New members casting projects

[seadragonfoundry]

These are engines that I have built from scratch, i.e. made the patterns, poured the metal, machined and assembled. The thing I like about combining foundry work and machining is that when I get sick of doing one thing, a switch to the other is as good as a holiday. Have just discovered HMEM, I have a lot of catching up to do!

 

[ProdEng]

Welcome to the forum. Fantastic work, looks as if you have been pretty busy. We love pictures here and look forward to your next build. The last bit of casting I did was at school, good fun with the correct equipment.

 

[Herbiev]

Wow! Welcome aboard. They are great looking Engines. Can we see some pictures of your furnace please. Can you melt cast iron?

 

[mhirst121]

That is excellent work, I am currently making up my foundry so that I can do exactly what you have done. Thanks for showing us the engines.

MartinH

 

[rhitee93]

Very impressive! I'm glad you happened along this forum, and I hope you'll share your next build with us.

 

[chucketn]

Seadragonfoundry,

Are your castings in aluminum? If so,what do you run for piston material? Do you line your cylinders?

I have a furnace and am just a beginner when it comes to casting. Have mostly melted scrap to consolidate it.I would love to be able to cast my own engine parts. More info,please!

Chuck in E. TN

Edit to correct typing

 

[compspecial]

Brilliant work and beautiful engines. seadragon. Chuck beat me to the question about the casting material, if its cast iron how do you melt it?
Stew

 

[seadragonfoundry]

Thanks for your kind comments and welcome. I have three furnaces, the first is a Gingery style which I only use for aluminium, it runs on bottle gas and is very economical to run as aluminium doesn't take a lot of energy to melt. I run the gas pressure at 2 psig. The second shown is used for brass, bronze and cast iron, I use ceramic fibre as a liner, coated with zircon paint, it also runs on bottle gas and will melt 14kg of iron, from cold to pouring in about 35 minutes. Gas pressure for this is 8 psig, so it is not so economical with gas at about $110 per bottle. When melting bronze, it takes about 15 minutes for 8 kg. The last furnace is to the design of "The Artful Bodger", and runs on waste oil with a vacuum cleaner as the air supply. I am still learning how to drive this beast but after one attempt at cast iron it looks promising, if a little messy. Note that for the first two furnaces there are quick connect fittings for the gas injection to the suction eye of the blower, there are no fancy burners just belt the gas in through a 1/8" dia hole or thereabouts and it mixes just fine!
I line all the engine cylinders with cast iron liners and the pistons could be either aluminium or cast iron as whim dictates. I cast the pistons using a sand core to get the correct internal shape.

 

[idahoan]

Wow! Impressive collection; and welcome to our little place on the net.

Dave

 

[myrickman]

That Bremen hot air engine is certainly a sweetheart ! The sideshaft also. Welcome and keep up the photos. I like your doing the full circle of casting and machining . All the best...

 

[jasonh]

I'm in the same boat. When some engine plans say "no castings required" I suppose some people regard it as a virtue, but I lose interest. I just finished my copy of the Gingery Atkinson cycle engine, so looking at yours seems very familiar. My next project is the Daimler/Maybach 1885 "Standuhr" engine and it's pushing my pattern making skills up a notch from the Gingery pieces. Good stuff!

Regards,

Jason H.

 

[seadragonfoundry]

Good luck withyour new project, patternmaking skills take time and practise to develope,I am amazed at how clever patternmakers are, I am still learning.
Thanks
Graeme

 

[ELM6061]

Very nice work Seadragon, a credit to you. Would also enjoy seeing some of your pattern making, I have been visiting AlloyAvenue
(a metal casting forum) for some time now and love this sort of stuff. I have only recently acquired an old hot water service tank, to use as a furnace casing, also looking at using a waste oil burner. I made the mistake of buying an electric kiln (square) to use for melts, gets hot enough but it does not distribute an even enough heat around the crucible and cracked a new one first go.

The second shown is used for brass, bronze and cast iron, I use ceramic fiber as a liner, coated with zircon paint,

Where did you get your ceramic fiber and zircon paint, also how do you find/like the zircon paint?

The last furnace is to the design of "The Artful Bodger", and runs on waste oil with a vacuum cleaner as the air supply.

How would you compare this furnace build/pro's/con's, to your second furnace made with the fiber and paint


Eddie

 

[seadragonfoundry]

Eddie,
Haven't heard of AlloyAvenue, will give it a try. A mate of mine has posted a number of videos on youtube as luckygen1001, they are very good, his furnace and mine are the same except he runs his on pressurised waste oil. Ceramic fibre , Zircon paint ,XR136 silicon carbide plinth and crucibles from Refractory and Ceramic, 50 Geddes St ,Mulgrave VIC 3170. 03 9560 4477, the man to speak to is John Govan, manager. He is quite happy to help out backyarders which I find is very rare. My furnace outer is the shell of a HWS, as you mentioned. I tack welded this to a piece of 6mm steel plate, put it on wheels and made a base about 2 to 3 inches thick of castable refractory as the floor, trowel flat. Castable rated to 1350degrees C is OK as it will be protected by 2 thicknesses of ceramic fibre.Ceramic fibre CFB25H, 25mm thick is rated to 1400 degrees C, this is why you need the zircon paint, to raise the rated temp a bit and it serves to protect the fibre as well. Cut fibre into lengths to line the inside of the HWS. Four vertical rings, one inside the other, stagger the joints. Sodium silicate works as a high temp glue. Place XR136 plinth on floor in centre, cut two rings, one on top of the other, to fit between plinth and outer wall, make it a neat fit . For the tuyere I used a small amount of castable refractory, cut away a bit of the fibre surrounding the entry, drill and tap a few holes for 6mm bolts to act as anchors and dovetail the refractory. You could do this before you line the furnace with the blanket, mine was retrofit through necessity!. Cut a circle to fit on top of the fibre lining to act as a seal, glue with sodium silicate (waterglas), paint all interior except top of seal and plinth with zircon paint so no bare fibre shows. The lid was packed radially with fibre strips, make it about 100mm thick and pack real tight ,then poke some 6mm rods through the outer shell and fibre to stop it from dropping. Paint all surfaces of fibre with zircon.
There is another product called J Cote, it is a heat resistant paint as well but is more expensive and doesn't work any better.
Approx costs: Ceramic fibre , 1 box=1 furnace+$110
Zircon paint , about $70 will last for years
XR136 plinth, about $40
Densecrete 135F 25kg $40

Now that I have the two furnaces to compare, I would not bother with The Artful Bodgers, the one described above works brilliantly, clean and easy with gas and if you want cheap, use pressurised waste oil(messy). Easy to make, easy to repair.
Whereabouts are you in Australia?
Hope this helps.
Regards
Graeme

 

[ELM6061]

G'day Graeme, thanks for all the info, breakdown of cost and contact, I think it was the same mob that I bought a couple of bricks from previously.

I am on the Mornington Peninsula, you?

Eddie

 

[seadragonfoundry]

Eddie, We are at Koroit, near Warrnambool, moved down from Shepparton 1 year ago. If you are in the area you are most welcome to visit.
Regards
Graeme

 

[Brian Rupnow]

Holy Cow!!! when I grow up I wanna be just like you!!! Amazing work.---Brian

 

[ELM6061]

Eddie, We are at Koroit, near Warrnambool, moved down from Shepparton 1 year ago. If you are in the area you are most welcome to visit.
Regards
Graeme

I am an old Maryborough boy and did a bit of picking/fishing around Shep, Koroit is a lovely bit of country and would love to drop in if around there.

Eddie

 

[JPRyan]

Eddie,
Haven't heard of AlloyAvenue, will give it a try. A mate of mine has posted a number of videos on youtube as luckygen1001, they are very good, his furnace and mine are the same except he runs his on pressurised waste oil. Ceramic fibre , Zircon paint ,XR136 silicon carbide plinth and crucibles from Refractory and Ceramic, 50 Geddes St ,Mulgrave VIC 3170. 03 9560 4477, the man to speak to is John Govan, manager. He is quite happy to help out backyarders which I find is very rare. My furnace outer is the shell of a HWS, as you mentioned. I tack welded this to a piece of 6mm steel plate, put it on wheels and made a base about 2 to 3 inches thick of castable refractory as the floor, trowel flat. Castable rated to 1350degrees C is OK as it will be protected by 2 thicknesses of ceramic fibre.Ceramic fibre CFB25H, 25mm thick is rated to 1400 degrees C, this is why you need the zircon paint, to raise the rated temp a bit and it serves to protect the fibre as well. Cut fibre into lengths to line the inside of the HWS. Four vertical rings, one inside the other, stagger the joints. Sodium silicate works as a high temp glue. Place XR136 plinth on floor in centre, cut two rings, one on top of the other, to fit between plinth and outer wall, make it a neat fit . For the tuyere I used a small amount of castable refractory, cut away a bit of the fibre surrounding the entry, drill and tap a few holes for 6mm bolts to act as anchors and dovetail the refractory. You could do this before you line the furnace with the blanket, mine was retrofit through necessity!. Cut a circle to fit on top of the fibre lining to act as a seal, glue with sodium silicate (waterglas), paint all interior except top of seal and plinth with zircon paint so no bare fibre shows. The lid was packed radially with fibre strips, make it about 100mm thick and pack real tight ,then poke some 6mm rods through the outer shell and fibre to stop it from dropping. Paint all surfaces of fibre with zircon.
There is another product called J Cote, it is a heat resistant paint as well but is more expensive and doesn't work any better.
Approx costs: Ceramic fibre , 1 box=1 furnace+$110
Zircon paint , about $70 will last for years
XR136 plinth, about $40
Densecrete 135F 25kg $40

Now that I have the two furnaces to compare, I would not bother with The Artful Bodgers, the one described above works brilliantly, clean and easy with gas and if you want cheap, use pressurised waste oil(messy). Easy to make, easy to repair.
Whereabouts are you in Australia?
Hope this helps.
Regards
Graeme

Hello Seadragon your post Is the reason I joined this forum I have downloaded all of lucky 1001 gens videos, His experimental cast iron furnace was a great vid. but he neglected to name the Zircon paint and the maker. I have spent days on the net to no avail. I imagine that it is made down under and will probably cost a fortune to ship it to California. But if you can post the particulars on the paint my thanks to you. I was in the process of searching when I stumbled upon your post. I have only been a member a few hours so if I am not following the correct protocol please excuse my ignorance. Thanks in advance JP Ryan

 

[seadragonfoundry]

Hello JP, the zircon paint is made by Cast Metal Services here in Australia, the wording on the container is " CMG ZIRCOAT W " the contact details for the maker are in my previous post however I am certain you will have a similar product in the USA. Have you tried yellow pages for Foundry Supplies? Any questions, please ask.
Good luck.
Graeme