We are replacing "holy moley" in the glossary. The suspended molten aluminum balls are even more surprising. It's not that we don't believe it will work-we understand physics after the fact. It's just that we never thought about building an induction forging furnace that can melt and suspend a large piece of aluminum at the same time. (The video is embedded below.)

[imsmoother] There have been online plans for 3 kW and 10 kW induction heaters since at least 2011, and we want to know how we didn't cover it before. In any case, in the video, he is using the smaller of the two to melt a large piece of aluminum.

The trick with aluminum is that although it is non-magnetic, it easily induces eddy currents in it. Basically, the pulse current in the coil generates a changing magnetic field, which induces a current loop in the aluminum, which acts like an electromagnet and generates its own reverse magnetic field. When these two are strong enough, they can suspend a piece (and later an aluminum block) in the air.

We don't know if this has any practical applications-it is easy to melt aluminum in a crucible, and this floating induction process is limited by the weight of the aluminum that needs to be suspended. However, it is still a great presentation. (See also the classic video on aluminum, magnets and eddy currents.)

Forging now seems to be the spirit of the times. We just published an article on direct metal 3D printing, you don’t need to go too far to find items like Reactor Forge, 1000 W induction solder pot or Kentucky-Fried furnace. However, if induction is not your favorite, you can melt aluminum in the microwave at any time.

Thanks to [Julia Longtin] for inadvertently providing tips via the HacDC mailing list!

He can kick these extension cords out of the coil before closing the coil

Why not put it in a bucket of water. May make some interesting shapes (and steam explosions)

It will make cool shapes. But there is no steam explosion. Leiden Frost effect.

Or maybe just leave it in the heater for a while and then wait for steam (at a great distance). People often forget that metals boil/evaporate (although the temperature of aluminum exceeds 2400C).

Self-made sun model. I agree. :D

I was surprised that he did not get a pleasant visit from Fairy Jinsi. I have always been told to never let molten metal fall on the cement because of the residual moisture in the material. I can only imagine that if aluminum falls on any splashing oil, fireworks might happen.

I didn't notice it the first time. Isn't this his three strikes? The extension cord under the floating molten aluminum ball is loose. Oil spilling under floating molten aluminum balls. Floating aluminum water ball...

This is why you invest in a mask! Good video, waterjet.

Rotate the blob along the axis to form an aerodynamic shape, charge it up Now put the blob on the rail gun :)

Washing machine launcher! Blob will explode!

Doesn't it depend on how fast you start the blob? If you can fire a spot at about the speed of a bullet, it will still cause more damage than a small piece of lead.

Do it the other way around: put a piece of solid aluminum into the railgun and launch it with enough power to melt it in the process :-)

Look for "Government Railgun". The first few meters, it seems to be yellow hot!

Wow! Is it possible to reduce the current enough to solidify to deformed spots after it has completely melted? Or does it require too much energy to resist gravity to cool the spots?

Obviously, the levitation force does not need to generate any heat at all. Not all magnetic levitation objects such as maglev trains are in a high temperature and liquid state of hundreds of degrees.

Yes, but they did not use aluminum.

As long as the magnetic field changes constantly, aluminum will respond, so there is almost no difference in the hot part. Also, is it cool and floating at the beginning of the video?

Specifically, whether the HIS device can suspend the aluminum and cool the agglomerates after the aluminum is melted. We don’t know if suspending at the lowest threshold will freeze it. Unless I missed the explanation in the video.

Please make it into a lamp. I want to know if it can be reduced to a "reasonable" size and temperature. This will be the coolest (haha, not literally) red-purple night light in the world. (But I will never sleep with that glowing monster!)

Purple is the camera, showing you the infrared light emitted because it has a terrible infrared filter.

damn it. I should catch that! thanks. :) Then it will emit red and yellow light. ;) Hahaha!

Even for the 2010 video, the video quality seems to be very poor.

Manual focus may not be able to achieve auto focus due to infrared interference and excessive brightness. Unless you mean low quality pictures? It looks good to me. (Except for the scary focus.) Again, maybe EMF is messing up.

...I need an induction coil STAT!

http://image.made-in-china.com/2f0j10LZgaKEAGvukt/-Bobina-de-inducci-n-para-el-aparato-el-ctrico.jpg

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/35/Chi-square_pdf.svg

Damn, HaD needs editing or previewing. :(

Well, you did laugh, but for another reason, haha. I want a warning that says "link" or "embedded image or video". HaD has a suggestion box. I might throw things at it.

When looking back at the image, I found this irrelevant gem. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Induction_coil#Mercury_and_electrolytic_interrupters

Mercury turbine circuit breaker! ? ! As if generating high pressure was not dangerous enough, someone had to spray mercury on rotating objects.

I saw them on AliExpress the other day while looking for other parts. From 100W for $8 to 1000W for $50, it is a bit of getting rid of the fun of DIY. http://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?catId=0&initiative_id=AS_20160603044907&SearchText=induction+coil+module

The next desktop 3D printing with molten metal?

They are not suitable for aluminum or copper. Steel (and iron) and graphite are the only things that can be heated directly. Titanium works slightly. I have large and small units.

I think this belongs to the category of "any significantly advanced technology can be regarded as magic": D I like to watch such things very much. I need to build a big one at some point: D

The real purpose of this kind of thing is to smelt high-purity metals-gold, silver, and platinum. You can melt a small piece of it and know that it will not absorb contaminants from the container wall. Usually not used for jewelry, but used for precision electronic products!

I want to know whether the molten aluminum mass can be used to grow large corundum crystals. Blowing oxygen through the spots over a longer period of time should produce enough alumina. If the temperature: time curve is correct, the oxide should dissolve into the mass and begin to crystallize after reaching a certain density threshold.

"We don't know if this has any practical applications-it is easy to melt aluminum in a crucible, and this floating induction process is limited by the weight of the aluminum that needs to be suspended."

I thought of a good way-this is a safety improvement! No, really (though if you treat it the way you used it in the video, obviously you won't). You can simply place the induction heater on the mold, suspend the aluminum as it melts, then turn off the magnetic field and place it in the mold. There is no need to walk around with the incandescent metal crucible at the end of the tongs, nor to tip the entire furnace and pour out the metal. Eliminating the requirement to move molten metal horizontally means that the metal can only overflow in one place, which is directly above the mold.

Or just use Ardunio. Ha ha.

I like. It will be fun to try, but there may be a "splash problem". But this can be solved by pipes.

I want to make a mini version on a simple sand mold.

Or under microgravity?

How about continuous feed induction forging? For a long coil, you give it a wire or bar from the top, and its liquid drizzle enters the mold in a continuous stream.

The last line of the video: "You have to admit, this is really cool, isn't it?"

Yes. Yes. It's really cool.

URSS studied this process as early as 196. A Swiss aluminum company (then Alusuisse) purchased a license to continue research at the end of 197x. Finally, there is a machine that can produce aluminum ingots (if I remember correctly, about 6m long 2m x 0.6m part) called low-cost automatic casting. I know that some of them were sold in the United States in the 199's. From an electronic point of view, this is an extremely complex machine, equipped with a huge current converter, an early LED matrix screen to maintain the magnetic field, and a high-speed computer that can maintain approximately halftones on top of the solidified aluminum liquid. The cross-sectional shape of the molten aluminum slowly enters the part of the pool. Compared with traditional casting, the advantage of this process is that the ingot is more uniform, especially near the surface, which is an important parameter for the quality of the next metallurgical process (such as lamination or extrusion). The disadvantage is that if there is a problem (such as a power outage), you will have half a ton of liquid aluminum falling into the pool, which usually forms a dangerous mixture that can disperse the liquid metal for several meters. This problem also exists in the traditional casting process, but the liquid aluminum does not fall at the same time, thus limiting the danger.

Half a ton of suspended, hot liquid aluminum will be amazing. I want to know if there are any videos (ideally with some reasonable frame size).

I don't know any video of the development machine that I have witnessed, but it is not that spectacular to see it because the surrounding coils take up a lot of space and hide the liquid part of the aluminum. If I remember correctly, the distance between the liquid aluminum and the coil is only a few centimeters. The coil is water-cooled from the inside. In the building where the machine was developed, only a few people were authorized to stay inside when the machine was being tested, and it was completely covered with insulation cloth.

The Internet was not a subject at the time, so it was difficult to find something online. I just found this: http://www.google.com.na/patents/EP0015870A1?cl=en (same process, but for continuous casting) https://infoscience.epfl.ch/record/31987/files /EPFL_TH1509. The last pdf file has a lot of details about the process, but unfortunately there are no photos. It is said that the ingot part is 1.86m X 0.51m (smaller than I remember) so you can imagine the scale of the machine. The part above the surface is not big, maybe only about one meter. The rest are basically pools below the surface. There is a huge natural gas furnace next to the casting machine, which is used to hold and supply liquid aluminum. The current converter is a few meters away, the size of a small truck. Many monitoring devices are connected to VAX machines communicating with 1Mbps coaxial Ethernet. This is the first Ethernet network I have seen in my life :-)

"Zero Gravity Aluminum Vacuum Casting"

Arthur C. Clarke "Earthlight"'nuff said

I'm going to the library. It looks easy to read! After all, it is ACC. I haven't read a novel for a long time, maybe this is it. That or from the earth to the moon.

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