Ball Hopper Monitor - Casting Project

Fidlstyks · Dec 12, 2024

The wood flour is sold as a filler and can be used as your talking, that is what it is sold as in the Amazon listing, but I thought wrong, I thought that we were talking about core sand.
I use it in core sand.

Fidlstyks · Dec 12, 2024

Another view

Fidlstyks · Dec 12, 2024

The subbase is used only the 6hp. The buzz saw used cast iron sliders between engine and frame. I bought mine off the engine those main caps were from.

Fidlstyks · Dec 12, 2024

Jasonb said:
No Manatiba Windmill and Pump Co.

Recess in hopper is simpler as both valve stems stick out the bottom of the valve block

I am wondering if Manitoba Windmill and Pump Co was a Jobber name. Another Manitoba Co.
I thimk sold other makers brands, like Nelson engines.
They may have copied the Baker Monitors.

Fidlstyks · Dec 12, 2024

The only other thought about a Manitoba-Baker is like the Waterloo engines that were what I think cloned in Canada. But no one has answered me if Waterloo made them, or how they were patterened, as they have different componants, but look they same.
The thread copied from Smokstak was by Buzzcoil Brinkster, Denis Rouleau, and he has passed away, and the link does not work.
For certain, there are variations from a Baker to a Manitoba sold engine.

GreenTwin · Dec 12, 2024

Those are some cool pictures.
Thanks for posting those.
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Fidlstyks · Dec 12, 2024

GreenTwin said:
Those are some cool pictures.
Thanks for posting those.
.

My scale of the 7hp with subbase has 9 3/8" flywheels. How.tall will yours be?
On the Baker Monitor FB I posted all available pictures, I have learned earlier 6 hp Monitors used a weight added on and the later were 7 hp with hollowed out areas.
I have patterns for the hopper cover, muffler, head and still of course have the whole.engine if some one needs anything made. I know of a guy who was said to be making a valve chest, and I have been messaged from Canada by another guy to make a valve chest for another engine, and I knew of a spare hopper and another guy hunting a hopper. Maybe they were a 2 and a 4 hp's.

GreenTwin · Dec 12, 2024

Fidlstyks said:
My scale of the 7hp with subbase has 9 3/8" flywheels. How.tall will yours be?
On the Baker Monitor FB I posted all available pictures, I have learned earlier 6 hp Monitors used a weight added on and the later were 7 hp with hollowed out areas.
I have patterns for the hopper cover, muffler, head and still of course have the whole.engine if some one needs anything made. I know of a guy who was said to be making a valve chest, and I have been messaged from Canada by another guy to make a valve chest for another engine, and I knew of a spare hopper and another guy hunting a hopper. Maybe they were a 2 and a 4 hp's.

My 4hp Monitor scale engine will be half scale, so the flywheels will be 14 inch diameter.
I decided to go big; why not push the limits ?
No sense building a Monitor with 9 inch flywheels, since Lone Star and Pacific have already produced many kits for that scale.
Overall height of my engine will be about 28 inches with the engine mounted on a base, and flywheels clearing the ground.

Are you in Joe Prindle's fb group ?
Sounds like you have a motherload of Ball Hopper Monitor information.

I have no doubt that I could make full size Monitor iron castings.
I just don't know anyone who needs them, and I don't have full sized patterns.
If the casting is large enough, then a double melt/pour would have to be done, but I do have two furnaces, and so could pour perhaps 200 lbs of iron at one time.
I use a pouring cart for the heavier pours, and that makes it easy to handle a #30 full of iron.
I use large diameter wheels so I can use it in the grass, as well as on hard surfaces.
No rubber tires on my cart, since those will catch fire.
I have a crane, for lifting out a #30 crucible.

I often pour at night, due to how hot and humid it gets here during the summer.
Here is an iron pour using the crane and pouring cart.
This was very early in my backyard casting days, and I have changed quite a bit, such as moving everything far away from the garage, and not interrupting the pour.
I did not really have a good feel for foundry work at the time I made this video, but I was learning.
That is a bilge #30 with iron.

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GreenTwin · Dec 13, 2024

Here we go with the first half of the gas tank 3D printed pattern.
I am going to try to use the gas tank pattern halves as coreboxes also, and not make separate coreboxes, since this casting is not as complex as the water hopper.
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Jasonb · Dec 13, 2024

Do you need to add some core prints to that pattern before putting it into the slicer?

Is there no variable height setting as the layers at the top which run through the letters will be a pain to sand.

Also if using it as the corebox the holes you have look quite small, larger would give a stronger core location.

GreenTwin · Dec 13, 2024

I am going to use these two gas tank 3D printed pattern halves as both patterns and coreboxes.
So no coreprints; I will work those out later.

The holes in the ends of the gas tank are not very large, and so that will probably be a 1/4" core rod; not positive yet.

For the water hopper, I could justify printing separate coreboxes, since the window area was so complex, and needed some filling work.

For the gas tank, I will just use two printed pattern halves as patterns and coreboxes, since the interior is simple.

I thickened the wall slightly, and am restarting the print.

For the lettering, Solidworks will fillet some of the sides of the letters, but not all of them.
The way I handle that is to fill the letters with Fastpatch, let it start to set, and then wipe the filler down around the letters.
Same method as I used on the Phoenix pattern.

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GreenTwin · Dec 13, 2024

Printing one of the gas tank halves.........
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GreenTwin · Dec 13, 2024

Like watching the washing machine.......
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Fidlstyks · Dec 13, 2024

GreenTwin said:
Here we go with the first half of the gas tank 3D printed pattern.
I am going to try to use the gas tank pattern halves as coreboxes also, and not make separate coreboxes, since this casting is not as complex as the water hopper.
.

I do that, some times I use a castable with shellac barrier to make a master of the core, I have used plastic, making core print forms, then cast a box off the casted core with prints and an aluminum pattern off the first form with prints attached, then sometimes I have cast an aluminum of the core, fastened it to a plate, made sides, sooted with acetylene for parting barrier, then cast an aluminum box around the print, when using shell core, which I no in longer like. Rosin is very gassy, stand outside of a large foundry that uses it, it takes your breath away, smells like anhydrous.
I need switch totally to the 2 part chem bond, but that is tricky. In the foundry, they have mixer that flows sand at a set rate, with the 2 chemicals coming together in an instant mixed into the sand which is flowing in like.
If one mixes the 2 chemicals together outsid of the sand, it spontaneously combusts into a fireball. The may have changed that, this was a few years back when I worked with Bob Cambel of Eagle Grove Ia, who cast the Gade models. I actually cast the very first one he made. I emded up with the cylinder pattern of his larger never finished Gade kit. Allan Huff has his non finished model.
Believe it or not, I get the best results from baked linseed cores, I bake in halves, then make hollow and glue with Elmers, but have Hill and Griffiths instant glue.
I suppose you will make Co2 cores?

GreenTwin · Dec 13, 2024

Fidlstyks said:
I suppose you will make Co2 cores?

I initially tried Petrobond, and then played around with sodium silicate cores cured with CO2, then entire molds from sodium silicate bound sand, and finally ended up with resin bound sand, which I use for molds and cores.
I use a 3-part binder made by Ask Chemical called Lino-cure (tm).
I use it with OK85 sand.

The art-iron folks use a lot of bound sand for their art castings, which is where I was introduced to it.
It does require a chemical respirator.

It is three parts, which I call the resin, the hardener, and the catalyst (the Ask Chemical terms vary a bit from this).
The resin amount is based on the sand weight.
The hardener amount is based on the resin amount.
The catalyst can be used to vary the set time, and this is really handy if you have a small mold, and want a fast set time, such as 5 minutes.
If a large complex flask is being rammed, you can use less catalyst, and lengthen the set time to perhaps 45 minutes or longer.

This binder and sand works very well either as a mold, or as a core.
Here is a mold and core made from resin binder.

GreenTwin · Dec 13, 2024

It will be interesting to see how the lettering turns out.
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Fidlstyks · Dec 13, 2024

I am thinking I need to invest in this. Is the sand recoverable or tossed?
Is it expensive?

GreenTwin · Dec 13, 2024

I had to buy a 3,500 lb sack of it, and I think that was about $600.00, but that was before inflation went wild.
A bit of a chore to transfer into 5 gallon buckets.
You have to keep it dry, else it will not work with the resin binder.

The resin binder material comes with 5 gallons of resin, 1 gallon of hardener, and about a pint of catalyt.
I forget the exact cost of the binder package.

It is not easily reusable, and the art-iron folks just toss their material into the dumpster.
It is allowed to dispose of X amount of hobby stuff like binder and sand per month in this city; I forget the exact amount, but I don't make a lot of castings, being a hobby and such.

It is good stuff, but requires a chemical respirator, nitrile gloves, etc.
I spray on a ceramic mold coat and burn it off; product called "Velacoat", also by Ask Chemical.
I use a commercial Hobart mixer to mix the sand/resin.

Here is a video of the resin-bound molding process, and the ceramic mold coating.
This is an automatic mixing machine, but it can be manually mixed in a commercial mixer.
The resin is mixed into the sand first, and then the combined hardener and catalyst.

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GreenTwin · Dec 13, 2024

I used a thinner layer setting, so this print is taking a while to complete.
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Jasonb · Dec 13, 2024

try this on the other half then the lower part can be done quickly with just the top at a smaller (slower) layer height where it gives the better finish to the more horizontal areas.

https://help.prusa3d.com/article/variable-layer-height-function_1750

Ball Hopper Monitor - Casting Project

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