Casting and Alloys
Melt metal in a Crucible, pour it into a mold, and wait for it to set.
Melting
Put meltable things in a hot crucible and they melt into its tank once they reach their melting point:
| Put in | Melts into |
|---|---|
| Copper ore, raw copper | Molten Copper |
| Gold ore, raw gold | Molten Gold |
| Iron ore, raw iron | Molten Iron (needs a very hot, blown fire) |
| Tin, Zinc or Lead Ingot | Molten Tin / Zinc / Lead |
| Sand or Red Sand | Molten Glass |
| Nether Quartz | Molten Quartz Glass |
JEI lists each melting point: tin 232 Tu, lead 327, zinc 420, gold 950, copper 1000, glass 1400, iron 1600, quartz glass 1650. One item makes one ingot's worth, 144 mB. A crucible's tank holds 1296 mB, nine ingots. If the tank is full, anything else that melts is lost.
Molds
- Ingot Mold: casts one ingot. Craft it from three Bricks in a row, a flat tray. Fired clay, so no metal needed to make your first one.
- Bullet Mold: casts eight bullets from one ingot's worth. Crafted from two Iron Drilled Plates and two Sticks (see Ammunition).
Pouring
- Right-click the crucible with an empty mold. It takes a full mold's worth, or nothing.
- The filled mold is as hot as the melt. It's a hot item now and cools like one.
- Once it's cooled enough to set, right-click in the air to knock out the casting.
You can pour copper, gold, iron, lead, bronze, brass, glass and quartz glass. Tin and zinc can be melted (for alloys) but not cast on their own.
Alloys
Melt two metals into the same crucible in the right proportions and the tank becomes an alloy:
| Alloy | Mix |
|---|---|
| Bronze | about 9 parts copper to 1 part tin (90%) |
| Brass | about 2 parts copper to 1 part zinc (65%) |
The ratio has some leeway, but not much. If the mix is off, the tank looks empty. The metal is still in there, but it isn't anything with a name, so nothing will pour. Add more of whichever metal is short to bring it back into range.
Ordinary furnaces can melt metal but only hold one kind at a time, so alloys need a crucible.
Glazing
Right-click a crucible holding Molten Glass with a Ceramic in hand to dip it, and you get Glazed Ceramic. The glass has to be hot.
Ceramic itself comes from firing a Clay Ball in a Kiln or other vessel (see JEI).
Notes
Tin, zinc and lead grow in the ground like any ore. Kaolinite lies as soft white deposits in the hills (see Ore Deposits).