Wanted to buy crucibles with holder handle

[mikeinkaty]

Mike you have now found out why it's near impossible to pour really nice 10 gram or whatever bars the metal cools and the edges just don't fill but 1 kilo melts and bars are easy, step up the size of your bars again and they will look even better, ain't nature wonderful!

I've been having good luck pouring the 8 ozt bars of 990 into my copper bar mold plus I really like the look of the bars over the graphite molds with all rounded corners. I'm going to set it up for 4 ozt and pour a couple of 999+ bars to see how they do. No problems with sticking or contamination. I smoke the mold pretty heavily. I intend to make a couple of jig clamps to hold it together so I can put it on top of my hotplate for pouring. Right now I'm using large "C" clamps.

Mike

 

[mikeinkaty]

I poured two 3-ozt bars of 999 crystals tonight using the copper buss bar mold. They looked much better than those 2 oz bars I poured in my graphite mold. I like the square corners and square bottom edges. I use a pair of locking vice grips to hold the mold together. The bar falls out easily. I set the mold on my hotplate for a few minutes to get it hot. I pour while it is still on the hotplate. One thing I really like about it is the ability to easily change the length to get heaver bars.

The 3 ounce bars were 1" wide by 1.62" long. Some of you may recognize those dimensions. 3 ounces made the bars a tad more than 1/4" thick. That dimension can accomodate up to 4 ounce pours with the 1/2" tall sides I'm using.

Mike

 

[ilikesilver]

So this is the design i decided on using as a beginner model. Made to order. Nice solid handle with a small pour spout. Should work good for what I am doing.

 

[FrugalRefiner]

ilikesilver,

Is that "melter" made of metal? I'm not sure from the blurry picture, but it looks like it. If it is, do NOT use it for precious metals. Your gold or silver will dissolve some of your "melter", contaminating your newly refined values. Some of your values will also bond to the "melter" and you'll end up processing the whole thing to recover your values.

This stuff is very exciting and I understand you want to get started right away. Take some advice from a fellow noob. Slow down. Read! A Lot! It will save you a lot of grief in the long run.

Dave

 

[ilikesilver]

ilikesilver,

Is that "melter" made of metal? I'm not sure from the blurry picture, but it looks like it. If it is, do NOT use it for precious metals. Your gold or silver will dissolve some of your "melter", contaminating your newly refined values. Some of your values will also bond to the "melter" and you'll end up processing the whole thing to recover your values.

This stuff is very exciting and I understand you want to get started right away. Take some advice from a fellow noob. Slow down. Read! A Lot! It will save you a lot of grief in the long run.

Dave

Graphite