Subject: Borax Question

From: [email-masked] (bikerbil)
Date: Fri, 05 Jul 1996 00:13:46 GMT

Can I use the sam Borax from the Grocery store for flux in Aluminium ?

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From: [email-masked] (BrnzCaster)
Date: 4 Jul 1996 22:16:58 -0400

>Can I use the sam Borax from the Grocery store for flux in Aluminium ?

The "20 Mule Team Borax" is what I use to flux my silicon bronze melts
(together with ground glass at a 50:50 ratio).
Borax is not an effective flux for aluminum melts. When I do flux
aluminum, I use a commercial flux of various fluorides/chlorides. I only
flux when melting "very dirty/mixed" scrap, otherwise, nothing is used.
I never flux brass melts, letting the zinc flare do all the work of
bringing the impurities to the top and degassing.
You can pour clean aluminum if you do a thorough skim and use a choked
sprue/gate, even when working with dirty, recycled feed.
Fluxes are not a cure-all for poor melting and molding practices and I
avoid their use where possible.

Winston
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Winston W. Harness
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/brnzcaster/
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