Copper is white?

[lloyd778]

Hi All,
I've been meltin' aluminum and brass and making ingots. I've even made a few simple sand castings. But when I took an old air conditioner apart to melt down the non ferris metals... I had a few problems. The aluminum went OK ( 14 pounds of ingots!) and the brass bits that I got made a respectible little ingot. But I was mainly after the copper. I stripped out all the copper that I could get out of the motors, wiring, and copper tubing. I melted it down in a new crucible. I got about 7 pounds of something. You see, I started out with copper, I am sure of it. But I wound up with ingots that are white (a platinum white) and they feel light compared to brass but heavier than aluminum. The metal is also brittle. I don't know what I did wrong. I was (an it looks like I still am) a copper virgin. I don't think I got it too hot. Donno. Any help or ideas would be appreciated. Thanks,
Lloyd

[imobscure]

The white might be zinc oxide. You need to melt the copper in a reducing atmosphere.

[lloyd778]

Well, shame on me. I found a bit of the motor windings that did not get melted down. It was not copper. It was aluminum. Ouch. All that work. But I learned not to take anything for granted any more. The windings looked just like copper. A lacquer coating I suppose. So as best as I can figure, I have a 50/50 mix of Cu and Al. I cannot think of a use for it right now but it may be useful someday. Perhaps. Best to just hide it away so I will not be so sad or embarrassed when I look at it.

So, if it does not look like copper - it is not copper.
If it looks like copper - it may not be copper.
If it is the windings out of a GE motor - it may not be copper.

Back to stripping electrical wire. Someday I hope to have a copper ingot. Used copper pipe is so hard to get now-a-days.

I would love to hear from anyone who has scrounged scrap and melted it into ingots.

Lloyd