G
14

Trying to get a clean pour on a new bronze alloy mix took me three entire shifts of failed casts and re-melts.

The problem was a tiny bit of aluminum scrap that got mixed into the melt, which I finally found after checking every single bar stock piece with a magnet, so what's the dumbest contaminant you've ever had ruin a batch?
2 comments

Log in to join the discussion

Log In
2 Comments
kelly.robin
That sounds like a brutal way to spend three days. My worst was a single piece of galvanized steel in a brass melt, which made the whole shop smell awful. Sometimes the smallest thing causes the biggest mess.
6
jesse_west
Galvanized steel in brass is a nightmare. How much brass were you melting when that happened? I've seen a tiny zinc coated bolt ruin a whole 50 pound crucible, just a few ounces of contamination making everything brittle and useless. Did you have to toss the whole batch or could you save any of it?
6