Sandcast aluminum ray gun, with bonus pour vid

Craft & Design Fun & Games Wearables
Sandcast aluminum ray gun, with bonus pour vid
aluminum_raygun_01.jpg
aluminum_raygun_02.jpg

Craig Bush saw our recent post about Ryan Palser’s Fallout 3 replica weapons and thought we might be interested in this photoset of his home-poured aluminum Call of Duty ray gun replica. He was right. As much as the prop itself, I really dig his video of the pour, embedded above. If you’re interested in sandcasting aluminum at home, there’s a lot to learn, in the 120-odd seconds of this video, about how to do it right.

More:

8 thoughts on “Sandcast aluminum ray gun, with bonus pour vid

  1. mecsim says:

    I was under the impression that aluminum requires an extremely high melting temperature. What setup (heat source) did he use to melt the aluminum?

    1. Gilberti says:

      Aluminum melts at a little over 1,200 degrees Fahrenheit (660 degrees Celsius), a temperature very much reachable in a household charcoal fire, especially if a little extra air is forced in with a hair dryer or a leaf blower.

    2. Walter_in_Black says:

      It was using a standard propane tank and took about a half hour to melt everything. I did use the charcoal and blower method once to cremate a friends hamster. The local place wanted $150 to do it…

  2. Anonymous says:

    Really i have much interest in this photos..
    Aluminium Kozijnen

Comments are closed.

Discuss this article with the rest of the community on our Discord server!
Tagged

I am descended from 5,000 generations of tool-using primates. Also, I went to college and stuff. I am a long-time contributor to MAKE magazine and makezine.com. My work has also appeared in ReadyMade, c't – Magazin für Computertechnik, and The Wall Street Journal.

View more articles by Sean Michael Ragan

ADVERTISEMENT

Maker Faire Bay Area 2023 - Mare Island, CA

Escape to an island of imagination + innovation as Maker Faire Bay Area returns for its 15th iteration!

Buy Tickets today! SAVE 15% and lock-in your preferred date(s).

FEEDBACK