The International Hobby Metal Casting ezine.
Brought To You By: Col Croucher.
Administrator of: www.myhomefoundry.com Australia.
August 2009: Number: 69.
The newbie metal caster journey generally follows a predictable path, they hear about or see someone melting & pouring metal - they research the subject on line - decide that metal casting is something they would like to try for whatever reason - more research is done - more research - opinions sought - a high percentage seem to end up at our web site - and they are on their way, a new hobby metal casting pastime is born every week for many people around the world.
I don’t know about you, but after having a lifetime passion of being involved with metal, I know that posessing knowledge about metal casting skills has been the most amazing thing, the more you learn, the easier it becomes to make intricate patterns, create the moulds, and pour the molten metal. When you combine it with all of your other skills, you suddenly have something you can call "freedom to create what you want, when you want".
Most of the customers who purchase our ebooks get to work straight away with the building and establishing of their hobby foundry, they study the books, and put the ideas into practice, and build the equipment & tool projects, mostly they just get on with their work, on the odd occasion people send us a few questions via email, we help explain and provide more details if they need them.
Once you get your head around the system, and you become very confident with your skills, it is then you begin to see your new found skills in a different light, you become aware of certain things that you can make for all kinds of projects... it's akin to an awakening moment, the light bulb suddenly comes on and you become very aware and ready to take on the challenges, and that's the way it should be.
We have had several people who pop up out of the woodwork with excellent fabricating and construction and or foundry skills. We reap great joy watching a total newbie slowly develop their hobby foundry, it even gives me a funny feeling to see all of the clones of the furnace that we designed & built which is still being used today in my own small foundry.
One person in particular of which I have had quite a bit of communication with over the past few weeks is with a fellow Aussie, Jim Kalopedis, who lives in the Sydney region of New South Wales.
In fact we are running an article on Jim in this issue, you will be able to view the great furnace he has built using the plans & build specs detailed in our ebook package. Jim as it turns out is very happy with the result. But you can read more below.
Once you learn & understand how to get good results with your foundry set up, the paid jobs will soon start to follow. When the word spreads around the people in the know, you will begin to get requests from others who want small castings produced, but you should only take on paid jobs when you are confident with your skills, and you feel that you can do the job to a high standard.
Sometimes, money-making projects can be right in front of you for years and years before you realize their potential. This happened to me recently. Three weeks ago a fellow contacted me (Through a car forum) to see if I could cast some small finger window lifts for a classic British car, the part was examined and luckily the original parts could be used as a pattern.
So that was what happened, two sets of finger lifts were cast & finished on the proviso that I was not tied to a fixed cost, as it is with every "one off" casting job, you don’t really know how it is going to work out cost/time wise. There are two things to consider in this situation, the first is that these parts are not available any where in the world, they are as scarce as hen’s teeth as they say.
The second is that you could set the price at whatever you wanted for the job and the client may still pay... within reason. So after careful evaluation of the job, and a bit of trial work just to see how long it would take to cast & finish the product, we arrived at a price that the client was happy to pay. You can view the photos below of the finger lifts, yes, they are small, and yes, they are probably the most expensive parts I have ever cast when you take into consideration just how little cast metal was actually involved, but the amount of metal consumed for the job really has nothing to do with the end cost, this is about selling & using your foundry skills to produce something that could be sold for a very good price. You can read more below.
DIY =
the value of craftsmanship
- such as
the rhythm of
routine and the drive to do good work for it's own sake - can enrich our lives - nearly
everyone can become
a craftsman in whatever field you choose.
The most contented resourceful people are often those that make stuff - music - wood fired pizzas - veggie patches - woodworkers - metal craftsman - Most earn
a living doing something else - being involved with DIY crafts engages you with the world in a
meaningful way. (Suzy Freeman-Greene. Melb Age)
And just as it is with metal casting. There's an immense satisfaction & personal reward in casting metal yourself... You're
in control.
Take Control Of Your Hobby Now:
Start Here With:
The Std Package.
Or Go All Out:
The Monster Package.
(Limited Availability)
The most contented resourceful people are often those that make stuff - music - wood fired pizzas - veggie patches - woodworkers - metal craftsman - Most earn
a living doing something else - being involved with DIY crafts engages you with the world in a
meaningful way. (Suzy Freeman-Greene. Melb Age)
And just as it is with metal casting. There's an immense satisfaction & personal reward in casting metal yourself... You're
in control.
Take Control Of Your Hobby Now:
Start Here With:
The Std Package.
Or Go All Out:
The Monster Package.
(Limited Availability)
Gas Fired Furnace Project.
Jim Kalopedis Australia.
Jims awesome furnace,
based on the design detailed in the ebooks we supply.
The
internal view of the furnace and the brand new silicon carbide crucible
The all important burner
pipe and gas jet. This is such a nice looking furnace it will be a
shame to get it hot & discolured? But I'm sure Jim will put it to
work.
The
bilge blower fan. Jim says "it works great as a furnace blower".
Congratulations to Jim, he has done a great job building his
furnace. Ed. See story below:
Feature Article.
Jim Kalopedis: Sydney Australia.
(See photos above)
My Furnace Building Project.
Jim is another of our many hobby metal casting success stories. After purchasing the ebook package he quickly gathered together all that's needed for building the furnace. As suggested in the ebook Jim has stuck to the size mentioned, refractory here in Australia is available in 25 kilo bags, two bags are generally required to line the furnace walls, floor & lid.
Sometimes difficulty can be had in obtaining a 5-gallon drum as per the specification, Jim decided to use a good alternative, a domestic galvanised garbage can, which has almost the required dimensions. It is 1" deeper and has a small taper on the outside, the smallest diameter being 15 inches. It has a good rolled edge on the top and is ideal for the job. The axle and supports are underneath and the column is welded on and the castable refractory and crucible has been ordered. The price of the castable refractory is $61AU per 25Kg bag and silicon carbide crucible is $200.00AU,I am thinking that when finished, high temperature paint which is designed for painting exhaust pipes will be applied to the outside of the furnace shell, this can be obtained from Super Cheap Autos. (Australia).
An exciting moment was when the time arrived to fire it up for the first time
At last I have fired up my furnace for the first time. I have attached some 'photos of it for your interest. There have been a few mods but basically it is your design and although I have a few issues to work through, it goes great!! To blow air, I purchased a "Shop Vac" which has a blower output which turns out to be far too much air so to break it down I cut a square hole next to the air input of the burner, closer to the gas jet, a hinged air blast slide to further reduce the air flow. I have shaped the bottom of the air blast slide so that, when closed it matches the curve on the inside of the burner pipe, so making it possible to turn off the airflow almost completely. Now the furnace runs with this slide almost closed and it is finicky to adjust, as the airflow seems to be critical in its adjustment. It is for this reason I am starting to think in terms of a blower of the type for cooling computers etc. I think this might be easier to control. I purchased a proper LP gas regulator as per your suggestion and it's adjustment seems also to be finicky so I am thinking of placing some sort of small orifice to restrict the gas flow in the outlet tube.
In all, the performance is very impressive. This is all new to me and I was quite surprised at the loud roar that the furnace makes when going. I suppose this is quite normal! When adjusted properly it burns with a nice blue flame which spirals around the furnace and exits by the exhaust pipe.
Electronics.
Being in the electronics industry, I chose to build a thyristor speed control for the "Shop Vac" but found that this type of speed control is not satisfactory for this application because at very low speeds the motor tends to hunt and operate somewhat intermittently so I deduced that a resistive or Variac device is necessary. Variable resistors of this wattage are difficult to obtain as a 1 off and Variacs are too expensive so this is why I chose to reduce the airflow the way I did.
When your furnace is operating, do you run your Electrolux still quite low in speed? Eg: nothing like full air output. Do you find the gas regulator finicky to adjust or is there something different about my furnace?
Anyway these issues are only minor and with a bit of tweaking I am sure that the furnace will do the job well.
Finding A suitable Blower.
Jim decided not to use a vacuum cleaner for the blower, I tried a 240V computer-cooling fan, which proved useless because it is a large diameter and when I funnelled it down to the diameter of the burner, it did not blow any air at all. So then I went to the marine chandlery shop and purchased a bilge-blowing fan, which I run from a 2amp 12V battery charger. I had to make an adaptor to bring it's output down from 3" dia to the inside diameter of the burner. It works great and runs with the air adjustment slide about 3/4 of the way open and gives a smooth adjustment. The blower I purchased is a TMC brand model 03701 and costs about $40.00. There is no need to control it's speed if using the air adjust slide as it is perfect running flat out.
44 Grams Of Cast Aluminium Repro Parts
Sold
For
$69.50US.
Casting
Reproduction Car Parts For Cash$$.
Window Lift Handle Set.
 The Original Window Finger Lifts. |
 The Reproduction Window Finger Lifts. The parts were cast in green sand, two sets at a time, using hand cut runners & in-gates, originals being used as the patterns. The four-step finishing work consisted of; linishing with fine abrasive belt, scotchbrite belt, buffing on a cloth wheel & then finishing with two coats of tectyl clear lacquer, yes, a lot of finishing work was involved, now you know why the asking price was so much! |
You may at first glance think the price charged for these small items is a wee bit expensive, but it is not, this is simply selling your skills for what they are worth, the classic automotive restoration scene is full of opportunity for anyone who wants to get into this market. When the car resto guys cant find what they want on ebay, swap meets & flea markets, they then start looking for someone to reproduce new parts from old original parts, find these people, and you have found customers who will pay you good money for your foundry skills. Yes, you could make them for little more than what they cost if you wanted to, the kind of thing you would do for your mates, or buddies.
You could also do a bit of horse trading... do the job in return of equal value from someone else, and there is plenty of that going on also. In the end, it's your choice what how you handle it, sound the customer out first, to see where they are coming from, you know what I mean.
Could it be that the small army of hobby foundry workers across the globe will begin to fill the gaps made by te demise of the small jobbing foundry. Anyone who has approached a commercial foundry to do small casting jobs will know only to well how much it costs to have one off jobs done, and therein lies my argument. Not everyone will be able to take advantage of the idea of making some spare cash, but no matter where you live, the work is there & waiting if you want it.
Announcing The Casting Masters Of 2009.
If you read the casting masters of 2008 ebook, I'm sure you would have been more than impressed with the casting projects and accompanying articles that were presented last year.
Have you been working on some interesting metal casting projects in the last twelve months? I hope so, because all you need to do to be part of this International hobby casting project event is to write a short article about your foundry project, and include five or six good clear digital photos, and email them to us for judging.
Last year we we selected one overall winner, plus two runner ups, and two highly commended entries, myhomefoundry.com sponsored the event with $50.00 US being paid to the best entry and we also awarded ebook packages to the others, we had a fantastic number of entries, and it was a lot of fun, and if the feed back was any indication I think everyone really enjoyed the event.
And now it is time to send in your entry for the 2009 Casting Masters event.
So, whadya reckon, Like To Enter The Casting event. You could share in $60.00US worth of cash prizes, we will also be awarding some nice ebook packages to runner-up entries.
You will be showcasing your work with thousands of other hobby metal casters around the globe. Please get your entry in as soon as you can. Your entry could also be selected to be published (with your permission) in the casting masters 2009 ebook.
A large number of the complimentary 2008 year ebook has been downloaded from our web site. It has generated a lot of interest from many people who are curious to know what the metal casting hobby is all about.
For the 2009 event there are three sections you can select to enter your project in:
Section 1: A Cast Object. Can be anything, bronze or aluminium.
Section 2: Timber Pattern. Must be your own work, also must include a casting made from your pattern.
Section 3: Art Casting. Let your creativity in metal run wild.
Only one entry per section per person please.
To enter: You must send:
Five nice clear colour digital photos of your project, minimum file size 200DPI. A short article, say about two hundred & fifty to three hundred words explaining; why you did the project, how you did it, the techniques & tools you used to create the project. Please do not send projects that were entered in last years event. Note: Your project does not have to be world class to be in the running for a prize.
Send your entry to Col. And dont forget to nominate which section you wish to enter your project in. col_janatbigpond.com (replace the word at with @)
Unusual Requests by Email.
Every now and again an unusual email arrives at our inbox, the emails range from humorous to quite serious requests for info, the following emails have been selected from several we recieved in the past month, which I want to share with you, all names & identity have been removed. Now please dont send me emails with your version of a fix for these requests as each one has been resolved in one way or another.
Subject: metal cast for plastic abs moulding
E-mail: bous******lor**@gmail.com
Message:
Hi there. I was wondering you do any work for other people such as making moulds.
I have a reverse light housing assembly from a classic car made of an ABS plastic which is then chromed. I need a few of these for my cars so i need a mould made since they are hard to come by. If you could let me know where I might find a hobbiest who can do this for me, that would be great.Thank
=========
And even little old ladies visit our web site looking for info?
Message from: D**** Roberts
Subject: Question
E-mail: dro***@cfl.**.com
Message:
Your website is very interesting. A co-worker of mine melts down aluminum cans and makes things in his spare time. He is working on a hamster cage right now for his niece. He works for his own enjoyment.
I would like to have him make me an aluminum "peace sign" to hang outside on my porch. I would like to surprise him with the mold or supplies he will need to make it. It seems like it would be a simple mold, but I don't know the first thing about his hobby. Does anyone make molds that are ready to use? Would he make his own?
If this is too complicated to explain to a confused old lady, I'll understand, but I thought I'd ask the experts for some direction. Maybe an online supplier you could recommend?
Thanks for any help you can give me.
--D Roberts.
===================
Message from: Leo M***rit*
Subject: Sodium silicate -quick setting
E-mail: l****@cancer board.**.ca
Message:
HI
I wish to fabricate some very quick setting patient positioning devices to stabilize our patients
for radiation treatment. The material needs to be light and rigid. I was thinking about trying a
small garbage bag that contains popcorn or styrofoam beads (or some other very light material)
and place the bag while shaping it for support around the patient. If I was to pass co2 gas
into the bag and have it exit out a orifice. Do you think that the Styrofoam beads would go
hard and allow the bag to hold its shape.
If Co2 would not work is there a non toxic chemical that would make the bag go hard quickly.
I have tried playing with some sodium silicate that I purchased at a pottery shop and it took
hours to turn hard. I used a small rag with sodium silicate on it, which I placed in a plastic
bag that contained Co2 I have been looking for a quick setting adhesive that has no odor and
is very cheap and safe to use for several months and then I read your article about core making
Thank you
L M.
Tom Baker Cancer Centre.
Calgary Alberta.
Canada.
===
It is amazing the number of problems that people are trying to solve, a large proportion of which turn to the Internet to find the answers. From time to time we are unable to provide help, but if we know someone who can help we redirect the inquiry... Every one has problems they want solved, and that is no different to when you began your search for hobby metal casting info and you ended up at our web site! And we are mighty glad you did.
Thanks for being here and also for your support.
Until next time
Col.