I haqve poured alunimum from a camp fire at El Mirage. Used lots of fence boards and a plumbers ladel. Old pistons are very good to use, but on Saturday night at ElMo you can usually get enough friends contributing beer cans to do something. I wrote a story about it in the Bonneville Racing News a while back
Here is a link to some really good starter foundry info. A cheap way to try casting without a lot of financial investment. http://www.homemetalshopclub.org/news/may97/may97.html#Foundry Mike
As ghetto as the aforementioned link is it is probably quite efficient compared to mine. I went overboard on my crucible.
Here are a couple of links that helped me get started: http://www.abymc.com/ http://www.backyardmetalcasting.com/ http://www.castsolutions.com/ Happy casting, and watch those toes! Ben
Hell, I've been welding for 30 some years with steel toes on and you ought to see my feet, or maybe not. Still can't figure out how the spatter get thru the eyelets!
Very neat. You can also carve out a piece of styrofoam for a pattern , pack it in sand along with a sprue and riser hole and pour the alum right down the sprue till it come out of the riser.. The hot alum. instantly vaporizes the styrofoam and fills the resulting void thereby making your part. But the melting styrofoam gives of unhealthy gases so don't breathe it.
I call her Big Bertha. It has three burners, loads in front and runs off natural gas. Perfect for what I want to do. I told you I was off the deep end. I'll get er plumbed in tomorrow if I get help to move it. Anybody need to get rid of a body?
I plan on making some Model A speed equipment that is either unsatisfactorally reproduced, I can't afford, or hasn't been made but I think needs to be made. Casting is a skill that I would like to become proficient at. Youtube has some videos that are inspiring if you sort out the ****.
Kinda reminds me of putting those beer bottles in the beach fire to make ashtrays in the 60's we didnt have flip flops on either might have been the smoke but who knows awesome job anyway Ken
Not true, anyone who's melted any volume of metal has seen and felt wicked splatter out of the blue. Don't let anyone in thongs near liquid metal, ESPECIALLY when using a virgin crucible. Look for a "shrink rule", also known as a pattern maker's rule, pre-compensated for shrink. Measure the original part with a regular ruler, and make the pattern with the shrink rule. When you do your gating, gate to the thick section even if it's inconvenient for cutoff and gate blend. Try to visualize solidification, it starts where there's least metal and works backward to the biggest thickest sections. Anywhere you cannot feed liquid as it solidifies, you'll have shrinkage voids, so try to gate it such that all those shrink voids are in the downsprue/gating. Good luck
I am having a hard time understanding what benifit the kiln has. Let me explain. I have used a home made melting pot and pored aluminum before. Simple setup...Find something for a thick steel pot, the bigger the opening the easier to dip out of. Heat and bend a piece of pipe ~ 2" around it twice, It should spiral around the pot. leave about an 1" or 2", depending on how big the pot is between the wraps. Also leave space in between the pipe and the pot. Drill holes on the inside of this pipe for gas to escape. 1 end of the pipe will be the inlet...the other the exhaust. Hook up the natural gas in the backyard ...we used a swimming pool vac*** hose, you'll need alot of volume. Light a match....then turn on the gas. If your shooting a flame out the exhaust...turn the gas down, your wasting it. Now you have an open, accessible pot of aluminum to dip and pour out of... If you use the kiln the whole inside will have to be over 1600, youll melt the hair on your head when you open the door!!! Prehead steel molds with a torch to get the aluminum to flow into them properly. This is not a part now and then type operation. Be prepred to make numerous parts at a time. And the gas compay will be out the next day to look for the leak... We do not do this anymore. Why you might ask? It is cheaper to have a foundry pour aluminum in our molds for us. Have you checked into that? You might before you make too big of an investment in your backyard foundry. But good luck none the less.
Natural gas is a cheap commodity here in SoCal. I realize it isn't in all parts of the country. I also plan on melting iron so I need a dedicated setup. I am not interested in paying someone to make my parts for me at this point. I get a kick out of it. Ten years ago I visited Fay Butler the sheetmetal guru, we were talking in his barn and looking at his Pierce Arrow and it came up that he was disatisfied with what the aftermarket had for pistons so he nonchalantly said, "I made my own". I was impressed to say the least. For the record I didn't get an apprenticeship but it was a fun day regardless. Nice guy.
i enrolled in metal shop evening cl*** fall semester to use the alum foundry at local hi school reproduced about 5 car club plaques came out real nice after about 8 trys. 40.00 enrollment fee. money goes to keep the shop open.
We used to cast ash trays and the like in college. I recall pouring in shorts and birkenstocks, but we did have face shields on... Only place on campus you could smoke too. The professors put some old couches in there to make it feel "homey". Lots of good info out there on casting. Good luck and keep us posted.
If you zoom in, you can plainly see the OSHA required "nomex, fire retardant" tag on the sides of 'em. cool thread indeed.
Hey sawracer 5/32 nds is ok for shrink on most thin parts also go to foundry supply n get some petrobond it is orange color n made with oil stays together better n see if the have any round core rods use those for your holes in the parts aluminum in melted form will eat up steel after awhile so check your stuff we use to coat everything with a wash to help slo it down most of the stuff you need is sold in bags and enough to last a small shop about a year I will get the names of the places in LA area and phone numbers tooof the foundry supplys also check any recyling centers around you see if they have any alum wheels see them down here a lot good for a start on material takes a lot of beer cans to make anything and they burn up if you put them in molten metal hope this helps Ken ps I worked at Lenco's foundry in the late 70's and later on in late 80's at a small private owned foundry aint anything about them that is a mystery to me
I took a video of the sand casting we did in the Houston Home Metalshop Club. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=187300&highlight=casting+video
I once had a machine shop in Montclair ca and there was an Al foundry next door to the complex we were in. Sometimes they would mistakenly throw in something with a high magnesium content. Wow, that sure lit the neighborhood up at night. One other comment, the high school I attended had a small foundry and one day a guy spit into a crucible full of molten Al. Needless to say, he only did that once, very hard on his complexion. This same guy was grinding on the tubular shank of a valve from a surplus P 38 engine and when he had a hole in it he put it in the cooling water and it blew up, they were sodium filled!
That's me! Just took my latest item to foundry yesterday... we'll see later how it comes out. Or does it, at all. Great thread, Sawracer! Waiting for your next casting-pictures, what ever they'll be!
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