TECH: Make a Bellhousing out of an old Intake Manifold!!

They make jewelry that way but I think aluminum might be too pourous.

 

Awesome work, kris!

 

Commonly done in industry, some call it Lost Foam Casting.
I've seen engine parts cast this way, 25 years ago.

 

Look at a Saturn engine, same thing. Looks like it's made of styrofoam. (1997 4 cylinder)

 

I will have to give this a try with my forge. Gives me a new way to burn myself.

 

Great stuff. Opens up a whole range of possibilites.

When you refer to charcoal I query if coke would do also? I use peanut coke in my forge. When combined with the breeze from an old vacuum cleaner it gets really hot, I expect plenty hot enough to melt ally.

 

Great tech!

You can find all of Dave Gingery's books at http://www.lindsaybks.com/

I'm no casting expert, but I do know a few things:

Heat treating of aluminum is usually done at the original foundry where it was formed. They "homogenize" the metal to ensure even grain flow and also that the alloying materials are evenly distributed.

I can't imagine where anyone would have problems mixing alloys of aluminum in our type of usage, the differences can be minimal at best. I worked in the foundry of an aluminum reduction smelter, and alloying furnaces of roughly 80,000+ pounds would require amounts of material as small as a few hundred pounds, or less in some cases. Alloying problems are more a concern for extrusion plants, where the metal has to flow in a semi-molten state through die plates (and FYI, the extrusion people get really, really pissed when they find bolts and other junk in their aluminum, as it kills their dies).

Sorry, hope I didn't hijack your thread, just wanted to add some information that I saw some questions about...

 

Elmer... Awesome, dude!!!

How about putting together a youtube video for us?

Thanks for sharing.

 

Meeeee two. I like knowing how stuff works.

 

Excellent tech, thank you VERY much for taking the time to post. Couple questions: Do you cast parts that have internal valleys like an intake or something like that? How would you go about making all the internal holes and whatnot? How do you break an aluminum intake down enough to fit into a cupcake tray? Where do you melt the pieces to fit into the trays? The oven?

 

You use a sand core for the hollow parts of the casting. Made with a 'core box' that has the shape of the cavity. Making cores can get real complex. Too much to cover here. I'll do another thread when I cast my next part that uses a sand core.

With a BIG hammer. Or you can throw it on a fire for a while and it will take a screwdriver blade to break it apart.

In your homemade furnace!

 

I've tried lost foam casting once or twice. I didn't get the results I wanted. I haven't done it since.

 

Yeah, I should have said charcoal briquettes. I'm sure that what you are using would work just as good if not better.

Thanks for the info! I bet you know more about it than I do...

 

This is one of those seemingly simple, "This is harder than I make it look tasks" that make me appreciate what people can do. Hat's off to you. I'm not going to start making my own little parts, but I sure love seeing how it's done!

Brian

 

This is a GREAT tech thread! I've always wanted to try it, now I got to! I have to even vote for this tech instead of mine, I should of sand casted my intake risers. Maybe I'll use the ones I made as patterns and try casting some any way.

Curious. My wife does glass blowing. She uses an electric kiln to melt glass in a crucible, the glass turns fluid at around 1500 degrees. If I got a new crucible (don't think I should use hers) could it work to melt the aluminum? At what temp does aluminum melt?

 

aluminum melts at 1220 degrees f

 

This is awesome tech. Thank you for posting.

 

Have you,do you use pistons for material?

 

We did this in the Houston Home Metalshop Club a few years ago. Here's a video;
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=187300&highlight=casting
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alfyLvcQWdY
A VIDEO of the part being removed from the sand.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEAMjRJNpE4
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The finished product.
Below is a VIDEO of the actual pour.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alfyLvcQWdY
A VIDEO of the part being removed from the sand.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEAMjRJNpE4

 

Question, can the sand be re-used after pouring? If so, what needs to be done to it before reuse. If not, what do you do with all the used sand. Is it toxic?
Second question, which Baileigh tool will you choose when you win and what are you going to build with it.

 

The sand is reuseable. You will have to temper the mixture of course... If you use it alot, you will have to add more clay as it degrades. It's just dirt, it's not toxic.

On the second question... I'm going to count the chickens after they've hatched. There is lots of talent here, and I'm far from the best.

 

Oh, one last thing: when pouring your excess metal into ingots, be sure that whatever you are pouring into is dry, and to be safe it wouldn't hurt to pre-heat it also. I learned on a much larger scale what molten aluminum will do when it wicks the moisture from cold steel:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A796N_YZTm8&feature=related

I had full safety gear on and I still have scars across my hairline... and part of my eyelashes fused 'cause the metal blew through my safety shield. I'm not trying to scare anyone, but when you do this, being safe is the first consideration. You cannot be too cautious with molten aluminum!

Kris, thanks again for the tech, you rock!... and you've definitely got my vote dude!

 

Also, twice in my life I have seen the same thing happen when a piece of unmelted chunk finally drops into the molten metal. The chunks would hang up until most of them melted, then fall in.

This was melting lead, though.

 

Awesome post, this is something I would like to try.

 

DANG.Thats efen crafty.

 

What a great post and very good step by step photos and text.

 

Brilliant tech and thank you for bringing it to the HAMB.
I happen to have a little pattern I wouldn't mind doing something with...