Casting

[jacobball2000]

My first attempt sense high school to make a casting. 30+ years

 

[stevehuckss396]

Not terrible. actually good for the first in 30+

 

[aonemarine]

Not terrible. actually good for the first in 30+

ummmm ???

 

[stevehuckss396]

Haven't poured in over 30 years I'd be lucky to get even close. After 3 or 4 they should start looking pretty deluxe.

 

[aonemarine]

Haven't poured in over 30 years I'd be lucky to get even close. After 3 or 4 they should start looking pretty deluxe.

I would suggest visiting...
http://forums.thehomefoundry.org/index.php

 

[Lloyd-ss]

Jacob, nice looking casting. It looks fairly stout and would have been a heck of a job to fabricate instead of cast. (EDIT: and I am definitely not saying that making the casting isn't a heck of a job too. It takes work and talent, no matter which way you go.)
How many pounds and what is the material?

 

[jacobball2000]

This destructive casting has some learning curve. This next casting I had a sand core and I made the mistake of putting a card board tube in it. Big mistake! It caused gassing in the mold. Time to remelt and make a new one. I am doing all this in aluminum sense my furnace only get to 2100 deg or I start destroying the bricks. But later I'll try brass. I can play with steel but I don't have access to coal here in Tucson. If I was back in Michigan I could all most pick it up off the ground. @Lioyd-ss I have a 16kg crucible and I only had it 3/4 full of aluminum.

 

[bluejets]

There are a couple of tablets one can use to assist with your casting aluminium.
One is to remove the gases which form when the aluminium is heated.
This is usually introduced just prior to pouring.
The other is used to bring sludge and muck to the top where it can be removed easily with a steel rod.

Sand type and any oil combiner is also important for a fine finish.
Sand type we use here is rather fine, more like dust. The oil we get from a casting shop an hour or so from here.

I would stick to casting in aluminium, much less heat involved.
Not that it can't be done. Friend of ours here learned the basics from watching and asking us and he later went on to build a successful cast iron forge.
Bit of a problem there as he fired it with old engine oil, diesel oil the best apparently.

As a side note, we tend to use high quality aluminium such as broken down pieces of pistons or old pressure molded casings. I say broken down as that is literally what it is. Broken down with a rather large hammer into small pieces which easily fit into the crucible.

 

[nel2lar]

Jacob
Your casting came out very nice considering you used lost foam. Only one thing the foam sometimes distorts when poured.
Stick with it, it is just going to get better.
Nelson

 

[Lloyd-ss]

I remember talking to a rep for mil spec connectors many years ago, discussing solder verses crimp. He put it very simply: Crimping is a SCIENCE, soldering is an ART. So true.
With home foundry casting operations, I think there is a lot more art than science. Definitely stick with it.
Lloyd

 

[aonemarine]

Jacob, you really should check out the forum. al203 on the form is a lost foam guru. You will be surprised at the results that can be achieved.

 

[aonemarine]

Here is a picture of what is possible with lost foam...

 

[Kenny Broomfield]

Here is a picture of what is possible with lost foam...
View attachment 108202

Are those aluminum?

 

[aonemarine]

Are those aluminum?

Yes..

 

[nel2lar]

Yes, lost foam can make very nice castings. When I tried it I was told to make the foam as smooth as possible and any bad spot can be smooth out with a little bit of candle wax. It worked and the casting I made at the time came out fine.
Nelson

 

[MrMetric]

I've wondered about foam (but not really researched/searched for info). I would have guessed that it would leave all sorts of funky goo, but your castings look beautiful. Out of curiosity, what type of foam did you use (cast, milled to shape, etc) and what alloy of aluminum did you cast with? Was the latter 356?

 

[aonemarine]

I've wondered about foam (but not really researched/searched for info). I would have guessed that it would leave all sorts of funky goo, but your castings look beautiful. Out of curiosity, what type of foam did you use (cast, milled to shape, etc) and what alloy of aluminum did you cast with? Was the latter 356?

Those are not mine, the belong to Kelly aka al203 on the forum. He is a guru at the lost foam pulling off some things I would have though impossible ...

 

[jacobball2000]

WOW! Those casting are amazing. That what I am shooting for. I did use wax on my casting but only as a filler. Look's like more time spent on the mold before pouring. Question what type of foam did you use? I used Styrofoam the stuff that you're TV and Electronics come in. I used a hot wire to cut the foam but it seem to leave a poor result on the mold. I am going to have to start to account for lost after the casting is completed. But like I said before there's a learning curve.

 

[MrMetric]

Huh... I couldn't find a user "al203". I searched for any post by such a user and none were found.

 

[aonemarine]

Huh... I couldn't find a user "al203". I searched for any post by such a user and none were found.

Over on the home foundry forum.
Sorry for the confusion...