EXPLOSIONS while casting 250 kg of ant nests! Triple bull ant nest casting (80, 125 and 45 kg) Day 1

Hi, I'm Steven East, one half of Australian Antart. We make aluminum

casting

s from anthills. I'm Chris East, the other half of Australian Antart and we sometimes cast them in resin too. The Queensland Museum commissioned this foundry from us. I want an anthill for an upcoming exhibition they are having this year and we found out that we need several

casting

s to try to get a successful one because there is no guarantee that if you cast a Nest you will get an intact casting of a

nest

so Christopher received an email several ago months out of the blue, for a commission to release a large

bull

, a species in the 52kg range is what they were looking for, but we may have discovered that some water landed on a Nido

bull

. as their ideal size and wanted something big enough for the wow factor.

I think it's still transportable and still transportable, but they can also get that point across about what they're trying to show in the exhibit, but it's basically about what ants do in the environment and how they improve the soil with their bathing and ate the soil and things like this and because they aerate and till the soil and turn it around, they are an amazing creature, they do an amazing amount. working okay or a little bit okay and and okay cool yeah we're mixing sand and bentonite with a little bit of water to make fly sand like this into something nice and firm like this so we can form the part top of the

nest

and then basically pour into pour into something solid uh with nice straight sides.

I do this and I put green sand on top to hold it in place so it keeps the sand from going down the hole and it keeps the ants from murdering me because you know it's just Well, tell me what you're working on so right now I'm putting it together. the fuel line, we have our canola oil, which is what we use as fuel and we use a d nozzle there in the furnace where we have an air. We have an airline and we have a mhm fuel line and through the Venturi effect it pulls, we pass the air, the compressed air through here and the fuel is sucked and atomized in the tank, this one here is full, the air stops the fire , so we have that in there for that just hooking up the fuel so we can get that one, yeah, but maybe take another one of them off and put some REM on these, these positions like that, oh, really, go, okay.

The camera smiles cutely, that's what you put in, don't burn yourself, it's so hot, it's a mistake, what are you doing? hurry up, hurry up, seriously, yeah, we're going to get this way quickly, quickly, he's gone, go, go, go, back up, hopefully that's just a curious CU that's 80 K about a minute. Do I need a no, no, okay, can't you get it? close the bubbly mdle oh yes you did that looks great oh that's good that's what we want to see so it's full omg there's still a little bit of um burning from the tree Ro it's probably a huge Nest steeve that's huge this is a young Nur a young nurse, nothing younger about that nurse, so this nest is between 15 and 20 years old, the owner of the property tells us that they don't like hitting, they hurt but they sting you and it is quite close to their home, so let's delete it. it's for them uh with aerators said: are you ready before answering the question?

You need to stay down, get that hook in guys, go get the hook for me, well that's bad. What did you think was funny if we went to B 80 Kil, damn it? a single ball K add more to it yeah there's nothing more we can add well we have to do it we can't add more to it we have to try how to just put a small amount in there Steven let's keep going down so nice the way you capture the light yes, it's pretty good, isn't it? Yeah, it's like a mirror for a second and perfect, great to get the second moment.

I need that kidney, oh look at it, yeah you come here, there are holes here, look. in it there it is he knows that she is she without wings it is she it is not possible that it is a male if there is no I love those colors yes, well, this is the first species that we launched and have you wanted to launch them again? Yes To a large extent, the companions are also coming to you, yes, angry, there has been a change of plan, Steven, can you please explain to me, someone didn't tell me to bring enough aluminum, aluminum or furnaces?

Well yes, we need both, I guess so, so what's the problem? We have put 80 to 100 kilos in a nest and it is not enough, right? How much aluminum did we bring with us? Sten 200 kilos 260 were 260 kilos of aluminum, that's right Joel and 260 kilos of aluminum to make two

nests

and no We don't have enough three

nests

three nests three nests we don't have enough so we were going to make three nests breeva eh but coincidentally this Nest that Come to our feet we found it before we tried the third one which is even bigger than the second one which gobbled up 110kg of aluminum so we're pretty sure this one will be smaller.

This is actually the first species of bat we released. We didn't have video cameras back then. We have some photos, so let's go. to launch this species, I don't know what this species is called, we're going to get some ants, we're going to identify them, they're going to be at the bottom, so I'm going to start sprouting at the top here making a head with green sand behind me um we have 60 how much how much aluminum other uh we had 90 right? 60 60 kilos we have 60 in the oven so that's all we have that's all he wrote so if 60 is not enough we are in a lot of trouble, we have 60 kg of aluminum to melt this nest.

Hopefully it's enough, yes it's not, if not we're in trouble because we think we only have one, one good, so far, too much, 3, two, one. h, the bottom, wow, wow, it's ready to shoot, yes, I'm going to go, to the pressure, yes, okay, what lasted a long time, I have it ready, no, I'm not ready, ready, yes, go well , hey, w, you okay, yeah, that's why we're going here, guys. You're okay, go on, you've got an amazing car finish, that's pretty crazy, yeah, that, that's coming, oh, no, get up, ready, do it and behind us, go, oh, get on a Dr., get on, will not go to B very far.

I'll be fine back. That was exciting guys, we had an explosion

while

launching and that's why we wore safety gear. I have aluminum on my arm. I have aluminum in my torso in all kinds of places. I have aluminum in my legs. I have aluminum on my feet. my safety shield I have no idea if I have any on my head it was a big explosion a big splash of aluminum if you do this please wear safety gear this is not a safe hobby guys please after I finished molding the third Nest he poured more aluminum on the top of the second Nest, bringing the total aluminum used to cast the Nest to between 125 and 130 kg, including the top of the land, as we packed up for the day and relaxed with baked sausages and marshmallows.

We are left to contemplate the task before us, our expectations completely shattered. We know we're dealing with nests more than twice the size of our previous molds of the same species, but what do they look like underground? How deep has the aluminum reached and how are we doing? go to From removing nests that weighed around 80kg and 125kg and shipping them 500km to the Queensland Museum without breaking them this was becoming a much bigger task than expected at least the marshmallows were good yes yes look it's still weird I think I got it good