Need to melt my copper.

+1

Copper melts at around 2000. It's one thing to use a torch to melt drops off of the end of a piece of wire, it's an entirey different thing to get enough heat through a crucible to maintain a molten mass.


Right now, your stripped wire is "clean" copper and the highest scrap value.
The oxidation you will introduce by attempting to melt it will reduce it's value significantly.

 

I'm melting it myself. Read OP. lol

 

Don't bother melting it down. Just strip the insulation off and sell it to a local scrap yard as bare-bright, which is the highest grade of copper.

 

I would do that, but I'm sitting on my copper. Wires laying around or spooled up takes up space. Small bars would be better.

 

dont melt it. you'll just burn most of it. rich said. oxidation. bad

unless your set up to do it in a crucible and can maintain a non reactive atmosphere with fluxing agents and/or inert/ non-reactive gas (nitrogen is not inert, but non-reactive in real world senarios).

just dont do it

 

So get a crucible if I melt it?

 

i guess, but that will greatly increase the amount of heat needed. oxy/acetylene may still be capable of melting it.

but the important thing is eliminating oxidation. you dont want to check on your molten copper and find a bunch of green crap in its place right?

and at those temperatures, aside from phosphorous, i cant think of anything that would work with the copper to eliminate oxidation aside from gas.

argon, helium, or nitrogen would be a good bet, CO2 may work

 

A "Crucible" is simply a container that is non-reactive and will not melt or burn at a temperature near the melting point of the metal

That's just your starting point.

You also need a way to transfer enough heat through the crucible to melt the contents, and keep the copper from oxidizing.
You can't heat the copper with a direct flame... you'll simply burn and char it.


I cast some scuba weights a few years ago. I needed to cast the lead into rods, and I needed about 10 pounds (which is not a lot of lead).

I used a cheap stainless steel pan as a crucible.
My propane torch could only melt a small puddle at any one time, putting the flame on the lead. The heat was pulled away by the air before more than maybe 1/2 pound melted.

I moved up to Mapp gas. Couldn't melt it applying heat to the pan, but I was able to melt 5 pounds applying the heat directly to the lead.

 

Seems OP is dead set on melting, no matter all the negatives.

 

I wouldn't be if I wasn't sitting on it. And it's what I asked, so yes.

 

I have the map gas torch. So if I use it, it should work?

 

im done

 

Lead melts at 621F, copper 1981F. Let us know how it goes.

And let us know how much mapp gas it takes.

 

As mentioned above, a shop press and a die. You'd be soo close to the space savings you'd get my melting it's pitiful and you don't have any of the concerns of attempting to melt not knowing at all what you're getting yourself into.

 

Not even close.

I was melting LEAD! Not copper.
Using Mapp, I was only able to melt 5 pounds of lead... couldn't hold enough heat for the 2nd 5-pounds but it was okay because I only needed 5 pounds at a time.
Lead melts at 621. Copper melts at close to 2000. That's up there with iron.
http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/melting-temperature-metals-d_860.html

Propane/Butane burns at almost 2000 and I couldn't melt more than a couple of ounces of lead (621).
Mapp burns at 2900 and I was only able to melt 5 pounds, heating directly. You'll have to heat indirectly or you'll simply burn the copper off in a green flame.

You need to factor in not only the heat produced by the flame, but also how much heat you can get into the item you want to melt.

Melting more than a few ounces is getting into serious industrial territory and it's not going to be cost effective if you're just sitting on the copper for it's scrap value at some time in the future.

 

Will people not helping, leave? I'm asking Rich.

 

Oh, okay.

 

Bare copper is around $3 a pound. Just toss it in a bucket.

 

+1

 

Definitely a cost effectiveness problem there.


$100 shop press from Harbor Freight and he can compress his copper AND build an AK47.