First Aluminum casting pour for the year 2025

[wce4]

Finally, after several months, I am able to return to working in my shop.

 

[GreenTwin]

Very nice casting !
I did fire my furnace up about a month ago, just to dry it out and clean it up a bit.
And I sorted out many of my foundry tools and accessories, and started getting them ready for another pour.

The weather is on/off winter here, bouncing between 27 F and 76 F, depending on what day it is.

I would like to cast the Ball Hopper Monitor gas tank permanent pattern halves in aluminum, and those patterns are close to being ready.
Perhaps in March or April I will attempt it.

Great foundry setup.
I like that ingot mold.
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[100model]

What was the casting for?

 

[wce4]

Very nice casting !

Thank you.

I like that ingot mold.

Purchased the ingot mold 2 years ago from the Florida Flywheelers annual Antique Engine & Tractor Show; had the privilege of meeting Lyle from Mr. Pete222 and Clarke from Windy Hill Foundry. I had a great time having a Q&A session with Clarke and Mr. Pete.

What was the casting for?

Crank Bearing Support for the Gingery Metal Shaper, my next tooling project.
If anyone is interested, I can post my progress in the tools section of this forum?

 

[GreenTwin]

I have been lucky enough to run into Clarke several times, and have chatted extensively with him (not recently).
When I looked back through my foundry videos, I noticed that my first iron pour was two years before Clarke started to pour iron.

One thing that Clarke figured out was how to tune an oil burner correctly, and I had not figured that out yet when I met Clarke.
I watched how Clarke melted iron at the Soule Steam Festival, and than is when I started to figure out how to tune an oil burner for consistent melts.
I owe Clarke for that information; he had melting iron down to a science long before I did.

I like the fact that Clarke transports his furnace and foundry material to various engine shows, and actually demonstrates how to melt and pour iron.
I don't know of anyone else who does this.
I did transport my furnace to the local art-iron museum, and did a demonstration iron pour.

Transporting a furnace, fuel, burner, and all the foundry equipment and molding sand is very much a pain in the posterior, so hats-off to Clarke for doing so much of that.
It requires a trailer and a lot of grunt work.

Clarke also has been having an annual iron pour at his shop, and unfortunately I have been to busy with work projects to attend that.
I would really like to take my furnace to Clarke's place, and have a cast-off of sorts; and compare methods and materials.

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[GreenTwin]

This screencapture from one of the videos above shows defects in the gates on several of his castings.
I am convinced that this runner and gating system is not a good one, and the multiple defects illustrate that.
The lack of spin traps, and the dead end runners, pretty much guarantees a casting with defects.

Steve Chastain I don't think was a foundry person per se, even though he wrote several books about building furnaces, foundry equipment fabrication, and making castings.
Writing a book does not necessarily make you a casting expert.
As I have often said, show me your castings, and preferably sections of your castings, and if they are defect-free across repeated castings, then you have a good method (perhaps one good method of many methods that will work well).

I don't see any velocity control in the casting below.
The tiny sprue and the large gates are concerning.
The tiny spure may give velocity control, but perhaps in the wrong place ?

The proof is in the pudding, as they say.

I can relate to these videos, and have been down this same path, with many failures in the early days.
What is frustrating about metal casting is that you can get so close to success, but some small details can derail the entire casting quality.

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[100model]

That is why I asked because it did not look like a model engine part.

 

[SmithDoor]

Finally, after several months, I am able to return to working in my shop.
View attachment 164798View attachment 164799View attachment 164800

Like flask.

Great time foundry
When I had foundry most it was summer low cost propane.
Winter it great time of year .

Dave
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