a/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

Tempering the knife

The first version that Team Degon came up with was completely inspired by the design done by The King of Random. They fabricated a simple yet effective foundry capable of reaching temperatures as high as 1200 °C.

Degon's v1.0 consisted of a metal trash can which was sourced from a supermarket. The trash can was ideal as it was perforated and lightweight. The thermal lining was a mixture of Plaster of Paris, sand and water in a ratio of 1:1:0.7 respectively. The thermal mixture usually took a curing time of 24 hours. A plastic container was used to create a cavity inside the thermal mixture where the burning of the coal took place. A hole was drilled at the side of the trash can at a certain angle for the air intake. Hot air was forced into the foundry by the means of a Black and Decker Hairdryer. The additional temperature of the air from the hairdryer increased the overall efficiency of the foundry. The team initially used this foundry for melting scrap aluminium cans and parts to form ingots. Pure aluminium was then used to cast parts according to the team's requirements.

Metal Melting Foundry v2.0

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/c5cb36_0c93c05a771b4564874ce31b858afde5/480p/mp4/file.mp4

Team Degon testing their new foundry

According to Team Degon, the older foundry completely fell apart after a couple of runs. The perforated trash can began to rust away due to continuous heat cycles. The thermal mixture inside the foundry also started to break away as there was no internal frame to provide strength to the mixture.

Metal Foundry v2.0 was fabricated by keeping these problems in mind. This time the team used a 20-litre oil container. The container cost them Rs.20 which they sourced from a scrapyard. The container was then cut from the top which created a lid for the foundry. The mixture was the same as the last foundry and followed the same ratio. But this time the team did something creative. While fabricating the foundry, One of the crew members noticed some coconut husk ropes lying around. They took the rope and laid it into the mould creating a flexible frame. Then the mixture was poured into the surrounding cavity with the ropes embedded in them. The reaming mixture was then poured in the lid portion of the container. The same diameter hole was drilled at the side of the container.

Some additional features that Team Degon integrated into the foundry were the placement of a steel sink trapper which made the cleaning of ash easy from the foundry. Also adding feet and carrying hooks for keeping the foundry isolated from the ground and for easy carrying of the foundry respectively. A recycled door hinge was used to make the lid and container into a single unit. The fuel initially used in the v1.0 foundry was charcoal. But after some research, they got their hands on stone coal. Stone coal burns slowly and is capable of providing a high-temperature environment. The hairdryer had three-speed settings which the team used to control the foundry.

Thanks to the great mind of Grant Thompson (The founder of The King of Random Channel), Team Degon was able to create foundry which was capable of melting brass and was able to reach an estimated temperature of 1000 °C.

Proudly done by DEGON CUSTOMS.....

To see more about this project, check out our Instagram Feed.