Video about hobby foundry course.

[100model]

A long time ago there was a foundry school to teach students to work in a foundry. They also had a hobby foundry course so you could cast anything you wanted. You could get castings from aluminuim to stainless steel and any metal in between. All you had to do was provide your own pattern and choose if you wanted green sand or resin sand and make a sand mold. All rest was provided by the foundry so you could live in a apartment and make castings without the fuss and bother pouring castings. Like all good things that all came to an end in 2002 because a lot of the local foundries closed as it was cheaper to get castings from China. After it closed a lot of former students tried to set up their own foundries and failed because everything was provided at the course and they found out that doing every thing yourself was a steep learning curve. A lot of the students were making model steam locos and other model engines.

Just in case some one will ask did I go to that hobby foundry course, no I did not as there was a long waiting list to get in. (it was very popular) Another reason why I did not attend was I had a complete set up so I could pour castings any time I wanted to instead of trying to do too many things in three hours a week. So I would go once a month and watch and see how they did things. The best thing I learnt from there was how to make cast iron from steel.

 

[GreenTwin]

Nice pouring cart.
For crucibles above about #20 with iron, a pouring cart is a must, unless you are a big burly person.

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[Jasonb]

Probably just as well it was closed they don't seem to teach about Personal protection

 

[Richard Hed]

Probably just as well it was closed they don't seem to teach about Personal protection

Yes, I noticed they had no ppe and a couple guys didn't even have glasses. Piss poor examples to students. The wet metal was laughable, we always put metal about to be added on top to the lid while heating to be sure it was dry.

 

[100model]

For crucibles above about #20 with iron, a pouring cart is a must,

Did you notice at 12:35 he ran over the hot iron with the pump up tires and nothing happened? I have done that many times without any issue.

 

[Richard Hed]

Did you notice at 12:35 he ran over the hot iron with the pump up tires and nothing happened? I have done that many times without any issue.

Yup, saw that. Their lack of safety, however, was what really caught my attention.

 

[GreenTwin]

They were a bit shy on the protection side, especially eye protection from spatter and IR.
You can recover from burns on the skin, but if you burn the eyes, you may not recover from that.

Glad to see them making an effort to retain this knowledge though.
I think it is critical to retain a technical knowledge-base in any country that intends to be viable in the future.

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[Jasonb]

"A bit shy" there was NONE. The problem is they have also retained that disregard for PPE and now it is on the web all and sundry will think it is OK.

The guy with the long hair and the one pouring the iron just had slip on shoes, watch when he steps backwards and steps on a bit of hot iron. Did have a hard hat on though!

Even 20years earlier than that video we were not even allowed to enter a workshop at college if we did not have safety boots on. And the bit of casting I did before that at school we were all kitted up with full face visors, leather jackets, trowsers and spats.

 

[GreenTwin]

There are videos of foundries in Pakistan, where everyone has either sandals, or no shoes at all, and they are pouring tons of iron every day.
No safety gear at all; just casual clothes, no gloves, etc.

So while I am all for safety, is should be understood what is really important as far as "safety" in a foundry.

Eye protection is #1 in my book.
You can get cataracts from IR exposure, and so shaded glasses are needed for that, as well as splatter protection.

Nobody ever mentions protecting the lungs, but you can get lung disease if you breath too much fine sand particals.
I see people cleaning molds all the time with compressed air, spraying sand particles up into the air.
And people go wild with the parting dust, and create clouds of it when it should be applied sparingly with a brush.
The parting dust will also damage the lungs.

And the newest kick is propane-fired furnaces with bare ceramic blanket insulation.
Uncoated ceramic blanket fibers will ruin you lungs, and they are emitted out the lid opening of the furnace.

You can get sick breathing zinc fumes emitted from brass/bronze melts.

So if there is a discussion about foundry safety, be aware that there is much more to it than simple burns on the skin.
Don't adhere to some safety procedures/equipment while ignoring other critical safety issues.
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