Yesterday, I tried to make an aluminum brick at home. It was a fun and interesting experiment, though it took a bit more time than I expected.
I started by gathering all the materials I needed. I collected a bunch of aluminum cans, cleaned them, and removed all the labels and any leftover liquids. It took a while, but it’s an important step because you don’t want any contaminants in your aluminum.
Then, I crushed the cans to make them smaller and easier to melt. I just used a hammer to smash them flat, making sure to wear gloves and eye protection because sometimes little sharp pieces can fly off.
Melting the Aluminum
The next part was the most exciting – melting the aluminum. I built a makeshift furnace in my backyard using some firebricks and a propane torch. I placed a steel crucible inside the furnace to hold the aluminum. I lit the torch and started heating the crucible slowly.
- Add the crushed aluminum to the crucible.
- Keep heating until it all melts into a liquid.
- Skim off any impurities that float to the top.
It took a while for all the aluminum to melt, and I had to keep adding more cans to the crucible. Once it was all liquid, I carefully poured the molten aluminum into a mold I had made earlier. I just used a simple steel container for this, but you can get creative with different shapes.
Cooling and Finishing
After pouring, I let the aluminum cool down and solidify. This also took some time, so I just left it alone for a few hours. Once it was completely cool, I removed the aluminum brick from the mold. It was pretty rough around the edges, so I used a file and sandpaper to smooth it out and give it a nice finish.
The whole process was quite a bit of work, but it was really satisfying to see the finished product. It wasn’t perfect, a bit rough and not as smooth as store-bought aluminum, but I made it myself! I’m not sure what I’ll do with it yet, maybe just keep it as a cool souvenir from this little project. It’s not every day you can say you made your own aluminum brick!
It’s way more work than just getting it from some contractor. But hey, where’s the fun in that, right?
