Melting some Pistons! (Page 5) Here I am again...I'm going to melt down some pistons! I went to a local engine rebuild shop and they gave me a bunch of cast pistons to melt down. I have a whole bucket of them. My first melt! My Jesus plaque is drying still (this is the same day as page 4). I poured excess in my new head pressure device. Looks like it works great! This baby is red hot! My first pistons take about fifteen mins to melt but when it heats up and there is a half pot of aluminum, it takes less than two mins to melt a piston! I got the gas flow down to a science, I turn the valve five times which seems to give me some incredible melts. I can drop a piston through the top with virtually no loss in gas pressure. The cover just off right before a pour. This time I forgot to put the activated carbon on the bottom and the crucible stuck to the fire brick. It was difficult to get it unstuck. Here's what's left of the pistons. I'm amazed how little slag you get from pistons. There was very little that I had to skim from the top. These metal shims were on the pistons and made a mess of things. Here's the aluminum from two crucibles, about 12 pistons. Here's a little hook I made from rebar to hold the pistons. I put one in the pot too fast and molten aluminum splashed out and hit me in the face shield! It's a good thing I was wearing that shield. Now I don't put them in so fast and I hold them inside the furnace above the molten metal until they heat up, about 20 seconds I guess. CLICK HERE TO GO TO PAGE 6 Copyright 2005 Site posted on August 27, 2005 Chris Hardwick