The Home Foundry forum

[ddmckee54]

Anybody else having trouble logging into thehomefoundry.org? Or know what's going on there? I haven't been able to get logged in there all week, I keep getting a Network Error message when I try.

Don

 

[GreenTwin]

There was a glitch over the holidays with the hosting company that got ironed out (that is my understanding of it; I am not affiliated with that site).

Perhaps they will get things worked out again.

I have added a considerable amount of foundry material here, just so that it will be spread around, because forums do come and go sometimes.
I started learning how to do foundry work in 2011, and have accumulated a huge amount of information about it, along with some very good practical experience, especially with making gray iron castings.

I am more than willing to share what I know about foundry work.

.

 

[The Ignoble Troll]

There was a glitch over the holidays with the hosting company that got ironed out (that is my understanding of it; I am not affiliated with that site).

Perhaps they will get things worked out again.

I have added a considerable amount of foundry material here, just so that it will be spread around, because forums do come and go sometimes.
I started learning how to do foundry work in 2011, and have accumulated a huge amount of information about it, along with some very good practical experience, especially with making gray iron castings.

I am more than willing to share what I know about foundry work.

.

Can't ever read enough about casting gray cast iron... Can't wait to try it if I ever get a new furnace set up...


I never got beyond casting bronze... of course back then I had to make my silicon bronze from scratch starting with grinding sand to make silicon, now you can just buy so much of the ingredients that's it's like a golden age.

 

[GreenTwin]

I have known several folks who have transitioned from brass/bronze to gray iron successfully.

The burner output for iron and brass/bronze is basically the same.

For gray iron, one needs a clay-graphite Morgan "Salamander-Super" crucible, which is ferrous-metal rated, and 2,900 F rated.

The burner needs to be run on the reducing (rich) side, since if you run the burner oxidizing (lean), it will create a lot of slag on top the iron.

And a few sheet metal heat shields in strategic places is very helpful in keeping the gloves from overheating.

Shaded gas welding glasses for the infrared emitted.

And a very slight amount of 75% ferrosilicon added right after the final skim, and just before pouring.

The burner setting must be optimal.
For my furnace interior (13" diameter, 14" tall), 2.7 gal/hr of diesel is what is required, using a variable-speed Toro leaf blower set on its lowest speed.

It generally takes about 1 hour to reach pour temperature with iron.

Use good iron scrap, not window sashes, etc.
I use electrical motor end bells.
Cast iron auto blocks can also be used, or gray iron from any old machine.

Our member "creast" recently successfully poured iron.

Once I figured out the above items, I found that melting and pouring iron for me was actually easier than trying to melt/pour brass or bronze, since there is no zinc to burn off in iron.

With the right setup, and a furnace lining rated for about 3,000 F, iron is not really any more difficult to melt and pour than aluminum, although it is a lot hotter, and requires good leather protection all over, hard hat with face shield and neck shield, and a few sheet metal heat shields, such as on the skimmer handle and on the pouring shank.

The backyard casting section for this forum is located here:
Tons of good casting info here, including how to cast gray iron.

https://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/forums/home-foundry-casting-projects.36/

.

 

[Nut]

Anybody else having trouble logging into thehomefoundry.org? Or know what's going on there? I haven't been able to get logged in there all week, I keep getting a Network Error message when I try.

Don

I had wondered the same.

 

[GreenTwin]

It came back before, so I would guess that it will come back again.

Some times it takes a while to get things sorted with the hosting company.

.

 

[The Ignoble Troll]

I have known several folks who have transitioned from brass/bronze to gray iron successfully.

The burner output for iron and brass/bronze is basically the same.

For gray iron, one needs a clay-graphite Morgan "Salamander-Super" crucible, which is ferrous-metal rated, and 2,900 F rated.

The burner needs to be run on the reducing (rich) side, since if you run the burner oxidizing (lean), it will create a lot of slag on top the iron.

And a few sheet metal heat shields in strategic places is very helpful in keeping the gloves from overheating.

Shaded gas welding glasses for the infrared emitted.

And a very slight amount of 75% ferrosilicon added right after the final skim, and just before pouring.

The burner setting must be optimal.
For my furnace interior (13" diameter, 14" tall), 2.7 gal/hr of diesel is what is required, using a variable-speed Toro leaf blower set on its lowest speed.

It generally takes about 1 hour to reach pour temperature with iron.

Use good iron scrap, not window sashes, etc.
I use electrical motor end bells.
Cast iron auto blocks can also be used, or gray iron from any old machine.

Our member "creast" recently successfully poured iron.

Once I figured out the above items, I found that melting and pouring iron for me was actually easier than trying to melt/pour brass or bronze.

With the right setup, and a furnace lining rated for about 3,000 F, iron is not really any more difficult to melt and pour than aluminum, although it is a lot hotter, and requires good leather protection all over, hard hat with face shield and neck shield, and a few sheet metal heat shields, such as on the skimmer handle and on the pouring shank.

The backyard casting section for this forum is located here:
Tons of good casting info here, including how to cast iron.

https://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/forums/home-foundry-casting-projects.36/

.

Thanks. I worked up to copper alloys and then got totally distracted with ceramic slip casting crucibles and the next thing I knew I was obsessed with growing sapphire and rubies totally forgot metal.

 

[jirvin_4505]

Thanks been wondering what’s up myself

 

[GreenTwin]

The problem with "The Home Foundry" is that it may be set up like its predecessor "Alloy Avenue", ie: there is a single individual who runs the entire forum.
The individual who ran "Alloy Avenue" was highly reclusive, and I only emailed with him once.
I was a moderator on Alloy Avenue back in the day, and I had a lot of foundry information posted there, which I still have.
So The Home Foundry may be subject to the same problems as Alloy Avenue, ie: if anything happens to that one individual who controls everything, then the forum vanishes, and you may not have any way to communicate with that person.


I have a huge amount of foundry information that I have accumulated for 14 years, from sources all over the internet, and I keep that in reserve on several hard drives and flash drives, and also keep some of it in the foundry section here, so we don't ever have another Alloy Avenue situation where many years of accumulated foundry knowledge vanishes overnight.
I have one foundry thread on a backyard casting forum with 82,000 views.

Imagine what we could do with an indexed foundry section on this forum.



I hope "The Home Foundry" comes back to life, but if it does not, I am ready with a huge amount of backyard and commercial foundry information to fill the void, at least as far as making castings for model engine work.
I don't intend to let the casting/foundry side of the model engine hobby get lost.

Edit:
I am not into the art/sculpture side of metal casting.
I don't do lost-foam type castings either.
Nothing I can do about those topics vanishing.
.

 

[GreenTwin]

Its back.

Just a minor glitch in the matrix I guess.

.