I don't have the answers to your questions but your project reminded me=20
of another way to achieve your goal.  Search a bit and you will find a=20
method of using a microwave oven  to melt small amounts of castable=20
metals.  The trick is a special crucible - it has a heat insulator on=20
the outside to protect the oven from the resulting high temps and a=20
graphite crucible inside of that with the target metal to cast within it.

On 6/8/2014 1:09 PM, Jason White wrote:
> Recently I have been experimenting with metal castings, primarily
> aluminum as it has a nice low melting point.
--=20
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