Smelting brass

[Roger HulettParticipant @rogerhulett83124]

[Roger HulettParticipant @rogerhulett83124]

I have need to smelt a small quantity of brass to form a small component for my motor cycle. Probably about 2oz in weight. I do not want to set up my propane/waste oil furnace to melt such a small quantity.

Any ideas ??? Thanks for your suggestions.

[John ReeseParticipant @johnreese12848]

Melt it in a ladle or crucible with an oxy/acy torch, if you have one.

[john carruthersParticipant @johncarruthers46255]

Try using a stick welder with carbon rods, but do it outside or your eyes will turn green and your lungs will fall out.
**LINK**

[duncan webster 1Participant @duncanwebster1]

Just to be pedantic (who me?), smelting is extracting metal from its ore.

[Rick Kirkland 1Participant @rickkirkland1]

You beat me to it Mr Webster. I was going to say that Brass can’t be smelted as it’s an alloy. Not pedantry, simple fact.

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

ah, but wasn't brass originally smelted from an ore that contained both copper and zinc without them knowing what was going on. Once the ore was used up there was a gap of hundreds of years before the recipe was discovered.

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

Smelting and I'm not being pedantic

 

Is the oral description of melting brass by someone who stutters.

 

[EDIT]

Was going to mention this earlier but I cannot give any references to the furnace.

 

I have a small 5" cube electric muffle furnace with no name and no heat control on it. It's either off or on , on the mains switch.

It get hot and glows red and will get steel red hot for hardening but it will met alloy but not brass.

Gets brass red and nearly melting but not fluid which is a pity as i have a load of bad brass fitting I was asked to reclaim, some I could but I have boxes of the ones that are too far out of tolerance.

Edited By John Stevenson on 03/02/2017 21:38:38

[David ColwillParticipant @davidcolwill19261]

I tried melting brass in a muffle furnace, which did melt the brass but in doing so created a huge amount of oxide and not much brass. Are there cover fluxes that should be used? I suspect that the crucible should have been covered but didn't really pursue it as it wasn't a serious attempt at casting more a I wonder what happens if…

If anyone knows how it's done I would be interested to know.

David.

[John ReeseParticipant @johnreese12848]

Posted by duncan webster on 03/02/2017 19:52:18:

Just to be pedantic (who me?), smelting is extracting metal from its ore.

Maybe descended from Noah Webster?

[Nick HulmeParticipant @nickhulme30114]

Posted by David Colwill on 03/02/2017 21:49:19:

I tried melting brass in a muffle furnace, which did melt the brass but in doing so created a huge amount of oxide and not much brass. Are there cover fluxes that should be used? I suspect that the crucible should have been covered but didn't really pursue it as it wasn't a serious attempt at casting more a I wonder what happens if…

If anyone knows how it's done I would be interested to know.

David.

In commercial foundries it's often melted under a layer of a fine carbon material

[not done it yetParticipant @notdoneityet]

• I can sinter brass and bronze clays in our little kiln, at around 850. It will go to 1090, so should melt brass. But my wife would likely not be happy, as it if is indoors!!

[John ReeseParticipant @johnreese12848]

If you overheat it the zinc starts to burn out. Lots of white fumes. Unhealthy, makes a mess.

[Danny M2ZParticipant @dannym2z]

So how do the backyard Indian artisans produce the little cast brass objects that one can find cheaply at the markets? There must be a few tricks to the game as I am interested in casting some brass timing assemblies for model engine spark conversions, such as this:

* Danny M *

Edited By Danny M2Z on 04/02/2017 04:15:04

[David CambridgeParticipant @davidcambridge45658]

I had a lot of fun in 2016 learning to cast. I started using kit I bought off the shelf , and finished by building my own propane furnace. It didn’t cost very much at all to cast brass with off the shelf equipment (a Sievert blow torch, fire bricks, and crucilbe). You can see how I did it in this video.

It cost a little bit more to build a small furnace and my own burner, but it also let me cast larger items:

Take a look at the rest of my YouTube channel where I have documented pretty much the entire learning and building process.

Once thing to be aware of when casting brass is the fumes are dangerous. Google ‘Metal Fume Fever to find out more’. Just make sure you understand the problem and what you are going to do about it.

David

[Speedy Builder5Participant @speedybuilder5]

this is the way to do it. As seen at our local fair in SW France. Note the safety gear.

Not quite so clear in the picture, but it was an old 5 gallon drum with a hinged lid, some refectory clay pasted onto the insides, and a blower pipe stuck thro a hole in the side. This guy was melting copper and brass using charcoal as the fuel, a refectory pot and some more charcoal on top of that. He must have had a bigger system at home as he was selling "statues" which must have been 20lbs or more in weight.
BobH

[John FlackParticipant @johnflack59079]

Curious to know why you would was to use brass components on motor cycle. Having tinkered with a few bikes in my youth, brass was only used on petrol taps or copper pipe unions???? 'Gold' type metals such as bushes,bearings valve guides were usually of a bronze nature. Perhaps Roger could expand further. If the need is for a one off it may be simpler to produce a pattern or the component and find a lost wax caster. The cost of setting up the equipment, together with safety clothing and the possible consequences of injury require careful thought……………….

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

At the Midlands show in 2016 there was a chap on one stand talking about brass casting and demonstrating mould making. Then he did a demo outside. Unfortunately I went into a lecture and came out hoping to see the casting but they had been foolishly run in parallel.

[David ColwillParticipant @davidcolwill19261]

Nice work David. I looked at the videos on your channel and enjoyed them. Spurred on by your results I will revisit this in the summer.

David.

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

Here's how it's done (late 19th early 20th C) Japanese style(bronze actually).

Ian S C

[duncan webster 1Participant @duncanwebster1]

Posted by John Reese on 03/02/2017 22:24:21:

Posted by duncan webster on 03/02/2017 19:52:18:

Just to be pedantic (who me?), smelting is extracting metal from its ore.

Maybe descended from Noah Webster?

Now you've upset me, he was a Yank

[Roger HulettParticipant @rogerhulett83124]

John Flack…………………………….The petrol tank has a brass spigot onto which a brass petrol filler cap is screwed.

I needed 6 of these and having completed them I silver soldered them into the tanks.Unfortunately my attention was distracted when I was soldering one of them and I managed to melt the brass. Having used up all of the brass tubing I had in that size,I thought I could cast just one.

John Reese……………………….That does seem the obvious way but I am concerned at oxydisation. I will give it a try.

Thanks to everyone for your comments.

[not done it yetParticipant @notdoneityet]

Why brass? Why not use steel? I didn't think you needed both to be brass to avoid any chance of sparks?

[Tim StevensParticipant @timstevens64731]

One reason for using a brass fitting screwed to a brass filler could be to avoid any electrolytic corrosion caused by the interaction of two different metals. Another might be to match the existing, or the other five, mentioned by the OP. A third might be to retain some degree of originality, which really does matter to some of us. And then there is the different rates of expansion, not a good idea when any gap could cause a petrol leak just beneath the rider's tackle.

Cheers, Tim

[Author]

Posts