Paul Loatman

Just wanted to let everyone know that this turned out fine. The aluminium sort of warped when i poured the tin in it, so it was no longer flat, it was close, but the dip that was in the pan reversed itself and created a dip in the tin instead, so i had to mill quite a bit more than i was expecting, but it wasn't that bad. For anyone else who wants to do something similar; the tin melted very easily over the stove in a cast iron skillet, and it machines very easily, similar to aluminium but a bit gummier, no need for special tooling, HSS works fine. Thanks for the help everyone. -Paul

I actually already order the aluminium cake pan, it's heavy gauge stuff, and not flexible, has a very flat bottom, so it should be fine. I was thinking it would be fairly thin and flexible and therefore end up with an un-even bottom during manufacture or through transit, until i looked around and found that they're designed to be quite thick for more even heating (for bakers). I'm going to try a few small tests before melting the whole ingot so i'll see if it works or not. I saw the silicone pans when i was searching, but it seemed like it may be too soft for 4 pounds of tin, i wasn't sure how well it would hold up to the sudden temperature either. If it needs a bit of milling, that'll be fine, i can do that myself, but looking at the pan, i don't think it will. I tried checking the flatness with a machinist square and it's very flat, there's a slightly detectable dip right in the center which i will just mill away or possibly file away. I'll let you know how it goes. Thanks for the post. -Paul

One micron is about where i try to keep tolerances for escapements and my own gear cutters, but for this i just need something relatively flat, it actually needs to have a slightly rough surface so that the polishing compound stays on the surface, I can add that with a file, but one of the sides needs to be overall pretty much level so that i can make smooth strokes with whatever i'm polishing. This is a method for giving steel parts a "black polish" (essentially a mirror finish.). Never dealt with glass, but sounds interesting, i may try something similar if i ever get around to making a pocket watch crystal myself. Thanks for bringing up that topic, it may come in handy for me. This is good to know that it won't stick to stainless or aluminium, i can get an aluminium pan in the size that i need, the stainless pans on Amazon all seem to be too big though. I can actually mill the ingot myself as it is, but the reason for smelting it into a pan is so that i can have a larger surface area for polishing, a lot of people (watchmakers) will try polishing on a 2 inch square block of tin or zinc and it will work, eventually, but the work is so much quicker (and uniform) to have a polishing surface in the shape of a disk at 6-8 inches for watch sized parts, and larger for clocks. One thing i've learned is that the largest machines and tools are used to make and finish the smallest parts in the big Swiss factories, the extra size usually equates to rigidity, and rigidity is key for precision. I'll look into Ceramic, and maybe try the pyrex, although i'd go for the aluminium first. I appreciate the post, that clarifies a few things for me. The olive oil is a good idea, i will definitely try that. Yes, i want the underside to be flat, i'm sure the top side will be relatively flat, but i know it will sink slightly and it would be much quicker to just pour it onto a flat pan so that i don't have to do much else to get that side working, i expect a file should be enough as long as the pan is actually flat, otherwise i'll have to mill it flat then file it. I'll probably try a few small tests first to see how it all goes before melting the whole ingot. I appreciate the posts fella's. Thanks, -Paul

Hello, I'm a watchmaker and i have a tin ingot which i would like to smelt in a cast iron skillet and then pour into something else, but i'm not sure what materials can be used to prevent the tin from sticking. I want to use something with a flat bottom because i'm using the tin as a polishing block and i would prefer a close to flat surface right after pouring so i don't have to do too much more work to get it in a usable state, and of course, i want to be able to remove the tin from whatever i pour it into to use the flat side. I'm looking around on Amazon.com and have found a baking pan of the appropriate size with a silicone based non-stick coating, obviously intended for food, but would the silicone coating help, hurt, or make no difference with the tin? If this sort of pan wouldn't help, could someone suggest a material that would work? I've heard that the old Corning Pyrex baking dishes/pans would work but the modern Pyrex glass is different from the old stuff and not designed to withstand high thermal shocks (like having molten metal poured onto it.). I would appreciate any help, also i apologize if this might be in a wrong section of the forums, i wasn't entirely sure where to ask, thanks. -Paul