TECH: How to make a sand casting master in your basement

Very, very impressive! Great details shots and instructions. NICE WORK!

 

Haha! That cat's out of the bag now! I still can't believe the price they charged you. Nice pattern making, thanks for the post.

 

Fantastic!

 

Very nice pattern, outstanding work , 1 thing you might want to think of is purchasing fillet wax from a foundry supply and a few fillet tools, Will greatly cut down the time spent sanding down the plastic filler you are using.

Lets not bust on the foundries, I have been working in them for 40 years.
The molds are destroyed with the pouring of the part,unless it's a perminate mold part. And unless the foundry paid for the pattern & designed the part, both are property of the customer

 

Damn slick creation and write-up, Alchemy. That piece would put many "production" facilities to shame.

Hmmmmm....Maybe I should start writing a tech post and snapping pics. I'm in work, (slowly), at building a small-scale charcoal-fired foundry. From what info I've dug up, it's supposed to be able to melt brass and copper, (around 1900*).

Might be a good companion to this.

Roger

 

How durable is the wax? Is it something that would need to be cleaned out and reapplied each time the pattern is used? Or is it semi-permanent?

 

This might be one of the most mind blowing thread around. This place always amazes me. Great work!

 

sweet....bookmarked!

 

Wasn't busting on them. I was simply suggesting that one be aware the businesses policies in advance.

I know two business operations that ended up having to sue the foundry to get their property back. It is probably rare, but it does happen.

Better to know, up front, what to expect. Forewarned is forearmed.

 

Thats just neat as hell! I love it!

 

It's sort of perm. we always used leather fillet material in the pattern shop. You can get various sizes. Used white wood glue to hold them in, rubbed them in with a ball type fillet tool of the proper size.
Bought most of our pattern supplies from Freeman Manufacturing Supply or Freeman Foundry Supplies , they were in Akron Ohio, I think.
They handle all kinds of pattern supplies.

 

I was thinking how easy it would be to cast some 90 degree elbow adaptors for mounting side draft Webers on a down draft V8 Weber intake manifold...... That would be cool!

 

Those parts have a hollow, so my method would not work for that. You would need to make sand cores and corresponding core boxes, which is beyond my knowledge (currently ).

 

Alchemy - Follow this up with a tech on building a backyard furnace to cast these parts at home..
I have been thinking about doing one at home for smaller items like yours.

Great tech by the way. I love seeing people tackle items like this themselves.

 

FYI, for all you pattern makers and metalcasters. Here's a site I found a while
ago. It's a great resorce if you want to get into this sort of stuff.
http://www.backyardmetalcasting.com/

Alchemy, Awsome as usual. I know who to come to with questions now.

Jeff

 

Awesome! I love this!

 

I have done wood forms and Styrofoam forms. You can carve Styrofoam and then cover it with masking tape to smooth the surface. It is limited to one off casting since the molten metal evaporates/displaces the form.

 

I always love these casting posts. It makes me want to get out there and cast something else up. Some of you may have seen this before but as Alchemy stated make your own cast aluminum aircleaner. I did.
This was the wood aircleaner prototype on my truck. Just painted it silver to see how it would look. Two important words, draft and shrinkage rates. Keep these always in mind if you do decide to create something or they will stop you at the foundry door.

Bottom masterVVV

Yeah you can do it too.

First trial fit of the cast aircleaner.

Polished.

Do it.

 

VERY VERY Nice LOWCAB....

 

A good source for books on small foundries and casting is http://www.lindsaybks.com/, I just purchased their book for building your own small charcoal foundry and am slowly working in that direction.

Beautiful part, awesome tech! I appreciate you taking the time to show all the steps in how you made your pattern, that's something that usually gets skipped over somewhat other places. I'll be referencing this thread in the near future!

 

There is furnace tech here on the board from a few years ago. Whizzerick was one of our first if not the first to show small scale casting.

 

Some people use layers of white glue to
get a smoother texture on a foam pattern.

 

Very cool indeed.

 

Thanks for Posting!

 

Thanks, Ill have to look that up. I have a bud that makes his own gold and silver bars. I have been working on trying to get him to show me his mini foundry. He uses propane I believe.

 

Rick does nice stuff, but all his pics are gone.

 

Here is my furnace melting away and here was a small piston I made in my very first pour. I machined the ring groves in after i poured it. i poured it in a piece of steel pipe. When it cooled it shrunk and could be easily tapped out of the pipe.
Don
I have no trouble melting but mold making with a two part box is something I have not yet mastered. Open pours are ok for me but their application is limited. Casting sand wasnt too hard to figure out. I used the Lindsay books for ideas.

 

Between this and the Loudpedal casting thread, you guys pretty much have it covered.

 

Anyone started on a pattern for their custom cast part yet? Show it if ya' have!

 

very cool..
i would love to get into doing this.

I do alot of Mold design at work for large cast shapes in the Refractory industry.
so i have some mold design capabilities and understanding.

maybe one day i can make my own little aluminum casting deal on the side

the information is like a drug