Dirty, Dirty in AL city

[N20Silverado]

I now know why aluminum has so many impurities in it and can be a pain to weld. I have been working at a facility that melts scrap AL into sows. I have seen tire fires burn cleaner than that. The process is very crude. A refractory lined concrete mixer with a giant blow torch aimed down the center to melt all of the "stuff" that can be pilled in it. I know this is common information to some of you but I thought I would still share.

Does anybody know what the long term health problems of working there in the long term? I am not worried. I was only there three days. What about the people that breath that smoke in day in and day out.

[Steve]

Of all the Al I ever melted, It was the impurities that caused the smoke. I mean if they threw in an Al oil pan that had been in service since 1972, It would have a lot of hydrocarbons soaked into it. That really smokes when you get it hot. Come to think of it, there is no good smoke to be inhaling that I know of.

[Anti-GMAW]

The aluminum they melt down is not the end result. The aluminum they melt down will be further refined at another location where they will add/remove certain metals and/or chemicals to acheive the desired alloy. When they do they will remove all unwanted material from the final product leaving only the desired elements. The impurity's experienced during welding arn't from the aluminum itself but rather impurities on the surface. There are times when as previously mentioned impurities such as oil may have had a chance to soak into the aluminum causing some major PITA but otherwise it's usualy the oxide and other crud on the surface.

[M1.30-'06]

Breathing any type of smoke or dust is not good for you, especially if you work around it every day.

[N20Silverado]

The aluminum they melt down is not the end result. The aluminum they melt down will be further refined at another location where they will add/remove certain metals and/or chemicals to acheive the desired alloy. When they do they will remove all unwanted material from the final product leaving only the desired elements. The impurity's experienced during welding arn't from the aluminum itself but rather impurities on the surface. There are times when as previously mentioned impurities such as oil may have had a chance to soak into the aluminum causing some major PITA but otherwise it's usualy the oxide and other crud on the surface.

Thanks for clearing that up. This facility also fills those casks you see going down the road on flat beads. I was told they can ship 4 hrs and still have time to work with it. It was dirty but interesting to learn how it all worked.

[Steve]

The best thing I welded on was a propeller for a Suzuki outboad motor. Welded as if it was new. And yes Cast Al does get stuff in the AL. Take a look. The hole is from outgassing. the black stuff was in the Al. I'll start another post with the rest of the pictures of this project for us to get critical over. Should be a fun view for us.