[DigitalArtisan]

I still consider myself just a 'noob' when it comes to machining, but I really enjoy it as a hobby and potential career. In lieu of this, most of my machining practice is done with aluminum for several reasons; it's cheap, and it's easy to work with...

My questions are:

1) Does anybody here kiln-fire their mill/lathe shavings back into bricks and/or otherwise stock material.
and
2) If so, what do recommend when looking to purchase/build a small kiln for such home use.




I can see this becoming an increasingly worthy investment; especially as I begin working with more expensive metals.

Thanks,
Josh

[awerby]

I don't think a kiln would be the right tool for making ingots out of your swarf. It would take so long to melt it that you'd mostly get oxide, not metal. In general, swarf doesn't melt well in an oxygen-rich atmosphere, even if you have a melting furnace, because it has so much surface area in relation to its mass. And ingots aren't the same as billet; they tend to have porosity which you hit when machining them. People with serious machine shops have compactors for their swarf that squeeze it into brick shapes. These aren't good for anything in particular, but take up less space while waiting to be recycled. Metal recyclers don't give you much for swarf in any form, but they like it compacted better than loose.

Andrew Werby
www.computersculpture.com

[DigitalArtisan]

So then i take it that it's not something that's done very much...

Seems like I read somewhere inert gasses can be used to eliminate oxidation, like helium for example. Being lighter than air it would readily push the O2 out the bottom of the kiln or furnace.

I can see where porosity would create problems machining though, -that's something I didn't think of; and something I've run into before when melting glass.

The cost of those rapid fire kilns, with the info you've provided, probably means holding off then on making a purchase.

Thank you for the info.

Josh