Pouring molten aluminum - GIF

[mwmkravchenko]

Does anyone know about what temperature that is at?

I've melted a little aluminum in my forge but never got it hot enough to glow like that. Since my first experiments at casting were rather poor quality, perhaps I didn't have it hot enough?

It kind of glows like this, but it's depending on what you are melting in. If it's a proper ceramic type crucible it glows reddish. Metal it doesn't seem to.

Best to melt it, clean the crude on top and pour ASAP. The longer you leave it molten the more hydrogen gas gets into the molten aluminum and you end up with porous castings. I made enough of those myself as a beginner. Melting in steel is also not good for your castings either. Molten aluminum like to dissolve iron and this messes up the properties of the aluminum. There are high temperature ceramic paints that you can apply to a steel melting pot that let you get away with it.

There are so many things online that you see people repeating that have either no positive effect, or are detrimental. Degassing additives being one of them. The bubbles you consistently see are due to water vapour. Not freeing hydrogen in the melt. Best to melt, clean and pour.

If you want to know best ways to do things, Ol Foundryman on YouTube is the guy that I have seen with the greatest experience.

Mark