[djmcmath]

When this topic came up on FB, I discovered that one of my friends was a welder and smelter. He pointed out that melting aluminum isn't that hard, but 1200F is REALLY hot. Basically, you need an enclosure for the fire that you can push air through, with the aluminum in a cast iron pot in the middle. Pushing the air is pretty straightforward: a hair dryer should provide enough forced air to make it work. The goal isn't insanity, it's just to get some additional air through the fire.

He also noted that you've got to have your whole smelting setup seriously portable -- you've got to set up basically at the ant nest in question, because the aluminum cools really fast.

If something like that can go for $4500 on eBay, I'll start hunting for ant mounds this spring. That's a serious bonus check, in my world.

Dan