Aircrete blocks for a forge?

Home Model Engine Machinist Forum

Help Support Home Model Engine Machinist Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

lee webster

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 4, 2019
Messages
317
Reaction score
116
Location
Cornwall UK
I call them 'Thermalite'. I lived in Hemel Hempstead where a version called 'Hemelite' was made. I now live in Cornwall and would like to build a small forge to melt aluminium. I can buy the correct block for doing this, but I would either have to send for them or collect them, 120 miles away in Exeter, for 5 blocks. I have seen a video on youtube with aircrete blocks being used to build a simple forge/furnace. It seems to work and I can buy them locally at £1.50 each. If anyone has made such a forge what is it like to use? Mine would be electric and if I use the aircrete blocks I would apply a good layer of fire cement to the inside, but the blocks are supposed to be fire proof. Second question. Is there anywhere in Cornwall (I live in Illogan near Redruth) where I can buy the proper blocks and other casting supplies? I need sodium silicate for the sand moulds and can't buy it locally.
Lee
 
Yes them blocks should be ok ,the amount of heat my blocks have put up with over the years and still going strong ,use loads of fire cement ,or fire proof board that you use in wood stoves instead of fire bricks,most builders merchants sell it or a fire place seller,l think you still can buy fire cement that you mix with water,give ebay a go ,going back to the fire board it cuts great just with a hand saw,hope this helps.
wes
 
Thanks Wesley, Just the reply I was hoping for! I now realize that I should really have called it a foundry. I blame my confusion on late nights and youtube videos about casting metal and making a foundry.
Lee
 
Hi all,

Well, what an eventful few days since my last posting about trying to find suppliers of materials to make a foundry. I discovered that pottery suppliers usually stock most of the materials I needed, but I couldn’t find a supplier in Cornwall. A web search turned up many potters, but only 1 supplier who had shut down a few years ago. I sent an email to one of the potters asking where he got his materials from and the reply was the supplier who had shut down. He hadn’t shut down, just moved 500 yards round the corner. I went to see him and got both the sodium silicate and some silica sand, but no refractory blocks. When I returned home I sent an email to the potter thanking him and continued my search along a different tack, I would search for people casting metal hereabouts and ask them who supplied them. I left an email with a local business that is an engineering company that also casts metal, JW Engineering of Camborne, Cornwall. Five minutes later they phoned me inviting me to a pour today 10th Nov. I went along and watched as John was timing the melt of 25kg of cast iron in his home made foundry. Before long John and his wife Angela helped by their son used a small crane to lift the crucible out of the foundry and poured the iron into two moulds. A second smaller melt filled the third mould. If that wasn’t enough the potter has sent me an email stating that he probably has some spare refractory blocks I could have. I am arranging a suitable time to meet up. If all goes to plan I could have a foundry up and melting by next weekend, but I have family visiting so that could slow me down a bit. Meanwhile I will experiment with the sodium silicate and silica sand to see what sort of mould I can produce. Because of the shape of the cylinder block I think I will have make the mould in six parts, four sides and top and bottom. The sides will have to be semi self-supporting, green sand won’t do that. That is why I need try different strengths of sodium and silica to find a mix that will hold its shape with very little framework.

Lee
 

Latest posts

Back
Top