The International Hobby Metal Casting ezine.
Brought To You By:
Col Croucher, administrator of: www.myhomefoundry.com
Australia.
Number: 64: February 2009.
Hello.
No matter where you live around the world there is a good chance that you would have watched the world news Broadcasts about the tragic - horrific firestorms that ravaged southeastern Australia
in the last two weeks. Whole communities have been wiped of the map.
Thank you to the many people who after watching the world news emailed to ask if we were OK, fortunately the fires were not near us, but we were touched all of the same to think that so many people were thinking of us... thank you.
The statistics to date are: 209 Lives lost - 1834 Homes Destroyed - and so many stories told by many people who somehow managed to survive, so swift were the fires, driven along by 70 - 90 KMH scorching hot Northwesterly winds, too many people had very little warning to even have a chance to flee their homes.
The 7th of February 2009 has been labelled Black Saturday.
The links below will help to convey the tragic outcome of this disaster. But If there is anything good that can come out these tragic events it is the outpouring of help and relief from fellow Australians... to date well over 100 Million dollars has been raised to help the fire victims, even when times are tough people can still find something to give.
If you want to read more about the Black Saturday fires visit the links below
http://tinyurl.com/bgqt4u
http://www.blacksaturday.com.au/
On a lighter note we have a very interesting metal casting project for you to read about, plus a short metal casting video to watch in this issue, we hope you enjoy, perhaps this will help you to begin your metal casting journey also.
Please Enjoy.
Col.
The process - The Methods - The Home Built Equipment Required.
Wanna Make The Start?
Click Here for everything you need.
What has A
1960's VW - A Dome Shaped Object.
Plus
A Box Full Of Scrap...
...Got
To Do With Metal Casting?
Read More About Steve Tracy and his metal casting adventure:
Geodesic
Dome Casting Coupling. One of the first castings made entirely from Al pop cans |
Gecko Trivets. After taking a short apprenticeship with a cider press manufacture, steve started making patterns for unique stove trivets. Here is one of them (See bottom photo for pattern) |
Home Built Flask.  Flasks made from recycled lumber and home patterns and castings for the flask guide pin assemblies. |
Gas Fired Furnace.  At the time my crucible held just about a cup of aluminum. Just enough to cast one hub. My furnace now can hold 11 lbs of melted aluminum. I made the furnace and tools myself, with propane to fire and a hair dryer blower. |
Steve Tracy has been casting in his home foundry for fun and profit for the past 35 years, he lives in Seattle, WA, USA. Steve say's his foundry journey began when he happened to take a foundry class in his last year at college, just as the 70's energy crisis started and recycling was coming on the scene. He saw the potential in all of the Aluminium pop cans going to the dump, so his first castings were made entirely from Al pop cans. One of the first patterns made was a hub which could be used to construct a geodesic dome, using 2 x lumber.
| Home Designed & Built Tile Cutting Machine.  My most recent casting is a tile support bracket, (See photo above of flask) which I am using on a unique tile cutting CNC machine shown above. |
Matchplate For Gecko Patterns.  All of the trivets have matchplates. |
Foundry Problems That Steve Has Faced:
Having a steam blowback which fortunately ruined a pair of glasses with molten metal, so now I always wear a face shield. I use a water based green sand, which I have been using for 30 years, sometimes it dries out. This was when I had several one-year hiatus's from casting. Reconstituting with water was always a chore.
Steve's Mission:
Over the years, I would try to improve one thing, no matter how small, each time that I did a melt. Making a pattern more precise, making a special tool, improving the flask alignment pins, putting the sand in an old chest freezer and working on top of it as a workbench, improved lighting, etc.. So now, when I go out to cast, everything goes quite smoothly and I can focus more on the pattern making.
I have found that the whole set-up is quite portable, with the exception of the sand and have taken it on the road and given several casting demonstrations, making one or two molds at a time.
Metal Casting has been very enjoyable for me and I am planning on opening up my shop on a weekly basis inviting other interested hobbyists.
I don't melt many pop cans now, because I can trade then at the recycling center for clean scrap and I don't have to worry about adding any sort of flux. A short video on You-Tube shows my foundry process
with the dome you can watch it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsF4qrR4TQ8
Steve Tracy.
Seattle, WA. USA.
Note:
Steve's beatiful foundry work shows what can be done when you have the desire and the passion to produce high quality, intricate castings with home built foundry gear & tools, everyone from the rank beginner to the advanced metal caster can learn much from what Steve has shared with us here.