Hobby metal caster looking to buy metal (SE WI)

I think, for casting Aluminium, you have to start with cast Aluminium. Its got the proper quality's for pouring when molten, getting into all the sharp corners of the mould and staying roughly the same shape when its gone cold.

Depending on the amounts you want, I'd be stripping down car engines & gearboxes for Ali.
Its not that hard, except for the valve guides in the head.
. (I use a steel shaft from something, gearbox or fridge compressor, and a big hammer, and always seem to bash my left hand around the knuckle of my first finger, so I use extra padded gloves on my left hand)

The engine can be split into two by sending a 9inch angle grinder down the length of the head and above the crankshaft, then slam a steel wedge/cold chisle into the gap to split it & to remove the bore liners.

Use earmuffs, safety glasses, and padded gloves when using the big hammer.....

Gearboxes have lots of nice solid gears and shafts, I think you get extra $$$ if you fill 55gallon drums with them and sell it like that to the scrap metal buyer.
There's a bit of Brass there too.

That e-waste guy may be a good source of cast aluminum for you. Those hard drives are made from cast aluminum.

I came to your post as it was reported as advertising to buy which is not allowed. I would like to see your intro post stay here so maybe you could remove the offer to buy from it. Thanks.

I'm also a metal caster, have not done any castings for several years. My preferance is automotive aluminum.

First image is a fishing weight mold used to cast lead weights.

Try some tire shops that cater to the domestic crowd then dont forget the commercial transport shops they usually have a good supply of damaged rims that you can purchase at scrap price or slightly above to sweeten the pot. Transmission repair shops, sometimes a trans case will be damaged beyound useable conditioon.

Machine shops that specialise in head rebuilding will have heads damaged and not worth repairing heading to the scrap bin.

Also noticed you have a lot of up pull and pick a parts auto salvage yards to choose from, go for the damaged aluminum rims they'll be glad to have you as a customer.

Marinas that repair boat engines would also produce a good waste stream of aluminum also look at some of the recerational dealers that sell and servioce snow mobiles and motor cycles and such, any small air ports near you - drop in and speak with one of the mechanics a lot of the parts used on aircraft engines is aluminum.

Agricultural shops that sell and service farm tractors, check out the bins on the back lot, car dealerships usually have junk laying around but you need to ask as it maybe a valuble core waiting to be shipped back on warranty.

Small engine reapair shops that fix mowers have tons of scrap aluminum engines, forget the transmissions you'll be paying for to much iron and have to deal with the heavy oil.

If you find an old barbecue in the scrap leave it there, that's where it belongs it's the worse scrap I've worked with for metal casting waaay to much dross.

For those of you that are serious about metal casting as a hobby avoid extruded, die cast, plate and structual. Some of my favouit alloys are automatic trnsmission cases, engine blocks, cylinder heads, rims, hydraulic pumps, outobard marine engines.

Some of the above alloys have resistance to abrasion, some to errosion with the high silicon alloys able to fill the most intricate cavitys like the air cooled fins small air cooled engines.

After removing dross I use a deagassing tablet just befor pouring the metal into the sand mold, always arrange your core box so that the bottom side is topside. This way any small bits of dross going into the pour will make a small imperfection on the non usualble side.

On my fishing weight molds had these imperfections showed up on the inside where the finish of the lead casting is criticle the casting woiuld have to be discarded. Imperfections on the backside are easily cleaned up.

Foundrys use ceramic filters during the pour to keep out contaminants from entering the mold.

This SCUBA weight mold would have been poured with the bottom side up keeping the inside free of imperfections.

Message for the OP I have made serveal posts on this topic which you may find of interest http://www.scrapmetalforum.com/metal-casting/