The International Hobby Metal Casting ezine.
Brought To You By:
Col Croucher, administrator of: www.myhomefoundry.com
Australia.
October 2007. Volume: 04. Number: 48.
Boy, we have been having some fun in the foundry over the past few weeks, there has been some projects in the wings awaiting some urgent attention, you may remember I mentioed in tha last ezine, I mentioned that a fellow called David from New South Wales (NSW) here in OZ required some door handles and other parts to be reproduced for a old model Studebaker Truck restoration he was undertaking, as you can imagine, parts for these old rigs would be getting a bit thin on the ground by now, so the only way for David to get what he wanted was to "find" someone cast replica parts.
So, after a short phone conversation, guess who put their hand up for the job?
David explained to me that he had visited several commercial foundries around the Sydney (NSW) area, but most were either simply not interested, or the price quoted was pretty steep, and that in itself is a very good reason to get involved in learning the art of metal casting, the money you can save by making your own parts is not to be sneezed at that's for sure.
Perhaps you are involved in the restoration of vintage - classic cars, trucks, motorcycles or anything else that requires new parts to complete a project, if you are into any of these areas I encourage you to give metal casting a go, I guarantee you will enjoy the challenge - results & rewards.
Further down the page we have two interesting articles. Troy Rhodes would like to share his casting success with you and Matt Weber of dellaterra studios would also like to share his metal art work and vsion with you.
Below you will see the articles and photographs.
This is exactly the reason why most people become involved with metal casting, I.E. they have a need or desire to fulfill, and they know and understand how to go about filling that need, you will learn from Troy's experience, he employed some clever thinking & techniques to solve a fundamental engineering problem. And the best part is that the total cost was minimal.... try getting this kind of casting and machining job done at your local engineering shop, well, they could probably do it for you, but the cost would blow out a bit I'm sure.
Matt Weber's article and photographs are truly exciting also, his metal art sculpture is really something to admire.
Thanks to Troy & Matt for forwarding their stories and pictures.
So, how are your casting projects going? I really hope that you are finding great satisfaction and rewards from your metal casting efforts; if you have some spare time, please tell us about it, email your story and pictures to share with other ezine members..
Now for the articles & photo's, the first is a metal casting success story from Troy Rhodes, the next article is about a highly skilled metal artist. Matt Weber from Arizona USA. Matt is keen to combine his creative metal work and metal casting skills in his commissions..... Please read on.
Convert scrap aluminium & bronze into valuable items. It matters little whether your intent is engineering or metal art focused; the out come is much the same.
You'll find the answers, plus a whole lot more if you click here.
Troy
Rhodes Photo's & Success
Story.
#1. Machining
styrene foam to size.
#2. The raw casting straight from the sand.
#3. Learn
from your mistakes!
#4. Machined Pulley - Made from foam
pattern.
#5. Pulley installed on generator.
Matt Weber Photographs. Creative
Metal Artist.
#1. Forge Metal Door
Knocker.
#
2. Hand forged Chello Player.
#3:
Chalice. Open mould cast copper.
#4. Matt hard at
work. dellaterrastudios
Troy Rhodes.
Michigan, USA.
Photographs Start At The Top: #1-2-3-4-5.
Col.
Here's a success story for you. I also want to encourage others to get in there and try metal casting.
***
I wanted to build/assemble my own generator using an "old time" Iisteroid. Perhaps you have heard of these fun/slow/durable engines.
The sticky part was, I needed a custom pulley to take a 6 rib serpentine belt, just like the one that drives the alternator and other accessories on your car. This would allow me to run a serpentine belt right from the flywheel of the listeroid to the pulley on the generator.
I did some research and found a source that manufactures them, but the cost was exorbitant; they wanted hundreds of dollars for the complete assembly, by the time I bought the special bushing and then paid the shipping the cost was blown out too much.
This I thought was the perfect time to begin experimenting with my new foundry, and the pulley assembly was the first useful part I had made with the foundry. On top of that, I made the entire part using the lost foam process.
For the readers who have never tried this technique, it's not as hard as some make it out to be. To be sure, there is a learning curve and you'll make a few bad parts. But that's half of the fun.
(Editors note: Haven’t we always said that you'll learn more from you’re mistakes than you will from your successes!)
So, first I made a foam pattern out of normal white bead board, AKA Styrofoam. You can experiment with white foam (fast and cheap) or the denser pink and blue extruded foam board products. The denser foams will generally produce finer casting detail and will provide a stiffer, stronger pattern which is less likely to deform when you bury/surround
it in the backing sand.
Image #1: The raw blank being turned on the lathe.
Then I fancied it up a bit by drilling some lightening holes in the foam pattern. That's one of the major advantages of a foam pattern. You can make it virtually as complex or as simple as you want, and never have to worry about pattern draft, or complex 3 or 4 part mold boxes. Just make it how you want it, allowing for a little extra "meat" for final machining and cleanup allowance.
The sprue and vent are simply glued to the pattern, to get a complete fill. Use ordinary white PVA glue (Elmer’s would be the common brand around here.) Be careful not to make a huge thick glue joint, as that may impede the flow of molten aluminium.
Image #2: The raw casting straight from the sand.
Now here's a pic of the raw casting just after I rinsed the sand off. I Didn’t use green sand or petrobond or anything special. This was just dry "play" sand, purchased at the lumberyard in a 50# bag for a couple of bucks. I was as proud as a new father, well, almost. But I have to confess that it took about three tries before I found the proper arrangement for the sprue and the vent to get a nice dense casting without voids.
The project was a fantastic learning experience the whole way through.
Image #3: When things go wrong.
You reckon you are the only one to have failures... here's one of the duds. I think the molten aluminium wasn't quite hot enough on that pour. And/or the sprue wasn't tall enough to put a enough "hydrostatic" or head pressure on the casting to get a fast efficient fill. Oh well, it's back in the pot for another try.
Image # 4th: Success.
As you can see the pulley machined up nicely, and I also cast a split mounting bushing to bolt it to the gennie shaft. Here's a look at the finished product. The original plan was to machine the lightening holes in the pulley for a spiffy finished look, but the "as cast" appearance was quite good enough, and I decided to leave them as is.
While I was doing a static balance of the pulley, we found that it only needed very minor drilling to get a perfect balance. This is a testament to how accurately you can make a raw casting using the lost foam method:
Image # 5:
The goal has been acheived and the pulley is finally installed and doing its job on the generator:
Finest regards and I enjoy the e-zine every month! Keep up the good work.
Troy Rhodes.
****
Thank you Troy for your contribution. Col.
Matt Weber. Metal Artist.
dellaterra studios. AZ. USA.
My name is Matt Weber and my partner Desi Costanza and I run Della Terra Studios located in Chandler, Arizona, USA. Our working studio is primarily a Metal, Glass, and teaching studio. Desi handles the glass side of things, and I work the metal. Our commissions are both public and private, our artwork can be found around the world.
My interest in metal began when I took a welding class in Jr. High School. I was pretty much hooked at that point. As time went on, my metalwork started to take an artistic form. My hunger for knowledge in all types of metalwork could not be satisfied. I began to study with all types of metalworkers such as master Blacksmiths and Coppersmiths.
I also began collecting and reading every book on the subject of metal I could get my hands on. I would buy books that covered metalworking skills of things I had no intentions of making. Such as armor reproduction and knife making.
All these skills are transferable to most any type of metalwork. You learn about new tools and properties of metal and how to heat-treat them. All these skills make me a better artist by giving me the mental tools to transfer what I see in my mind to reality.
Casting metal is another road in my metal working journey. The possibilities of combining hand made cast items and hand-forged work are endless. I see many benefits in casting when it comes to original sculpture. My attempts with casting have been crude to say the least. They basically consist of pouring copper onto the kiln shelf, and basic plaster molds. The "Chalice" pictured is the only artwork I have done that has cast pieces in it.
It was made from several random pours of copper onto the kiln shelf. The pieces were then assembled over the top of an old oxygen tank used as a form, and then assembled onto a steel/copper base. The patina is chemical and the gold interior is gold leaf.
My failed (and sometimes dangerous) experimentation has led me here to try metal
casting. I may be dumb enough to experiment with dangerous procedures, but I'm
at least smart enough to wear the proper protective gear.
So after splattering copper all over the place more than once, I figured I better ask the pro's. This led me to Colins wonderful ebook publication on the net. So much information supplied for such a reasonable price.
I host a free online forum at: www.metalartistforum.com you can find many talented metal artists there that are more than willing to share what they know.
Sharing our knowledge is what keeps our arts evolving!
Matt Weber-Metal Artist
http://www.dellaterrastudios.com
Editors Note:
Matt has commissioned work located at the following locations:
Vision Gallery: http://www.visiongallery.org/
Art on Boston: http://www.artonboston.com/
There are two pieces currently on display at the Chandler
Sculpture Walk: http://www.chandleraz.gov/newsrelease.aspx?N_UID=957
Matt also has a public commission to re-create light fixtures for a historic
home and visitors centre in Chandler, AZ. USA.
**
Thank you Matt, your work is imaginative & creative.
Col Croucher.
Ed.