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             Burt Munro's magnificent Indian engine.(See story below.) 
                          

         
                      
                  Brass banjo tonering.             

Who Is Casting The Metal?

When you think about your typical hobby metal caster type of person, you probably conjure in your mind the engineer type who restores old machinery, engines, cars, motorcycles, etc, etc.You would be excused for thinking that these are the typical kind of people who want to do metal casting. Over the past three years I have learnt that isnt so.

There are people, customers of ours living in little isolated towns or villages in many countries such as India, Mexico, South Africa and several other people in remote places who are building their own little micro foundries so that they can make a range of articles to repair broken machinery where spare parts are no longer available, especially for older cars and small trucks that are still in existance.

Would you also believe that we can now add Luthiers (Music Instrument makers) to the list of keen hobby foundry workers, this one really made me think, what kind of metal part would you want to cast for a musical instrument? It seems that there is quite a band of people across the globe who make their own banjos, and one of the important elements or parts of the banjo is the brass tone ring, I know nothing about banjos, but the tone ring has to be made from a certain bronze metal mix otherwise it wont make the right kind of sound. Does this surprise you that a musical intrument maker may want to cast metal parts, it sure surprised me. Read More: http://www.huberbanjos.com/c_tonering.htm

There are also plenty of people out there who build scale model Aeroplanes, I know there are new engines and associated parts being cast and machined at this very moment. Foundry work does allow a fantastic amount of freedom to anyone willing to learn the art of metal casting. There is no black magic or smoke and mirrors involved, it is just a matter of applying the principles, methods & techniques of the art, and putting them to work for your own benefit, nothing more... nothing less.

 Burt Munro; The Indian Speed Legend Of New Zealand.

To achieve success with limited financial resources is surely something that few people realize, to spend a lifetime perfecting and refining a motorcycle with basic skills and technology should also be measured as a huge personal success.

There are probably thousands of self-taught backyard mechanics just like the late Burt Munro, who spent many years toiling on inventions and projects that end up being unsuccessful and yield little in the way of financial reward. But does it really matter? Some may argue that without financial reward you cannot move forward.

Often the personal reward & self-satisfaction gained through painstaking project success is a far greater personal reward than any financial gain. Financial reward is often not the panacea of success that so many people are conditioned to accept today.

Think about the months, perhaps years of work that Burt Munro would have spent making his own engine barrels, flywheels, pistons, cams and followers and pressure lubrication systems for his beloved Indian motorcycle. He also virtually hand-carved and machined con-rods from a section of Caterpillar tractor axle. He honed, refined and perfected his old Indian motorcycle to an inch of its life in preparation for the speed attempts, such was his focus & determination.

His quest and passion was to highly modify and improve his treasured 1920 Indian Scout Motorcycle to set land speed records...and his major aim, to eventually see how fast it would go at the Utah Bonneville Salt Flats during the annual speed week event in the USA. This was no mean feat for a humble bloke who lived way down in South New Zealand in a place called Invercargill. (If you have not watched the film yet I suggest you do because it is a great story).

Can you imagine the fun he must have had working day & night in his little Workshop, machining his special performance parts, and building his high performance motorcycle engine, he certainly did things differently. For instance, it has been said that he used an old spoke for a micrometer to measure things, he sand-cast parts in old tins, one American report tells about how he cast some pistons in the sand at the local beach! He even built his own overhead four-cam cylinder head design to replace the standard two-cam system and converted the engine to overhead valves. What a practical designer & innovator he was.

But do you want to know what the best part of all of this?

It is still possible to do all of this just like Burt Munro did all those years ago, you can still learn the skills. The technology is more readily available today than ever before, allowing the home hobby/mechanic
to manufacture high quality special parts for old cars - motorcycles and special custom projects. With very basic workshop equipment Burt Munro was able to cast and produce pistons - conrods - cylinder barrels - alloy cooling fins - flywheels - oil pumps. An amazing talent from an amazing legend of a man.
Article Author: Col Croucher.
Would you like to learn about the special metal craft skills, and learn to make things similar to what Burt Munro did? Learn More: 
Visit the web site: http://www.indianmotorbikes.com/features/munro/munro.htm
   

Boat Re- Builders - Restorers. Make Your Own Marine Metal Hardware.

Old boat restoration is not unlike vintage car or motorcycle restoration, i.e. you'll find many parts that are unsalvagable and will need to be replaced or reconditioned at some stage during the restoration.

While it might be argued that most people who choose to restore old boats have access to considerable funds to pay for the labour & to purchase many of the expensive metal parts and materials that need replacing during the restoration process.
But for every well-heeled re-builder there would be another five people whose passion and love for old boats drives their desire to take on extensive restoration with little funds but using ingenuity, and many old crafts and skills, which sadly are quickly diminishing from this world, except for the small band
of people who are determined to keep them alive.

One would think that restoring old boats is all about working with timber and wood working tools, and to large degree it is. But what about all of the metal components used in boat or marine building, there are many hundreds of parts made from bronze, brass, stainless, and aluminium.  

For the budget conscious boat builder/restorer the replacement cost of these special metal parts can be quite expensive to say the least, to purchase many of these parts in one lot would certainly put a strain on the re-building budget.

Did you know that there are methods and techniques that you can use to acquire many of these expensive parts for a mere fraction of their retail cost. If you are a DIY boat builder or restorer, then
you are a practical person and you enjoy the personal reward when you build and create things for your self.

If you spent some time learning the basic techniques of metal casting you would soon begin to realize and understand the real value of being able to create your own special parts such as cleats & chocks which you could make from bronze.

There are so many small parts that corrode and decay over the years from exposure to salt water and the atmosphere and general metal decay or oxidation that replacement parts may be required more often than you think.

Some of the items that you could make as a boat builder - restorer are: gudgeons & pintles both large and small, what about the deck hardware like the bronze or brass oarlocks, herreshoft cleats, hook & eye straps, perhaps you need to replace some of the solid or open base cleats.... there are just so many things that can be reproduced by the practical boat builder.

And you of all people will understand that marine parts are expensive to buy, you could reduce the price considerably by casting, machining & finishing the castings and parts you need, right in your own workshop, you can do it just like many others have before you.

Perhaps you are beginning to wonder how the devil you will go about this metal work. The answer is to build your own mini foundry gear to melt and pour bronze, brass aluminium etc, you could use the
traditional method of green sand casting, you can also use the old parts as patterns... the techniques and principles are not difficult to learn, and you will enjoy the creative part of the work just as you enjoy
the rebuilding of the hundreds of other parts, your dedicated attention to detail will be witnessing your pride and joy being retored back to the pristine condition your floating treasure once enjoyed.

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Thanks to Jeff Thorsgaard for sending this info in.