Hello Fellow Metal Caster.

What does the month of June hold for you? If you are a northern hemisphere resident it is well and truly Summer by now... that generally means that it is play time, if it's hot, it's time to hit the beach, or maybe it's time for you to get stuck into the projects you abandoned at the onset of the previous cold winter. As a northerner you are cooking, meanwhile here in down under we are into the Winter season... except of course for the Queenslanders and NT or Territorians, as it is the dry season up there and still nice and warm... they keep telling us southerners that it's good one day and brilliant the next... or something like that.

Winter for me is foundry time, and there have been a few projects on the go, there's a heap of small parts to cast for a customer in NSW who is restoring an old truck, I will have some pics to show you about this project in future ezine issues.

But right at this point in time (6th June) as I write this ezine, I have been flat chat getting everything ready for the Echuca Steam and Vintage rally, to be held on the 9th & 10th June. It is amazing just how many things there are to get prepared to transport the foundry gear to another place to demonstrate metal casting in public. We are looking forward to the rally and it should be a lot of fun sharing some knowledge and techniques with existing OZ ebook/ezine clients if some of them happen to come along over the two-day heritage rally. I will have more to report about that early in the week following the rally.

There seems to be a great rush of pioneer rally's happening out here in Australia at the moment, some attract only a couple of thousand, but the Echuca Steam- Horse- & Vintage Rally attracts about 15,000 people over the two days, I think a lot of people like to revisit a time witch had a less complicated lifestyle than we have today, or they just want to learn more about how our pioneers lived, it is a great experience to attend a heritage rally to take in the sights, sounds and smells of yesteryear, if you haven't been to one, I would encourage you to make the effort in the near future.

Even the number of people who have visited our web site since it's launch back in 2003 is quite amazing, you would not think that there are so many people who want to know how to cast metal, I thought that I was one of a small minority who had this odd metal casting hobby... seems like several thousand other people also enjoy the challenge.

Well, if you are new to metal casting and you are ready to take up the challenge, and then keep reading as we have something special for you this month.

Below you can see some pics from the Echuca Steam - Horse - & Vintage rally.
OK, we are back home after an exhausting two days of metal casting demonstrations at the rally, wow, what a weekend it turned out to be.

The casting demonstration consisted of ramming up green sand moulds (four at a time), the small engraved plastic key tag patterns measureing 75mm X 25mm X 4mm were mounted onto a pattern moulding board complete with gates and runners, twelve patterns were mounted onto the board, this enabled a ram up to produce 48 key tags per pour from the four moulds.

The tags were designed/gated so that they could be easily broken off from the ingate, each tag was quickly cleaned up at the break with a flap wheel mounted on a 4" angle grinder, the tags were placed in a small bin on the side of the bench and we simply gave them away to visitors to our stand, needless to say we couldn't keep up with the demand, we lost count of the number, but it would have been well in excess of two hundred tags, plus we handed out nearly five hundred metal casting info flyers.

Of course we had a number of old foundry workers both pattern makers and moulders who came up to our stand and made themselves known to us, we also met several other people who said they had seen or visited our web site on the net.

The incredible thing was the number of young women who were interested in the craft, as well as a lot of young secondary school blokes who were just fascinated by the whole experience of seeing a sand mould being made and then watching in awe as the molten metal was poured into the sand mould to produce numerous cast items. At times we had so many people gathered around watching that not everyone could see what was going on.

It was a great experience to demonstrate to others that you don’t need an elaborate set up, nor do you need to be an engineering graduate to be able to set up and operate your own hobby foundry, and best of all was the thanks that people gave us for the shared experience, and they had grins on their faces like a cat fresh out of the dairy when we gave them a free key tag, many people really did not expect the key tags to be free, many asked the question "How much are they"?
There aint nothin like a nice freebie to create a happy smile.

Check the pictures below taken at the Echuca Steam Rally. We would have liked to show you a few more, but as always when you are busy at these shows there's not much time available. Thanks if you happened to drop by our stand at the Echuca steam rally.

The Hobby Foundry Ebook Package. Grab It Here.

                The foundry loaded up on the trailer and ready for the two hour drive to the Echuca Steam Rally 2007.
              

     
          
The foundry set up on site at the rally, this is early Saturday morning, well before the crowds began to roll in the gates.

       
        
A magnificent restored BIG Fowler steam engine captured during the grand parade.These great old machines also competed in the vintage tractor pull, there is nothing quite like the sound of one of these steam monsters under load, they just sound awesome!

        
And of course there are always little 1/2 scale oil engines, I think it was a rustin hornsby, beautifully made cast iron & bronze parts, a faithfull reproduction. Runs on petrol.                       ers and bronze tappets.

         
        
A section of the engraved plastic key tag patterns mounted on the board, there were twelve all told, after four green sand mould boxes were rammed up, a total of thirty six key tags were cast with each melt & pour. The reproduction was very good, we could not keep up with the demand. I think we may have captured the imagination of  many young Aussie blokes at the rally, the interest shown in the metal casting demo was just astounding.         
                        

Home Made Hand Tools For Hobby Foundry Work.

The Next Couple Of Articles For The Benefit Of Novice Metal Casters.

If you have been thinking about making a start in hobby foundry work in your home workshop, you may be forgiven for thinking that the tools and equipment are going to cost you an arm and a leg, this need not be. Sure, you could visit the downtown industrial tool supplier and take home an arm full of expensive tools.

But if you take a good look at some of these expensive tools, you'll discover that the design principles and fabrication could well be undertaken in the home workshop if you have metal fabrication skills and a reasonable amount of basic metal working equipment.

Take for instance "crucible lifting tongs", once you understand how these tools operate; you could quite easily make a set or two over a weekend. The basic design action operates on the "scissor principle" but they don't cut anything, they are designed to "clamp securely" onto the crucible to lift it out of the furnace when the metal has melted. Great caution needs to be taken while carrying out this operation, as one
slip due to faulty or badly designed tongs, and you could have a disaster on your hands.

The best way to design and build a set of tongs is to copy a well made set, or to follow directions set out in a textbook or ebook downloaded from the net, we'll give you some links a little further on in this article.

Following are some of the most frequently used basic tools you'll need in the hobby foundry; Bench ramming moulders tool - Tube sprue cutter - turned wood sprues - slick & oval spoon - hand riddle or sand sieve - draw pins, screws & hooks - rapping bar and spike - gate cutter - strike off bar. Sand carving tools (made from old hacksaw blades)

The tools mentioned above seem to be the ones that will be most used in your hobby foundry... and all of them can be home made if you have metal & wood working skills, it will take time and effort to make the tools required but they wont cost you a red cent if you make them from scrap materials, and if you are like most hobbyists you will know where to "scrounge stuff".

You may have to experiment with different ideas before you arrive at the most satisfactory design, but you will learn a great deal about why things have to be made certain ways.

Do you own a wood lathe? Even a most basic machine will suffice in the home workshop, you could even make your own wood lathe if you were keen enough, I guarrantee there are tens of thousands of home made wood lathes sitting in hobby workshops the world over. A wood lathe will repay itself many
times over when you start to make patterns for your hobby foundry.

Your bench-ramming tool can be quickly turned to shape on the wood lathe, in fact, while you're at it, make two or three of them in different shapes & sizes, they will all come in handy when ramming and moulding patterns of differing sizes, you could get away with a single tool, but you wont regret
making extra sand ramming tools. 

Draw pins and spikes are used to remove timber patterns from sand moulds after the pattern has been rammed. The pattern will need to be carefully removed without disturbing any of the surrounding sand.
Draw pins can easily be fabricated from long slender wood screws, and particleboard screws are ideal.
The easiest way to convert woodscrews into draw pins is to braze weld a short length of 1/4" dia mild steel rod onto the head of the screw...that is all you need to do... make a set of them with different gauge screws as well long and short ones and you should have the field covered as far as lifting pins or draw spikes go... simple isn't it.

Worn or blunt hacksaw blades are usually thrown in the bin, from now on you should save them, as many useful little hobby foundry tools can be made from old blades, quite often-small sand carving tools can easily be made by grinding and shaping with a normal bench grinder.

By being resourceful and thinking how you can use scrap materials, you should see now that there is absolutely no need to spend large amounts of money to get the tools and things you need for your hobby.
The more fabrication skills you possess the better equipped you are to build all manner of tools and equipment.

Pattern Making In The Home Workshop

Success in the hobby foundry will depend to a large degree on the skills & ability you develop to create timber patterns, i.e. patterns that are easy to mould, lift or separate from the sand mould.

Patterns with the incorrect vertical draft, badly finished corner fillets, or a pattern that has not been finished to an ultra smooth finish will be difficult to work with in most foundry sands.

Pattern making is a special skill and art in itself, most apprentices spend several years to learn the trade. But the average hobby foundry worker most likely won't have the time, or the patience to get involved with the art of pattern making to that extent.

Basic pattern making skills are worth the effort to learn, without the skills to produce patterns, you wont enjoy the success you desire with your hobby foundry work... unless you PAY to have patterns made for you, but that would take all of the fun out of it, and also cost you a sizeable amount of money.
Construction costs of professional pattern making can vary from a few hundred dollars for simple patterns, up to several thousand dollars for complicated pattern designs.

Designing and building the pattern & core boxes to produce cylinder heads is expensive, tooling costs could blow out to around $20,000.00AU before you even think about melting & pouring the metal. 
Most tech school students the sixties & seventies would still remember the skills of how to use basic woodwork hand tools.

Some of the finest foundry patterns were made from timber using basic hand tools. More than likely you still have a chisel set tucked away in a drawer, or a spoke shave - wood plane & handsaws, plus a host of other tools that could be used to make excellent patterns in the home hobby shop.

It does'nt matter if they happen to be a bit rusty, get them out and bring them back to life again, re grind  and hone the cutting edge with an oil stone.

Remember Sharp tools give the best results.

Do the same with the wood plane and any other tools, such as a small set of carving chisels which can be used  to carve intricate shapes in wood. You'll also need some good pattern timber or lumber as it's called in the states... doesn't matter, it's all wood isn't it.

There are many types of timber suitable for pattern  making, but, you'll be limited to what's available in your area or region. Quality pattern timber is expensive to buy, so ask for the off-cuts at the local timber merchant, which you may get for a considerable discount

You'll be looking for a soft timber that doesn't splinter, has a straight grain, is easy to work or carve, and
finishes to an ultra smooth finish.

One of the easiest timbers to use is jelutong, this timber comes from the Philippines, I don't know
whether it is from plantation timber, or old growth forests, but it is great to turn on a lathe, or shape
and carve with sharp hand tools. Some of the other pattern timbers in use are cherry wood, mahogany, maple, white pine, and many others.

Quite often a master pattern can be made from timber, and then a replica mould is made using RTV 585
silicone, This is a quick method to remake replica production patterns. The replica patterns can then be mounted onto a pattern board along with the runners & gates, this method will enable you to mould & cast multiple parts at the same time. With a little practise you will soon know enough to make reasonable quality patterns that create good sand moulds.

There is one important pattern making tool that will make you wince when you purchase, but it is an
important tool to have if you want to make accurate patterns where shrinkage rates are concerned.

The tool is the "Pattern Makers Rule", this is a ruler about 500mm (20") long. Made by Rabone Of England. No B5. And the graduations are marked as: 1/30-1/40-1/60-1/80,

The graduations represent the amount of shrinkage allowance for different types of metals. The pattern makers ruler provides a built in shrinkage percentage, which means you don't have to calculate the final
measurement or size of your pattern, you simply take your measurement from your shrink rule, and transfer the measurement to the pattern being made.

The system is clever in the way it's all been calculated.

For a quick example, the 1/30 scale measurement seems to give the correct result with patterns used to cast items in aluminium. Machining allowance on specific parts of a given pattern may also need to be considered, generally your own judgement can be used to judge that.

Pattern making can be quite a challenge for the hobby foundry worker, but once you learn the basics and develop your skills, with a little practice your patterns will get better and so will the overall casting quality.
If you intend on making lots of patterns, the investment in a shrink rule is well worth the money.

And while you're at it, find a good book on the basics of pattern making, it deserves a study all on it's own, but it forms an integral part of foundry work, and because you're the boss of your own workshop, you have to learn to wear the hat of the pattern maker & that of the sand moulder & founder.

Sounds like a whole lot of work doesn't it, but you'll soon learn what will work best for you. Spend the time to learn all you can, and you'll be rewarded with encouraging results.

Have you Got What It Takes For Foundry Work?

That is the exact question that I asked myself years & years ago. I had an idea about something that I wanted to cast. I sort of roughly new what I wanted to do, but did not have the basic knowledge and know how to begin the task. So the next step was to search for the right info, the Internet did not exist as it does today.

The search amongst local libraries looking for home hobby foundry info was painful, many librarians did not have a clue what you were talking about, let alone trying to guide you to the book that you required.

As time ticked by I started to slowly assemble bits of information about foundry work, then a commercial foundry was set up in my home town (It has since long gone) so a few visits and a guided tour helped to put much of the info in the right place. The aim of the task was to miniaturise the whole thing... small furnace... small crucible... small moulding boxes... small everything... that is really what hobby foundry is all about, you are taking many of the ideas & methods employed in the big commercial foundries and then build & utilize a simplified version of the real thing.

Would you believe I have had several older retired foundry workers who have purchased our ebooks because they couldn't remember much about the complete foundry operation where they used to work and were not sure how to go about it, it is nice to receive emails out of the blue to let us know that they are well on the way to setting up their small micro hobby foundries.

And what does that say about the ebooks, it really works.

Practical info is the basis of what we talk about in all of the ebooks we have written about hobby foundry work. And over the past year or two I have been simply amazed at how successful many of our ebook clients have been. Some have continued to keep in touch and have had several questions to ask over a period of time, but overall most people have developed their skills to the point where they can now explore and do their own thing, creating what ever they want in metal, it  gives you freedom to do what you want in metal, and that is a wonderful thing.