The Video Thread

Haus said:

Oh mylanta....

Yeah, copper will ABSOLUTELY pop and explode if you're pouring it and molten copper hits anything with moisture on/in it. (instant conversion from liquid to steam for an "explosion").

Good example : I was pouring some copper I had salvaged/scrapped together on day. It was summer so it was hot on top of the furnace. I was drenched in sweat, as I'm a fat kid, and fat kids sweat. So I was also using a pair of pouring tongs and pouring molten copped into some simple rectangular graphite ingot molds. As I poured the last one I hear this loud "POP" and suddenly felt some distinct stinging. I had gone through my normal protocol of putting the molds on top of the furnace for a few minutes before the pour, which basically heats all the moisture off them. But this was what my good meltin' hat looked like afterwards :
View attachment 632378

Now I wear eye protection (for both this reason and that I need readers), and a leather apron, and make sure I have thick leather welding gloves that cover my forearms on, for JUST this reason. I look at the pouring table after and I see where literally sweat was dripping off my arm, face, and glasses and there were spots from it around the mold, so I figured literally a drop or two of sweat got into the mold as I was moving the crucible around to the other molds. Tiny droplets of molten copper will make holes straight through synthetic fabrics (like my hat) with a quickness.

One drop managed past my apron and I still had a little "sting mark" from it on my chest as a reminder.

Oddly, I haven't had this issue with aluminum, zinc, or even brass (which is mostly copper).

Pretty obvious the ground/gravel around that dude was wet and he wasn't careful pouring.... Also, never pour over concrete, as if moisture is trapped in there and explodes then not only do you have molten metal, you have little pieces of stone shrapnel too.

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