Well, it finally became apparent that making my own Crucibles was not worth the trouble. You will see why in an upcoming post. So I went to order off eBay but they were out of my crucible that I usually get the A-20. So I searched the internet and found Legend Inc of Sparks, Nevada USA and ordered some. They has some very nice Morgan crucibles that seemed much nicer than any I had ever bought before so I ordered one and they had some real cheap ones so, given that I was already paying shipping, I ordered one of them just to see if they would work out. Here is my order info. 1 x #20 Budget Graphite Crucible (17369) $32.15 1 x A20 Salamander Super A Premium Graphite Crucible (173942) $79.98 Sub-Total: $112.13 FedEx (22.00lbs) (Ground Delivery): $32.15 Total: $144.28 here are the Crucibles. The Morgan was ABSOLUTLY FAB! Although slightly too large for my furnace....It will require a bit of grinding on the inside of the furnace....which I don't mind. The other one was nice....in fact excellent for the price....but more like a #16 Crucible. Be advised that when you order crucibles....the size standard is loose at best, a joke at worst. The total price was the same as for one crucible on Ebay. I'm Very happy with them.
Yep, Budget prices are hard to beat on all their crucibles. And their "econo" line are really one or two sizes overstated. You really have to look at the measurements.
It's kinda weird that on their site the 18B is $64 and the #25 is $75 but the 20B is $28.85. I just had a failure with one of Legend's budget graphites. http://forums.thehomefoundry.org/index.php?threads/crucible-failure.1109/ I still have a few that I will use until the end of their useful lives but I have since bought a couple of their A10 Salamander super A's. The Budgets will last a good while if they only see aluminum duty but they won't survive too many bronze beatings. From my experience anyway. I've got about half a dozen bronze heats on the salamander so far and it's still like new except for the bronze coating inside. Like I said I'll use up the budgets I have but I'll only buy the salamanders from now on. Pete
crucible sizes are always up for interpritation, it used to be that the Crucible designation was the approximate capacity in aluminum I'm pretty Sure Cheap Crucible makers interprite that as brimming full while others may interprite that as closer to Safe worjking capacity 75% or at least something in between. I had good luck with the Budget crucibles as long as they where very carefully Dried , 10 hours at 250 F , but if they get to looking even a little hinky toss them, Legends used to have a case lot deal, that was increadible , Might try calling them, I assume it saves them having to repacage the crucibles, it's awefull nice to Have 5 Crucibles sitting on the shelf V/r HT1
From the conversation above, seems like it’s going the other way: “We’re not so confident in our crucibles, so we’ll rate them for less full than the larger brands do.” Edit: I stand corrected.
Measured the capacity in preparation for my next cast. the el cheapo #20 was 10 cups 2 OZ Liquid capacity. The Legend #20 was 15 cups 2 OZ. I measured by filling with sand and measuring the sand with measuring cups. I will be interested to see the life of them, I will maintain a log and see how many casts i get.
