Metals Suppliers

Discussion in 'Forum suggestions' started by John Homer, Apr 16, 2021.

  1. Al2O3

    Al2O3 Administrator Staff Member Banner Member

    Might try aluminum bronze. Polishes up well and doesn't oxidize as easily so holds its luster longer.

    Best,
    K
     
  2. I see on the wikipedia entry for aluminium bronze that it can be used for dental crowns, no mention of the exact alloy used though.
     
  3. JBC

    JBC Copper

    That is nice.
    Perfect.
    Do you source from the west coast?
     
  4. JBC

    JBC Copper

    You had me at 'I.'
    I have not heard of that stuff though aluminum makes my eye twitch a little. The Zamak loses any shine it had after casting within a day and within a week its fugly.

    Do you have a west coast source? If not I'll take whatever and check it out, thanks!
     
  5. Al2O3

    Al2O3 Administrator Staff Member Banner Member

    If you only need enough for a ring it's easy to alloy yourself. Search this site. It's 90%+ copper and balance aluminum and the tramp metals from scrap copper won't make any difference.

    Best,
    Kelly
     
  6. Tobho Mott

    Tobho Mott Gold Banner Member

    Don't worry about the aluminum. Aluminum bronzes are used in some applications where resistance to oxidation is important. If you want a copper alloy ring that doesn't turn your finger green, +1 for it might be just the ticket. It's a nice golden colour and takes longer to lose its shine and develop any sort of patina than most other bronzes.

    They used to sell it in sifferent thicknesses of round bar at Metal Supermarket here, but they have closed down. Not the cheapest source anyhow, I'm sure, but it was convenient.

    Lots of people alloy their own though, including most of the popular beer can ingot guys on youtube. 90% copper and 10% aluminum is about right and can really take a beating. I have used the bought kind to make axe blades that hold up to actual use (chopping hardwood). More than maybe 12% aluminum will make it brittle as glass though.

    One thing though, it has been said that the gating requires a little extra care in its design to prevent turbulence from occurring inside the mold and turning the bronze into foamy dross ie. a ruined casting.

    Jeff
     
  7. Jason

    Jason Gold

    If you want to wear bronze or copper rings, coat the inside and you'll turn less green. Clear nail polish lasts a long time. A couple of layers and you'd be good to go.
    Occasionally we have to do it to cheap costume pieces to keep the ladies from turning green.

    I can't find a recent MSDS from my industrial metal supply ingots, but YES, their sil-bronze has the teeny tiniest amount of lead. Usually less than .05% if memory serves me.
    Certainly not enough I would be concerned about. It even has traces of iron in it!
     
    JBC likes this.
  8. Aluminum bronze is really easy to make and looks great. It may be too hard to machine.

    All formulae are by weight, so 90% copper by weight and 10% aluminum by weight is more like 34% by volume. but don't guess. Get a good scale and weigh it. And make sure your aluminum and copper are clean.
     
    JBC likes this.
  9. rocco

    rocco Silver

    I'm guessing the preferred procedure for making it is to first melt the aluminum and add the copper to that, turning up the heat as required.
     
  10. JBC

    JBC Copper

    Thanks for all of that. I hope these small pieces are less effected by that foamy experience than larger ones.
    I do love the challenge.
    Designing the model in CAD, molds for wax injection, tuning the temps and pressures for injecting wax and later, pouring.
    Using a 3D resin printer and designing the model as I envision the wax pattern should be helps with having to fuss with it later. And I can bang out a 'sprue-ready' pattern.
    (I say it like I'm successful lol).
    And soon working with different metals for different projects. My aluminum came from different sources over the years and surely has some 6061 and extruded aluminum mixed together..
    Until I get some finer pieces done I might just buy some clean aluminum and copper and go the aluminum bronze route. And find some lead-free silicone bronze.
    Success first than play around later.

    One thing that has helped a TON is using these induction forges to melt. My jumbo propane foundry took an hour to get aluminum to temp and struggled to get higher temps.
    These new (new to me) forges get to molten so damn fast I love it!

    OK, time to hunt for clean metal on (or close to) the west coast.
     
  11. Nothing wrong with using 6061 in aluminum bronze.

    I clean aluminum scrap by making an ingot with it. Plenty good for melting into aluminum bronze or casting straight aluminum.

    I did not know the preferred method was melting the aluminum first. I've always melted the copper then added the aluminum last and stir the soup. What is the advantage of melting aluminum first?
     
  12. JBC

    JBC Copper

    thanks for the info. I had to google tramp metal.....seems obvious now lol :confused:

    Anyone have experience with Silicone Brass?
    I might play with all three;
    Aluminum bronze
    Silicone Bronze
    Silicone Brass.
     
  13. rocco

    rocco Silver

    That was a guess on my part but it makes the most sense to me because aluminum melts at a lower temperature so if you submerge copper into molten aluminum, you'll lose much less copper to oxidation also, copper is highly soluble in molten aluminum (I found that out by accident in an unsuccessful attempt to embed a copper tube in a cast aluminum heat sink) so you wouldn't have to get the mixture all the way up to the melting point of copper and because aluminum bronze has a much lower melting point than copper your melt would require considerably less heat overall.
     
    Last edited: May 21, 2021
  14. JBC

    JBC Copper

    thanks for the info. I had to google tramp metal.....seems obvious now lol :confused:
     
  15. Good points! I'll try melting aluminum first.
     
  16. Tobho Mott

    Tobho Mott Gold Banner Member

    Silicon bronze is wonderful to work with... Silicone bronze, I'm not so sure. :D

    Capture+_2021-05-22-14-13-39.png

    No idea about silicon brass, sorry.

    Jeff
     
  17. rocco

    rocco Silver

    Please let us know how it works out and give us your thoughts of the pros and cons of both methods.
     
    Last edited: May 22, 2021
  18. Jason

    Jason Gold

    Silicon-bronze is magical to work with. I'd never heard of sil -brass, but if it's brass, it's got zinc in it and I can't weld it, so it's useless for this guy.
     

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