There was no groove for pouring, so I carved one out with a file. But anyways. I left four stars because it can be fixed at home. And remember before you put it in the foundry, put it in the oven at 300 degrees for about an hour to get rid of any moisture, then put the crucible in your furnace and heat it up so the crucible is glowing red. Keep it that way for 30 min to an hour. Turn off the heat source and leave the crucible in the foundry, letting it cool as slowly as possible. Wait for about 2-4 hours, and there you go. And before each firing, i suggest you put your crucible in the oven at 300 degrees for about an hour to get rid of any moisture so it doesn't explode. You don't have to do this, but for you and who or whatever might be around's safety, please do this.
This crucible is just the right size for a homemade foundry. We've been able to do dozens of aluminum melts using charcoal with no undue wear on the crucible. It looks like it will hold up for a good while.
It's what you think it is. Size wise, a standard soda can is just short of fitting inside of this, so good for small home foundry projects. Heat it up before using in your oven so the thermal shock of going from ambient temp to a 1500 or so degree foundry isn't a big hit. If using for aluminum, make sure you dump all of the aluminum at the end and don't let it cool inside, or the ingot it effectively casts (which will not come out) will crack the crucible upon reheating as the metal expands.
No apparent degradation after three sessions of use, each of which involved two rounds of melting and pouring.
Pros:
Can't beat the price
Decent quality clay graphite
Sized about right for melting soda cans
Cons:
The pour spout is nonexistent
Glaze has charred/glassed over in a rough manner
Alright, the price on this item is right where it needs to be. But the pictures don't do it justice, as the pour spout is truly nonexistent. On mine, it seriously looks like someone took a construction pencil and drew a different colored mark where there should be a notch. There's not even an outcropping or other indication on the outside of the crucible where the spout is. Since firing it three times, I can no longer tell there was even a notch there. Also, the graphite glaze has apparently become knobby and glass-like (think bb's or teardrop shapes slightly larger) on my crucible. Not sure if this means my temperatures are off, if I'm doing something wrong (admittedly, I'm a Noob, but usually pretty good at following directions), or if it's just a result of this being a cheap item. Time will tell.
For the price, would buy again if I needed another.
It works well with melting aluminum. I used it in a foundry I built following the King of Random's YouTube video. It works well, but I had to enlarge the foundry's inner cavity a bit. If you use the same assembly, make sure you allow >2" gap around the crucible, and be sure you have the lid. The crucible needs careful curing in the foundry by slowly heating it in the foundry until bright red.
One thing I wish I had done is to have *carefully* drilled holes on each side of the rim for hooks to extract the crucible from the foundry. I do not recommend you do this without understanding that you can irreparably damage the crucible, but once you cured it, you surely cannot drill any holes.
Feature Product
- Clay Graphite Foundry Crucible, #3- 4kg to 6kg depending on the Metal
- Designed for Melting Gold, Silver, Copper, Brass, Aluminum and More!
- Torch Application - Designed to use with Fuel/Gas and Medium/ High Heat Induction Furnaces and Kilns
- Preheat at 400 Degrees for one hour before using.
Description
NEW #3 Clay Graphite Foundry Crucible Size - 4 KG Designed to melt Precious Metals such as... Gold, Silver, Copper, Aluminum, Brass.. Etc.. Clay Graphite Crucibles are designed to use with Fuel and Medium/High Heat Induction Furnaces/Kilns Clay Graphite Crucibles can withstand temps up to - 1560° F - 2912° F - 850° C - 1600° C Approx. Dimensions: Outer - 5.25"-5.5" H x 4 5/8"- 4 3/4" Diameter. Inner - 4.75"- 5 " Depth x 3 5/8"- 3.75" Dia. (Inner) Beware of imitations, sold only by Five Star Savings - Not for use in a Coal Foundry- Custom Size Crucibles Available on request! Rosenthal Collection is a registered trademark protected by US Trademark Law.
I purchased this as a recommendation from the King of Random video, with his backyard foundry. The foundry turned out great! I am extremely pleased with the crucible as it held the liquid and I never had issues with it cracking. This is an essential part of my foundry and I would definitely purchase this again. Great price for what you get.
Crucible worked great and I was easily able to melt scrap aluminum to re-purpose as brackets and other useful products. One warning that I have is that if the crucible is stored for a damp environment it should be retempered. I skipped this and when I went to use it again it caused an explosion with dangerous pieces of crucible and coal flying everywhere. If I hadn't have stepped inside the moment before it happened it would have surely caused great severe harm.
I ordered two of these and they're exactly what I wanted. They're the perfect size for melting pop cans and all the chunks of copper wire I have. I can't wait to use them. A note to other newbs like myself: These really are graphite, and they will color your hands shiny grey immediately. Wear gloves when you handle these.
I use this in a charcoal powered furnace I made for melting aluminum, it's the perfect size for my use case. I've melted pop cans, heat sinks and other various bits and it is holding up great. You can kind of see in the picture it does have a glassy bubbling on the outside but it doesn't seem to have a noticeable effect on it's performance. The inside of the crucible cleans up well enough with a screwdriver as long as you aren't basically filing down the sides.
The only downside is that the pouring lip was not carved out when it arrived, and it is much smaller than it appears in the product images, though it is rather simple to carve one with a file, it would be nice to get what the picture says you are going to. My suggestion is to make a small trough in the lip at first and then see where to go from there, you can always make it bigger, but it's harder to put the material back on :)
Wasn’t sure how this would work but after a minor outer surface spell on heat up, world great for three melts a propane roofing torch.
After the last melt, dumped it out, scooped out excess slag and let it cool. Once cold, the remainder skull peeled right off. Worked great for a little hobby aluminum sand casting.
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