Melting scrap copper wire

I melted several pounds of stranded wire in a homemade foundry of mine. What I found was that the amount of dross, and oxidation, due to large surface area, gave me a very small return. Granted, it was the first time I tried it, but with the cost of fuel, time and limited return, I decided not to proceed.....................yet!

Originally Posted by jonnyjeb

I melted several pounds of stranded wire in a homemade foundry of mine. What I found was that the amount of dross, and oxidation, due to large surface area, gave me a very small return. Granted, it was the first time I tried it, but with the cost of fuel, time and limited return, I decided not to proceed.....................yet!

The colors coming off the furnace are awesome when your melting copper into either anodes and ingots.

Originally Posted by jonnyjeb

I melted several pounds of stranded wire in a homemade foundry of mine. What I found was that the amount of dross, and oxidation, due to large surface area, gave me a very small return. Granted, it was the first time I tried it, but with the cost of fuel, time and limited return, I decided not to proceed.....................yet!

did you use charcoal dust as a degasser??( the carbon gets converted to co and co2..I would also burn the wire prior to smelting to burn of the plastic pvc coatings..

I stripped all the wire of insulation first, before I tried melting. I can't bring myself to burn insulation. I didn't use any flux whatsoever, so there is a lot of room for improvement on my melt trial. In fact, much of the dross was copper, so I suppose I could have used flux to make the copper more fluid during he melt, I just haven't had time to refine the process...............yet

I will be doing the same soon, I have heard that you keep a layer of charcoal on the melt the entire time including pouring it (which can be tricky with just 1 person). Im a member on Alloy Ave so I will get more info on doing this and relay it here.

i looked at the website that makes the copper foundry flux it is mostly salt, borax and olivine sand...i looked at their msds sheet..