Re: ATM - Casting Aluminum

[Dale Carlson <drc@oz.net>]

I feel I should tell of my own stupidity, just
as a caution.

I'd been making some small zinc castings, using US
plated pennies for metal. Probably illegal, but
they melt like butter with the direct heat from
a small butane torch :) After much success, I
decided to see if a small piece of aluminum would 
melt in the same way. I cut about a half-inch
piece off a scrap screen door frame (hard aluminum).
I sat it on a concrete slab and began heating it with
the torch. The resulting explosion blew a 1 inch deep
crater in the concrete slab. Better that than me :)

I trust that nobody on this list would try such a foolish
experiment, but I just thought I'd mention it!

Dale