Oh well, now I know that I can't rotate pictures on blogger! Any case - this shows the results of my first pour.
My setup to melt the aluminium is very primitive and energy inefficient using wood instead of coal or propane as a fuel but it works and that's what counts.
I was after a piece of round stock that I can turn into gears - still a long way to go with that. The piece in the middle of the picture is exactly what I'm after. The rest will be melted down and turned into hammer heads.
This was recycled from 2 old hard discs and 2 stepper motor casings stripped from old DLT drives.