First Al Ingot Today, Issues

Good idea, Mike. How high will those turkey cookers go?
 
Your parts look pretty much the same as the stuff we pour in aluminum at UND from mixed scrap stock. I try to make sure to flux the metal and occasionally degas it before pouring, but the stuff never machines as good as bar stock unless you do some conditioning to it post pour. I typically have my students cast about half the parts for their steam engines out of aluminum or bronze so we do a fair amount of it.
 
Sorry Tony Wells I know that this is way late but i just found this post, I use a simple turkey roaster to get temps up to 550 degrees. I stick a stainless thremometer down through the sand to watch the temp. Then when i reach the degrees i am looking for, i turn it off and the sand holds the heat till the next day when i can get stuff out. I use it mostly for flint, which need a real smooth steady heat or it will explode. But 550 degrees should work for most any tempering.
 
I have subsequently resolved most of my issues and now my ingots machine like new metal. I found that I need to cast thicker ingots. I have made two molds for casting. One is 12"x4"x2.5" (lxwxh) with three bulkheads that effectively give me 4 ingots that are 4x3x2.5. The second mold is 8x3x3. I use this one to cast a single ingot. After pouring the melt I let it cool for about 10 minutes and the rapid cooling with water.

This is working very well for the ingots I need for machine work.
 
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