Melting down 100 cans of Red Bull into just 1

Quick Overview

The creator successfully melted down approximately 100 Red Bull cans into a single aluminum ingot by first 3D printing a mold using Formlabs Castable Wax Resin, then using the wax print as a burnout pattern, creating a plaster investment mold, melting the aluminum in a propane forge, and finally casting the molten aluminum into the mold using a vacuum casting machine, resulting in a silver-colored ingot with surface imperfections.

Key Points: The experiment involved collecting approximately 100 empty Red Bull cans to be melted down and cast into a single solid object (0:01). A 3D model of a Red Bull can was created and prepared for printing using Formlabs PreForm software, estimating a print time of 8 hours and 5 minutes using Castable Wax Resin (0:18, 0:33). After printing and cleaning the wax pattern, it was used to create an investment mold by filling a metal perforated flask with plaster (0:40, 0:56). The wax pattern was burned out in a kiln set to 150°C (1:24), and the resulting mold was then used for the vacuum casting process. The creator melted the aluminum from the cans in a propane-powered 'Devil Forge' and encountered an issue where the collected aluminum yield was about 100 milliliters less than expected (1:56, 2:07). The molten aluminum was successfully cast into the mold using a vacuum casting machine, followed by cooling in water (3:03, 3:19). The final product, a silver-colored aluminum ingot retaining the shape of the can (with visible surface texture from the investment material), was presented as a successful, albeit imperfect, creation (4:16).

Context: The video documents a complex DIY project where the creator attempts to recycle a large quantity of aluminum beverage cans (specifically Red Bull) by melting them down and casting the resulting metal into a mold. This process involves several distinct stages: 3D printing a sacrificial wax model of the target object (a can), using that model to create a metal-casting investment mold, melting the source material (aluminum cans) in a forge, and finally pouring the molten metal into the mold using a vacuum casting setup.