I've been following your stuff here on the HAMB and elsewhere on the net for some time now and you are THE MAN, Don. You're a true 'thinker', 'innovator', 'tryer of new things' and an example of what hot-rodding is, or at least, should be all about. Good luck on the piston making project. Mart3406 =========================
The Linday link is Steve Chastain's excellent book. You also might like Egge's "Birth of a Piston" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owgcK0TswBM
Thanks for the link. I already have Steve's book. Bought it several years ago when I got interested in the idea. I may not follow his exact path . Don
Mr. Dolmetsch is a sharp guy, check out his web-site, lots of interesting things! P.S., I want to cast my own pistons too, I overhaul engines in the kitchen and living room, why not cast pistons??
Good luck Don! I've done a little casting and it isn't all that easy, but nothing worth while is. I look forward to your future posts.
Don, yesterday was a blast! Eagle Field gets better every time. I got to make five passes, well maybe four and a half , the first was a screw up had a little trouble with the shifter. (not adjusted properly, my fault) But the next four were great. The 338 for an engine that was built for a pickup performed nicely with no issues. (Torquie-er than the 322 but not as high on the revs) Roseville Carl let me win a couple but Rocky's (Toymaker) kid Lee kicked my ass at the line two times although we ran the track neck and neck. Life is good sitin' on the diff behind an old V8.
Life is good sitin' on the diff behind an old V8. Truer words were never spoken even if i only have a six i get it. . I have never had so much fun in my life as with this rail. Vern was there helping me and told the kids in the JRdragsters that if they werent careful they would be driving a Srdragster like me when they got old. They were not impressed i think. He also told me , "Don you have to run in about 10 minutes you better start getting in now so you will be ready. We were 6 inches from the staging lanes at the time and I was dressed already. Something about moving slow in my old age i guess. .! Anyway glad it went well for you. We are done here for this year. Time to get building and thinking again. Don
I found my old mold from a few years back. i never finished it but have started that now. It will take awhile till its ready. I have some more welding to do and bolts to install and a lots of grinding and smoothing to make sure the piston will release mechanically at least. I melted some 454 Pistons to rough ingots to day just to entertain myself. Don
Cant I am on dial up and it would take all night to load because it is so big. Will have to go to someelse place to see it. thanks. (I tried already. about 1.5 minutes takes about 1/2 hour on a god day to load. Don
Might try to reverse engineer an old cast Jahns piston. They were quite the deal in the early '60's. Last time I looked, Jahns are still around, but it's been a while back. pdq67
Budd I was able to watch the casting part. The rest I am familiar with. It took awhile but it was a good idea. Thanks. I dont have the wedge in my centre plug so i have to make sure it is well tapered so it will release. Otherwise I am feeling like it is possible I will be able to do it. I was working making my ingots this morning (from 454 chevy pistons. (so we can call my alloy 454.) I was working on the centre plug while I waited for the video to load. I still have to make the cap and sprue and pour hole and figure how i am going to bolt it all together. Then smooth everything so it doesnt hang up coming out of the mold. BTW for those wanting to pour aluminum the big hold back for me was making the furnace . Then i came up with a real simple idea using what we call here a TEXAS WEED BURNER (55,000 BTU propane torch or burner .) It was on sale under $50 . I mounted the burner on a stand of 6 inch iron pipe about a foot long. I slung the burner underneath on coat hangers. At first I had it up in the big pipe and it sort of worked. Then I was reading some info on propane for another insane project (Dont ask!) and discoverd the hot part of the flame is at the tip not in the flame with propane. I made some hasty mods and "Voila" it works real well. 15 to 20 minutes for a full pot melt.. My pots are made from exhaust tubing with a frost plug welded in the bottom. My lathe is similar madefrom an old turret lathe so you can cut from both side it you want or do two operations on one set up. I also use a draw bolt through the pin hole to hold them on the lathe and have a centering device not the same but not a whole lot different. But the CNC I dont have . Here we use DDIM (Don Does It Manually) I am really stoked now. Probably wont sleep till i have made one. Don
Have a read of the book 'One Good Run' which is basically the true story of Burt Munro and the Worlds Fastest Indian. I wrote a car book about 13 years ago and sold a copy to a Kiwi. He was in Invercargel on business and went to the store where some of Burts stuff was displayed. He took a picture of my book sitting on the bikes in the small museum. A very nice thing to do and I treasure the photos he emailed me. I aways think "May he live an extra day." Burt Munro is my hero for sure. The movie is awesome and that is how I got started making this mold in the first place. BTW here is a set I made from 440 Flat top TRW forged replacement pistons. 030". They are just under 12 to 1 and are in a 400 Mopar block with a mild stroke yielding 426 cubes . WE have run this engine to 7800 + many times , It survived a severe valve float with only minor dmage to the block (heads were junk though)when the air shifter didnt shift 3rd gear at 141 miles per hour. Engine is still running today after several years in two different cars. It took a lot of wittling on my mill and lathe but it was a fun project. I am hoping this piston casting deal is as intersting and productive.
i have the movie and have set my dvd player on repeat just so i can watch him making a piston, now i have no way of knowing if that is a real Burt mold, but i say it would work, it would get away with less taper on the plug by the fact it is pulled from the mold, heres a couple of pics from an old mechanix illustrated i found at a friends place, just for insperation.
Almost forgot this one. In the classic book Tuning for Speed by Phil lrving there is piston fitting and machining info. This book is a must have for classic motorcycle fans. Mr Irving designed the Vincent V twin motocycle engine back in the day among others so it's good stuff.
"I guess I could understand this undertaking if there were no commercial pistons available that met your needs. To be truthful, it just seems to be a ton of work requiring research, exact machining skills and the high possibility of failure. " I find that concept exciting. My father an Electronic Engineer who designed Miltary Aircraft Radios including the radio for the AVRO Arrow used to tell me as a kid. "Well Don , one thing is for sure . If you dont try it wont work. Of that we can be sure. " YEs I could spec them out and pick up the phone and call Ross but this isnt about needing them. It is about learning to make them. Why? No reason son, It is just company policy. I also make violins or fiddles if you will. I can buy a playable one for under $100 with a case and bow nowadays. Never even been tempted to. Tis a lot more interesting to spend a year carving and scraping and hear your baby spring to life when you give it is first play. I wouldnt trade that for a 100 Strads. There is something about making stuff that makes me want to press on and explore. Don
Almost forgot this one. In the classic book Tuning for Speed by Phil lrving there is piston fitting and machining info. This book is a must have for classic motorcycle fans. Mr Irving designed the Vincent V twin motocycle engine back in the day among others so it's good stuff. Phil Irvings book has been a mainstay in my personal library for 38 years. In fact i was looking at it just last week. I also have his book Two Stroke Power Units . You are right on to suggest it. I have read them cover to cover more than once. Don
Recasting in Steel. The first time I tried it I cast a lawn mower size pistion in a piece of exhaust pipe. Because it shrinks as it cools it was easy to remove. There is a pic of it back a ways in this thread. With this mold I am not worried about the main body but the inner core which will get tighter as it cools. I have learned a few tricks though . One is to blacken a part like that with acetaline soot or candle soot before the pour That helps a lot. In fact I once remade a casting with bronze and a torch for a horizontal mill. I blackened the Shaft with Acet soot and then began bronzing around the 3" shaft Welding a row on a row on a row until I had replaced all the missing part of the casting. When it cooled I could just wiggle it and it came of no problem. I am planning on doing that with candle soot on the inner core before pouring . I am not sure where I learned it but it might have been Phil Is book too. Don
Spent a couple of hours today grinding welding grinding smoothing. A lot of work for a small mold but I know if I discipline myself in this so it is smooth and releases easily the finshed product will be that much better (Even if even then it is no good)Am also designing in some postive release deals in case i do get a sticky. Really I just want to set up and pour it but I know i am not ready yet. Don
so you egg shape the skirt and not the ring area?, so if you have no side skirt what would you be egg shaping?
No . These are racing pistons. They have no other function than to carry the rings and seal the hole. Actually i have played with skirt shape before but that is a long story and was a daily driver with no replacement available not a dragster. This will be a slipper skirt though so it is a bit different. Don
Well poured it today. Interesting. I didnt pour fast enough so the flow broke and restarted. I can find it in the piston. Also the mold does not have enough taper so it was very hard getting the piston out of the mold. I am making it with a way to open it for the next pour. I also have not yet got the core out. i have to come up with a better method. Maybe a baked sand core. I am going to return to the job I was doing before I got into this for a bit but I am hooked. When I get back to it I promise I will show all. The funny colour is reflected light and cheap camera. it is actually aluminum in colour. I dont know whether to machine it up or keep it for posterity. It is certainly a usable slug . don
I think I lied. I was in the shop this morning and did minor repairs to the mold. then I welded two pieces of steel tightly together with a tack on a part I will later cut away. I welded them along the seam where I had to open the mold yeasterday after carefully mating and clamping the mold back to it original shape. I will fix all the bumps left from the welding and smooth it again. I will put two locating dowels in the two pieces of steel Then cut the tack weld by removng the parts I left extra. Then my mold will be a clamshell and I can open it to remove the casting rather than driving it out. The core is still somethng I have to figure out and I could despense with is as the big mill will cut that out no problem but I want to learn how . I am discussing with the Mrs about baking cores in the oven. (So far that is not going well. )Vern has a friend in the piston business and sent him some photos of the big first event. I have not seen them but I did get an note Cc ed from him. He was encouraging and said we would be using current technolgy in China for cast pistons, One thing i discovered. This piston is very strong. I know some would like to see it machined but I am saving it as a momento (denkmal)of yesterday. I will not machine one till i am happy with the casting. This has a couple of flaws but I think i know how to eliminate that. I think I should have warmed the mold first before pouring. Don
Don, I don't know what kind of alloy you are using, but don't most fairly modern aluminum alloys require a heat treat after pouring?? wouldn't yours be dead soft?? as for your inner mold, the egge video posted earlier uses a 3 piece inner core. to remove the inner core you slide the center piece out to allow the to outers to come in. Egge's is hydraulic but it could be done the same way manually.
I thought the center core was made in 4 or 6 pieces in sort of a circle with another piece in the center. So that you pull out the center piece and then the outer parts are free to move one at a time toward the center and out.
The Jalopy Journal
