General welding questions that dont fit in TIG, MIG, Stick, or Certification etc.
exnailpounder
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electrode wrote:
exnailpounder wrote:
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Got her cured and made a makeshift crucible and cast this little ingot this morning. She gets plenty hot.
Cool. Well, maybe HOT! What did you make the crucible out of? And what is the heat source fuel for this? Just curious as it does seem like it could come in handy for rough castings of aluminum. How much do you have in this build?
Thanks :)
Fuel is propane with air assist. The crucible is just a 4 inch stainless casing cap....just temporary... just wanted to see it melt something..lol. The refractory cost me about $80, the keg, $25, the burner maybe $25. I pick up used regs at flea markets and garage sales and I am a hoarder of everything so I had almost everything laying around to build this. My friend retired from well drilling last year so he brought me a truck load of SS well casing to make shrouds out of. Being a pack rat pays off sometimes. This was a fun project.
Ifyoucantellmewhatthissaysiwillbuyyouabeer.
electrode
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exnailpounder wrote:
electrode wrote:
exnailpounder wrote:
20170206_112809.jpg
20170206_110547.jpg
Got her cured and made a makeshift crucible and cast this little ingot this morning. She gets plenty hot.
Cool. Well, maybe HOT! What did you make the crucible out of? And what is the heat source fuel for this? Just curious as it does seem like it could come in handy for rough castings of aluminum. How much do you have in this build?
Thanks :)
Fuel is propane with air assist. The crucible is just a 4 inch stainless casing cap....just temporary... just wanted to see it melt something..lol. The refractory cost me about $80, the keg, $25, the burner maybe $25. I pick up used regs at flea markets and garage sales and I am a hoarder of everything so I had almost everything laying around to build this. My friend retired from well drilling last year so he brought me a truck load of SS well casing to make shrouds out of. Being a pack rat pays off sometimes. This was a fun project.
I too am a hoarder somewhat. Works for me. :) Looks like a great deal for melting aluminum etc as far as money spent. I will probably add this to my project list but my list has a lot of projects in front of it atm. :lol: Thanks for the info.
kiwi2wheels
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exnailpounder wrote:.......... shrouds out of. Being a pack rat pays off sometimes. This was a fun project.
Truer words were never spoken ! :D
Poland308
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We need to start a thread. Cheap/ free stuff that we have hoarded. If you want some come pick it up. With pics.
I have more questions than answers

Josh
exnailpounder
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Poland308 wrote:We need to start a thread. Cheap/ free stuff that we have hoarded. If you want some come pick it up. With pics.
I agonize over getting rid of something or throwing it out to clean up my shop but it never fails that when I get rid of something, a project will show up that requires exactly what I just threw out. How the Hell does that happen? :lol:
Ifyoucantellmewhatthissaysiwillbuyyouabeer.
Poland308
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Every time
I have more questions than answers

Josh
electrode
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Poland308 wrote:Every time
+1
I threw out a piece of 1/8" plexiglass some months ago as it was a leftover scrap (at least I think I did cause I sure couldn't find it) and a few days ago I needed a piece to fix an oiler for one of my machines. The sight glass (plastic) was found to be cracked when I was rebuilding the pump. The piece was 3/8" x about 1.5" inches long. I had to by a $5 piece to cut that little bit out of. Arrgghh! :x
Poland308
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I just bought 130$ in gasket material. 3 ft x3ft to cut out 3 - 3 inch round gaskets. Someone threw out the last 2 ft of a 48 inch roll we had.

Edit. Not to mention the three days of down time.
I have more questions than answers

Josh
exnailpounder
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electrode wrote:
Poland308 wrote:Every time
+1
I threw out a piece of 1/8" plexiglass some months ago as it was a leftover scrap (at least I think I did cause I sure couldn't find it) and a few days ago I needed a piece to fix an oiler for one of my machines. The sight glass (plastic) was found to be cracked when I was rebuilding the pump. The piece was 3/8" x about 1.5" inches long. I had to by a $5 piece to cut that little bit out of. Arrgghh! :x
Hoarding can be bad if it's like 30 house cats and 3 litter boxes with 6 months of shit in em and pizza boxes with hair growing on em and a path from room to room, but shop stuff is ok right?
Ifyoucantellmewhatthissaysiwillbuyyouabeer.
Poland308
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Yup :D
I have more questions than answers

Josh
Jim FLinchbaugh
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electrode wrote:[ Just curious as it does seem like it could come in handy for rough castings of aluminum.
Thanks :)
Castings are only as rough as the sloppiness of the operator.
This one was done in 125 grit sand
Image

3D printed patterns need to have the surface smoothed out. Most are using hi-build auto body primer/surfacers
then a quick coat of something smooth and shiny.
Otherwise, it wont come out of the sand mold well.
exnailpounder
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:shock: That's beautiful! Someone has been doing their homework. I hope to rise to that level one day.
Ifyoucantellmewhatthissaysiwillbuyyouabeer.
electrode
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Jim FLinchbaugh wrote:
electrode wrote:[ Just curious as it does seem like it could come in handy for rough castings of aluminum.
Thanks :)
Castings are only as rough as the sloppiness of the operator.
This one was done in 125 grit sand
Image

3D printed patterns need to have the surface smoothed out. Most are using hi-build auto body primer/surfacers
then a quick coat of something smooth and shiny.
Otherwise, it wont come out of the sand mold well.
Excellent work there. I watched the whole process years ago on how to make the molds etc and it looks like a lot of fun. I also play around with some 3D stuff and have the software (or some that will make the files to print), and some skill, just never bought a 3D printer. I know the #D printers are really slow so that is one reason I have avoided them. What brand/model printer do you have and do you have any recommendations on the purchase of one??
Thanks ;)
Tom Osselton
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Nice looking casting well done! Did you build the 3d model with a draft on the edges? I have also heard of smoothing the printed object with acetone vapour I've never tryed it though. The main thing with 3d printing is how big of a build area you have to work with alot of the times wood is easyer.
Jim FLinchbaugh
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I do not have a 3D printer.
I make all my patterns old school- ie wood

and yes, there has to be draft or you will break the mold extracting the pattern

Image

Image

Image
exnailpounder
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First heat today, melted down some scrap into muffins. Worked great until the wind kicked up really bad and played hell with the draft on my burner but all in all I learned a few things, I didn't have to be rushed to the emergency room and I didn't burn down my shop. Success. Now to learn how to make patterns and cast.
Ifyoucantellmewhatthissaysiwillbuyyouabeer.
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You gonna be in a world of shit when she goes looking for those muffin tins :o

No muffins for you....


Good to see its firing up well :)
Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing... Oscar Wilde
exnailpounder
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Rupes wrote:You gonna be in a world of shit when she goes looking for those muffin tins :o

No muffins for you....


Good to see its firing up well :)
:lol: I went and bought a couple. I was eyeballing hers but thought better of it, plus they were aluminum...that would have been bad. I'm pretty happy with it. The guy I made it for is fabbing the prototype part he wants made and then the hard part will be learning how to make the mold and cast. Looking forward to it.
Ifyoucantellmewhatthissaysiwillbuyyouabeer.
exnailpounder
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Fresh out of the mold and then cleaned up to go to machining. This is a custom pool table corner. I supplied the rough core and now my friend is going to machine it down to the final rendering to make it a bit easier to cast and easy to clean up on the mill. For my first casting, I am pretty proud of it. It's not as easy as it looks.
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Poland308
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Looks pretty good
I have more questions than answers

Josh
Jim FLinchbaugh
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excellent results for try number 1!
exnailpounder
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Jim FLinchbaugh wrote:excellent results for try number 1!
I watched hours of YT videos, read all I could find about casting. Without that help, it may have been another story but I am quite pleased with the results. I spent about 4 hours last night just practicing setting up molds. I am actually getting pretty good at it. I played with the moisture content of my sand a little and tweaked my flask a bit and I am itching to burn again soon. I can see this becoming very addictive. Thanks for the compliment!
Ifyoucantellmewhatthissaysiwillbuyyouabeer.
exnailpounder
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My second shot at it. I'm pretty happy with it but I need facing sand for a cleaner finish. Second pic is cleaned up next to the pattern.
Ifyoucantellmewhatthissaysiwillbuyyouabeer.
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Well done Jeff. That K looks super.

Did you cast more than one of the first part?
Making extra pieces to cut and check for porosity can avoid unpleasant surprises when machining.
Im not a pattern maker but for such thick part the gating looks a bit small. Or did you cut some of it away?
exnailpounder
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AndersK wrote:Well done Jeff. That K looks super.

Did you cast more than one of the first part?
Making extra pieces to cut and check for porosity can avoid unpleasant surprises when machining.
Im not a pattern maker but for such thick part the gating looks a bit small. Or did you cut some of it away?
Hey Anders...thanks! The first part is an obsolete pool table corner that my friend wants to bring back to life and use on his custom tables. In the form it was in, it wasn't partable so I had to modify it with oil based clay to be able to cast it. After it was cast, he took it and it machining it down to make it easy for me to cast and easy for him to clean them up on his mill so we will see if there is any porosity when he works on it. The gating looks small because my flask was almost too small for the part so I had to make do but it came out good with absolutely no shrinkage.My goal is, when I get the part back from him, to cast several copies in resin so I can cast multiples at a time. All the shrinkage was in the sprue like it was supposed to be. As you know I am just getting started at this and there is much to learn and I was itching to cast again so I made up that K for my wife. It was old diamond plate from a trailer I scrapped. It came out with very sharp edges and very few holes and the finish is ok but I know I can do better. About 20 minutes with the angle grinder and it cleaned up nice. If you have any tips for me, I am all ears at this point. I really only got into this because I want to cast those table corners...you wouldn't believe what he can get for a set of 6 of them...haven't been made in 40 years...until now 8-)
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