This post is an archival post from the original Datamancer.net blog, which is no longer online. It was written by Richard Nagy between 2009 and 2012, before he passed away. We have kept it public, unchanged apart from the layout, so the information stays available to as many people as possible.
A little while back, I asked my friend, Jacob, if he would make me a crucible and some tongs for my metal casting setup. His Snap-On welder is far superior to my Home Depot Special (which claims that it can weld up to 3/16th” steel, but I think that must be in a perfect laboratory setting because it struggles with anything over 1/8″) and I didn’t want to take any chances where flesh and phalanges are at stake. He not only made me a crucible and tongs, but actually surprised me with another, taller crucible as well. These things are made from 3″ OD, 1/4″ thick pipe and are built like brick ScheißHäuser! He really did a great job on them and smoothed out all of the welds and sandblasted them so you can barely tell there is even a seam on the bottom endcaps. Here are some pics of the crucibles, tongs and my casting supply cart with my propane tank, Petro-bond sand, and the cool, heavy-duty flask I scored recently that was built in 1965 (it’s overkill for most things I’ll be casting, but I got a good deal on it)!
Thanks, Jacob!
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-~D~-