The International Hobby Metal Casting ezine.
Brought To You By:
Col Croucher, administrator of: www.myhomefoundry.com
Australia.
November 2009. Number: 72.
You have been wondering about the outcome of the Casting Masters 2009 Comp? Sorry to keep you guessing, because up until a few days ago we were still considering the entries, for some reason there were less entries than last year but the quality is certainly not any less. I began collating and writing about this comp about four weeks ago, but so many other projects & commitments have taken precedence, so my apollogies for the lateness. A BIG thnak you for the people who made the effort to send in their casting project photos and short articles... wasnt that hard was it?
From the 1st to the 15th of October my wife & I packed the car and headed North, first stop was at Sydney to celebrate our one & only grandson's 1st Birthday, a great family celebration it was to.... the family name lives on, he is the seventh generation male of our family to be born in Australia, our Forebears arrived by windjammer from England to the shores of Australia in 1870, a damn long time ago, not first fleet arrivals, nor second fleeters, but out of interest, our family lineage can be traced right back to France, so there's a bit of Froggy in us, but absolutely true blue Aussies now of course.... fair dinkum mate.
A holiday is defined as having a break from everything you do in your normal home life & the daily grind, or work as they call it, so that meant hardly going near a computer while away... well yes, I did check in every now and again just in case someone had troubles with downloads... IT glitches do happen from time to time, but apart from that it was to kick back & relax and take in the sights and sounds of another beautiful Aussie region.
One particular thing I was looking forward to was a visit to the Phoenix foundry at Uralla, which is, situated on the New England Tablelands of New South Wales (Check the photo below), but lo and behold when we got there they had moved into a brand new purpose built modern foundry facility and the lovely young receptionist said that because of OH&S rules... (bloody red tape again) they can no longer conduct tours through the foundry, what a bummer!
I pleaded with her, explaining what I did, & that I had driven three days to get there.... please ... pretty please I pleaded....."I'm sorry,” she said "I can’t help you". On that remark I said thanks, turned around and left... waste of time that was, but at least I tried!
The final holiday destination was at Lismore in the Northern Rivers region of NSW, (Rain forest country) but to get there we travelled as many back roads as possible because that is where you see the real country and you also get to meet some interesting people.
Anyway the holiday was fun, but it is also nice to return home again, but as always, it takes a few days to get back into the swing of things, so here we are, back again and trying to get the ezine out... and running a tad late, but then, there's nothing unusual about that is there??
There would not be a week go by where someone from around the globe contacts us for help of one kind or another, often the people are desperate for some kind of help, they need answers, or need to contact someone who can help them, generally we are able to help them, but if we cant, we can generally point them in the right direction, that is why we make ourselves available through our contact form, we don’t hide behind our web site, we are visible and available to our customers & visitors most times.
And of course we enjoy reading the emails from customers who have had a degree of success with their metal casting exploits, we really get a buzz knowing that others are succeeding through the knowledge they have absorbed and taken from the ebooks that we supply, in fact
you are about to see some great stuff in this years casting masters 2009 comp from people who have taken up the challenge and shown what can be achieved with a bit of passion and enthusiasm... more on that soon.
Now read on and enjoy.
Col.
I know, I know you have been waiting anxiously to see who entered what, and who gets the prizes (And a bit of early Christmas Cheer) As we stated in the initial news release about the hot metal ezine casting comp, we said we would pick a winner in each section, plus a second or third if there were enough entries for the runner up prizes, but as you could imagine, it was a hard job to choose, because every entry had something special & unique about them, but we want to reward the effort put into the projects, to be honest everyone deserves a prize for the effort they have put in, a BIG thank you to all who have contributed to this fun competition. And if you were a bit slow of the mark, or you were unable to have something ready, and several people did express their interest to submit a project but couldn’t enter a project due to time constraints, never mind, maybe next time.
Now read on: Absorb - learn – and apply the knowledge to your own projects.
Col.
Why not have a go at Metal Casting?
But
Don't Where to Start?
Get The Basic Stuff Here.
Or
Go The Whole Hog.
Get The Lot Here.
(Limited & Best Deal).
The Original Phoenix Foundry
At
Uralla NSW.
I bet this old building could tell a few stories.
A Letter From Derrick Davis. USA.
Hello Colin,
I've been casting now for about 5 years. I started with pewter in soapstone molds, then learned to use Delft clay, and later lost wax casting. My wife has worked jewellery for years and we decided to sink some funds into some modern equipment. We acquired an electric 'burnout oven/furnace' for lost waxwork, an electric melting furnace for small pieces (2000 F for any alloy up to bronze), and a centrifuge.
My wife and I are 'living historians' as our hobby, and we have a special interest in Bronze Age technology. With an emphasis on Viking and Saami tools and techniques we have turned our backyard and workshop into a casting playground. We have a large fire pit, a brick-smelting furnace, bellows, dung-and-clay cylinder/cupola furnaces, and the oxy-acetylene rig. We have cast over 300 coins for a local historical group's King and Queen; we cast over 100 coins for another historical group's tenth anniversary. We are casting Bronze pieces (broaches, keys, combs, tools) based on the finds in Gotland and Hebedy.
With our continued studies, we have increased the size and complexity of our bronze pieces, not 'art', but practical casting with an aesthetic touch. We are working on historically accurate bronze keys, daggers, and axe heads. Spears and swords will follow soon. I'm still working up to a larger crucible, and much larger cope-and-drag boxes for oiled sand work.
My wife taught a class in September on Bronze casting, ancient and modern. She asked me to transport our modern workshop to the site and give the practical casting demo. One of the students took this video of me (in 10th century Viking garb) setting up and casting bronze using a modern centrifuge, melt furnace, and burnout furnace.
Watch the video of Derrick at work.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OY9_UBMAPo0
Cheers
Derrick Davis. USA.
Keep up the good work Derrick.
Col.
Metal Casting Comp Results.
After much deliberation we have finally decided who gets the prizes for the casting masters 2009 comp event, as mentioned earlier, there were less entries this year but deciding who gets the moolah has been a hard job. We have also experienced several delays, so may I say one thousand apologies for the long delay.... we trust the wait has been worthwhile.
Some entrants submitted several photos of their projects but we had to select & show no more than four of from each entrant, the rest we may publish at a later date in ebook form which will be available for download (ebook) from our web site in the future.
The Categories.
Section
1: A Cast
Object. Can be anything, bronze or aluminium.
First Place: Jim Kalopedis. Australia.
Second Place: Jeff Coote: Set Of Truck Rocker ( Valve) Covers.
Section 2: Pattern. made from scratch or modified pattern, also include a casting made from the pattern.
First Place: Simon Milner: Flir Camera Mount Pattern & Gun Mount Pattern.
Second Place: Ken Hunt: Reworked Original Valve Cover Pattern.
Section 3: Art Casting. Let your creativity in metal run wild.
First Place: David Adams. Light Fixture In Bronze.
Second Place: John Hartigan: Creative Art Sculpture Casting.
(This is an aditional category.)
Section 4: Home Built Foundry Equipment.
First Place: Kevin Gallagher: Australia.
Home designed and built tilting furnace.
Section 1: A Sand Cast Object.
First Place: Jim Kalopedis: Australia.
Jims Casting Journey Story.
Background.
This is the story of my debut into amateur non-ferrous metal casting after purchasing the e-books on the subject from Col Croucher. Firstly I decided to build a gas-fired furnace to roughly the specs in the e-book. Being retired from the engineering industry and with a few tools and a small lathe, I found the metal working part of the project was no problem but obtaining some components was near impossible so a galvanised garbage bin was substituted for the 5 litre drum which forms the main body and a marine bilge pump was used because old Electrolux blower/vacuum cleaners are difficult to obtain. (See furnace 'photo)
After the furnace was operating satisfactorily I then decided, in the interest of safety to construct a pair of crucible lifting tongs and a crucible pouring shank. I then constructed a pattern box from timber with metal locating pins and sockets.
Then came the problems associated with green sand. Without much luck I tried a few formulas all of which contained bentonite and sand. Obtaining fine sand was an insurmountable problem to obtain in small quantities so I finished up using the finest sand that could be obtained from the local plant nursery. This sand is packed in 25kg plastic bags and has water included so my earlier experiments involved drying it before I could weigh it to include in the recipe. Some of the recipes tried involved synthetic two-stroke motorbike oil and methanol. I was not happy with the characteristics of most recipes and after some help from Col and sand suppliers, I came to the conclusion that my problems came back to the lack of mulling, so I built a sand muller similar to the one described in the e-book. I mixed 20% bentonite with the wet sand and the moisture content seemed very close to correct so I then mulled the mixture. The results were very good although the sand is a little too coarse but the squeeze and tensile tests yielded excellent results. If anything, the sand might have had a tiny amount too much water and this probably exhibited itself as slightly rougher casting surface caused by the steam not dispersing through the mould sand quick enough. (See picture of the muller)
The Casting Project.
I am a keen outdoor traveller and I have a camper trailer, which has plastic pads on the stabilising feet. These pads are frequently broken and are quite expensive to replace so I decided to design and make some new ones from cast aluminium. (See picture of the final casting).
style="font-family: Verdana;">
The problem was the slots in the casting which were about 10mm wide. Normally I would have milled them after the casting was made but as I don't have a milling machine, I decided to cast these. Because the slots are positioned above the point where the plate would pass through the pattern, I needed to work out a plan to use removable core prints and a way to place the cores into the mould. I achieved this by cutting slots out of the side of the pattern box through which I could slide the core prints and after the sand was rammed, the cores could be inserted. (see picture of pattern) The pattern was made from MBF board, the round part being turned in my metalwork lathe and the rest fabricated from sheet. I did considerable experiments to decide on the best method of producing a vitreous non stick surface to the pattern and found that automotive pressure pack spray putty followed by a coat of pressure pack primer surfacer resulted in an impressive smooth surface with a silky feel to which the sand will not stick. This method also fills corners with a nice radius so sand will not crumble at this point. Note that the pattern has slots through which the core prints will slide.
After assembling the pattern into the box and ramming up one side (the side with the sprue and steam vent) I then rammed sand into the other side up to the level if the slots and then slid in the core prints. (see picture of half filled pattern box) I then packed sand under and over the core prints until the box was full.
After a slight tap on the core prints they slid out of the rammed up sand very easily leaving holes through which to slide the cores. After tapping the pattern plate to release it from the sand, the mould box was parted and the pattern removed. (See 2 pictures of the sand moulds)
Next I made a core box. This was made from pinewood which was routed to shape, doweled and coated with clear estapol and sanded them until they were smooth. Then a mixture of sand and linseed oil was made and proved unsatisfactory because they couldn't be removed from the core box without breaking because of the thinness and length of the required cores. The coarseness of the sand was also probably contributing to the problem. After adding some bentonite to the mix and packing it into the assembled core box, I found that it was possible to separate the two halves and slide the core out onto a surface set at the same level. They were then oven baked until golden brown. These cores were then inserted into the recess from which the core prints were withdrawn and pushed home so the end finished below the wooden sides of the pattern box. These recesses were then packed with sand to eliminate any metal leakage. (probably not necessary) At this point some sand was removed from around the top of the sprue to form a funnel because I was not familiar with the degree of difficulty one might encounter when pouring molten metal from a crucible, which has no spout.
The crucible was then loaded with scrap aluminium and melted with a small amount of "Cover All” used. After skimming off the dross I then transferred the crucible to the pouring shank and poured my first castings. Being inexperienced I was impressed at how the metal stayed molten long enough to fill the mould and run along the very thin steam vent passages in the mould.
After allowing the mould to cool for awhile I then separated the mould and removed the sand from the castings. (see pictures of casting with sprue and steam vents attached) A small amount of hack sawing and filing then dressed the castings to a usable state. (See picture)
In Conclusion.
Although I have spent many hours constructing equipment to obtain the above results, once the first casting comes to fruition, a great feeling of achievement is generated. As an engineering tradesman who has machined many aluminium castings over a lifetime in the trade you come to realise that the foundry processes to create them require considerable skill to achieve excellent results and as Col says in his books, there is always more to learn.
Jim Kalopedis.
Australia.
Section 1: Second Place.
Jeff Coote: Truck Rocker ( Valve) Covers.
Jeffs Foundry Story:
One of the casting jobs I did this year was a set of rocker covers for an engine in one of my trucks. There were a few reasons for me to undertake this project however the main reason I guess was to prove to myself that it could be done
I ended up casting the covers and pressing up all the breathers as well because the cost of originals was over the top. Unfortunately I didn’t take any photo’s during the process however please find attached a few of the finished product
I am based in Port Hedland WA Australia. The way I got into casting was because I watched a movie, the worlds fastest Indian and said to myself if he can do it so can I, the rocker covers were not my first project and will not be my last.
The rocker covers are fitted to a QSK19 Cummins engine rated at 700hp and fitted in a Mack Titan fitted by yours truly, the whole story is quite involved however the basic story is as follows:
To fit this engine I moved the cab back 140mm and raised it 120mm then moved the gear box back 80mm so the original front engine mount would still work I then had 2 new radiator cores made because I was using low temperature after cooling, (LTA) this is a set-up that has one radiator in front of the other the front being for the intake after cooler. And I had to manufacture new top and bottom tanks to suit I also had to section the bonnet and stretch it higher and longer and had a new grill made to suit etc, etc, etc
Latter on I decided to up-grade the injection system and change it from LTA to air-to-air inter-cooling this involved new intake manifold Inter-cooler pipe work and twin inter-coolers At the same time I decided to replace the cast-iron rocker-covers with either plastic or pressed tin covers that are actually available from Cummins however after much to-ing and fro-ing I ended up with some aluminium covers that didn't fit, so I gave up and decided to make my own.
style="font-family: Verdana;">
A very good mate of mine Neal McEwin does a lot of wood work and has a very well equipped work-shop so we spent an afternoon (more like a day) making a timber pattern for the cover:
From there after a bit of trial and error I got a sand mould to work and as the photos show a finished product and I even have a spare just In case some disaster happens.
The breathers on top of the covers I pressed out of flat stainless steel plate and stainless steel tube These engines normally have 1 breather on 3 of the covers and 3 covers set-up to have an injector lock-out for diagnosis if there is a miss or whatever, I decided that I still have the original covers so if I have this problem I can always use an old cover for the job hence the six breathers Besides they look a whole lot better than the originals
I'm not sure what else I can tell you except I never expect the first one of any casting to work out exactly as I want it but if the second is crook then I just have to sit down and re-think where I went wrong and never stop until I have what I started out to achieve.
I'm sure specialist engineers would get it right first go but I'm also sure those same blokes would have to have a second go if they were working with the limited resources that most of us have and for me at least the best part of the whole thing is doing what everybody tells me I can’t do!
Keep up the good work in spreading the word.
Regards
Jeff
W.J.Coote
Asset Kinetics
Wedgefield WA.
Section 2: Patterns & Castings.
First Place: Simon Milner: Flir Camera Mount Pattern.
Davids Metal Casting
Journey.
In the fall of 1976 I took a job casting bronze wind-bells for the Cosanti Foundation in Scottsdale Arizona. What followed was two and a half years experience in casting bronze, brass, and aluminum and lost Styrofoam casting.
Years later I put together a small foundry set-up and started experimenting with design and techniques for small artistic castings to fulfil a need for a creative outlet. Home foundry casting is an extremely enjoyable form of expression.
I enrolled in an independent study program at a local community college and as a project I designed a light fixture in cast bronze. It is a simple design but presented me with multiple challenges in execution.
A background in woodworking was valuable since my pattern was milled out of wood and I also built a custom shaped molding flask to reduce the amount of Petra bond sand I needed and to reduce mold weight.
The finished casting came out great and the light now hangs in my home. I have not cast another light yet but look forward to refining the casting process and developing new designs in the future.
David Adams.
Section 3: Second Place: Creative Art Sculpture Casting.
John Hartigan:
Hello Col,
I hope it is not too late to enter the contest, but this was a work in progress.
A friend of mine was playing with foam. He would cut out foam to a specific shape, pack it in grain, and pour hot metal into the foam. The foam would vaporize and the metal would displace the foam and take on the texture of the grain.
I took his process one step further.
May piece here is a contoured foam center coated in ceramic, then cast in iron. The second part is contoured foam surrounded by grain and sand and cast in silicon bronze.
I bought your ebooks two years ago and have since built 2 furnaces, one to take a #10 crucible, and one a #40 with some slight modifications to your design.
Thanks for the books! My wife and I are both artists and are having a blast pouring hot metal.
John Hartigan.
Section 4: Home Built Foundry Equipment.
First Place: Kevin Gallagher: Australia.
Home designed and built tilting furnace.
Kevins Story.
Hi my name is Kevin Gallagher, I was born in Yorkshire, I served a mechanical fitting apprenticeship with ICI and moved to Australia when I was 27. I always wanted to work for myself so from about age 30 onwards I owned and operated a business in refrigeration and air-conditioning, mainly specialising in prefabricated pipe work. I did this until I was 47, then retrained at University and went into teaching Design and Technology at high schools, which I still do.
Along the way though when you have something in your blood it’s hard to completely change, so I built a design/engineering workshop under the house with the intention of finding a niche market in design and engineering which is starting to come together.
But… no engineering workshop is complete with out being able to make patterns and also cast the metal, if one is to offer the completed product to the client.
So I set about the research… goodness, I had no idea what a can of worms I had unleashed. I spent 12 months doing the research before deciding on designing and building a tilting crucible furnace. I am sure would have seen something from other foundry people out there in cyber space who inspired me along the way. I am a great believer in what goes around comes around… so share I will.
I kept a record of the project in form of video so I do not have many pictures to show of the initial stages, but enough to show the general idea. so here goes.
Kevin Gallagher .
Australia.
So finally that's it for now, some very interesting and thought provoking foundry projects, we apologise for the long delay in presenting the entries & this ezine to you, but we have been plagued with more delays and hiccups than you could poke a stick at, we nearly gave up on it at one stage, but we persevered with the project because we did not want to let anyone down.
Now for some words of wisdom if you are still thinking about having a go at metal casting. You may have picked up on the following statements while reading the articles above?
# The way I got into casting was because I watched a movie, "The Worlds Fastest Indian" and said to myself if he can do it so can I". The rocker covers were not my first project and will not be my last.
# Although I have spent many hours constructing equipment to obtain the above results, once the first casting comes to fruition, "a great feeling of achievement is generated".
# This project was commenced because I kept seeing pictures of an old time one from some guy down under your way (Australia).
# "The finished casting came out great" and the light now hangs in my home. I have not cast another light yet but look forward to refining the casting process and developing new designs in the future.
# No engineering workshop is complete with out being able to make patterns and also cast the metal, if one is to offer the completed product to the client.
Can you feel the pride and sense of achievement that the above people have with their metal casting creations, and anyone who has taken on the hobby foundry challenge will tell you there are few things that give you great satisfaction when you tell someone else that " Yes, I really made it all by myself"
I trust you have enjoyed this very late issue of the ezine, a lot of reading and much to absorb, but I'm sure you will see the value in it. If you are still wanting to make a start with your hobby casting projects then why not have a look at the library page at our web site, or get the big bundle.
Thanks Again.
Col.
First Place: Jim Kalopedis. Australia.
Second Place: Jeff Coote: Set Of Truck Rocker ( Valve) Covers.
Section 2: Pattern. made from scratch or modified pattern, also include a casting made from the pattern.
First Place: Simon Milner: Flir Camera Mount Pattern & Gun Mount Pattern.
Second Place: Ken Hunt: Reworked Original Valve Cover Pattern.
Section 3: Art Casting. Let your creativity in metal run wild.
First Place: David Adams. Light Fixture In Bronze.
Second Place: John Hartigan: Creative Art Sculpture Casting.
(This is an aditional category.)
Section 4: Home Built Foundry Equipment.
First Place: Kevin Gallagher: Australia.
Home designed and built tilting furnace.
Section 1: A Sand Cast Object.
First Place: Jim Kalopedis: Australia.
 MDF Patterns & mold box. |
Green Sand Molds. |
 Aluminium Camper Trailer Foot Castings. |
 Simple & Effective Core Box. |
Jims Casting Journey Story.
Background.
This is the story of my debut into amateur non-ferrous metal casting after purchasing the e-books on the subject from Col Croucher. Firstly I decided to build a gas-fired furnace to roughly the specs in the e-book. Being retired from the engineering industry and with a few tools and a small lathe, I found the metal working part of the project was no problem but obtaining some components was near impossible so a galvanised garbage bin was substituted for the 5 litre drum which forms the main body and a marine bilge pump was used because old Electrolux blower/vacuum cleaners are difficult to obtain. (See furnace 'photo)
After the furnace was operating satisfactorily I then decided, in the interest of safety to construct a pair of crucible lifting tongs and a crucible pouring shank. I then constructed a pattern box from timber with metal locating pins and sockets.
Then came the problems associated with green sand. Without much luck I tried a few formulas all of which contained bentonite and sand. Obtaining fine sand was an insurmountable problem to obtain in small quantities so I finished up using the finest sand that could be obtained from the local plant nursery. This sand is packed in 25kg plastic bags and has water included so my earlier experiments involved drying it before I could weigh it to include in the recipe. Some of the recipes tried involved synthetic two-stroke motorbike oil and methanol. I was not happy with the characteristics of most recipes and after some help from Col and sand suppliers, I came to the conclusion that my problems came back to the lack of mulling, so I built a sand muller similar to the one described in the e-book. I mixed 20% bentonite with the wet sand and the moisture content seemed very close to correct so I then mulled the mixture. The results were very good although the sand is a little too coarse but the squeeze and tensile tests yielded excellent results. If anything, the sand might have had a tiny amount too much water and this probably exhibited itself as slightly rougher casting surface caused by the steam not dispersing through the mould sand quick enough. (See picture of the muller)
The Casting Project.
I am a keen outdoor traveller and I have a camper trailer, which has plastic pads on the stabilising feet. These pads are frequently broken and are quite expensive to replace so I decided to design and make some new ones from cast aluminium. (See picture of the final casting).
style="font-family: Verdana;">
The problem was the slots in the casting which were about 10mm wide. Normally I would have milled them after the casting was made but as I don't have a milling machine, I decided to cast these. Because the slots are positioned above the point where the plate would pass through the pattern, I needed to work out a plan to use removable core prints and a way to place the cores into the mould. I achieved this by cutting slots out of the side of the pattern box through which I could slide the core prints and after the sand was rammed, the cores could be inserted. (see picture of pattern) The pattern was made from MBF board, the round part being turned in my metalwork lathe and the rest fabricated from sheet. I did considerable experiments to decide on the best method of producing a vitreous non stick surface to the pattern and found that automotive pressure pack spray putty followed by a coat of pressure pack primer surfacer resulted in an impressive smooth surface with a silky feel to which the sand will not stick. This method also fills corners with a nice radius so sand will not crumble at this point. Note that the pattern has slots through which the core prints will slide.
After assembling the pattern into the box and ramming up one side (the side with the sprue and steam vent) I then rammed sand into the other side up to the level if the slots and then slid in the core prints. (see picture of half filled pattern box) I then packed sand under and over the core prints until the box was full.
After a slight tap on the core prints they slid out of the rammed up sand very easily leaving holes through which to slide the cores. After tapping the pattern plate to release it from the sand, the mould box was parted and the pattern removed. (See 2 pictures of the sand moulds)
Next I made a core box. This was made from pinewood which was routed to shape, doweled and coated with clear estapol and sanded them until they were smooth. Then a mixture of sand and linseed oil was made and proved unsatisfactory because they couldn't be removed from the core box without breaking because of the thinness and length of the required cores. The coarseness of the sand was also probably contributing to the problem. After adding some bentonite to the mix and packing it into the assembled core box, I found that it was possible to separate the two halves and slide the core out onto a surface set at the same level. They were then oven baked until golden brown. These cores were then inserted into the recess from which the core prints were withdrawn and pushed home so the end finished below the wooden sides of the pattern box. These recesses were then packed with sand to eliminate any metal leakage. (probably not necessary) At this point some sand was removed from around the top of the sprue to form a funnel because I was not familiar with the degree of difficulty one might encounter when pouring molten metal from a crucible, which has no spout.
The crucible was then loaded with scrap aluminium and melted with a small amount of "Cover All” used. After skimming off the dross I then transferred the crucible to the pouring shank and poured my first castings. Being inexperienced I was impressed at how the metal stayed molten long enough to fill the mould and run along the very thin steam vent passages in the mould.
After allowing the mould to cool for awhile I then separated the mould and removed the sand from the castings. (see pictures of casting with sprue and steam vents attached) A small amount of hack sawing and filing then dressed the castings to a usable state. (See picture)
In Conclusion.
Although I have spent many hours constructing equipment to obtain the above results, once the first casting comes to fruition, a great feeling of achievement is generated. As an engineering tradesman who has machined many aluminium castings over a lifetime in the trade you come to realise that the foundry processes to create them require considerable skill to achieve excellent results and as Col says in his books, there is always more to learn.
Jim Kalopedis.
Australia.
Section 1: Second Place.
Jeff Coote: Truck Rocker ( Valve) Covers.
 Cast aluminium valve cover and metal pressings |
 View of valve covers on truck engine. |
 Valve covers installed on the engine. |
 Six identical valve covers in a row. |
Jeffs Foundry Story:
One of the casting jobs I did this year was a set of rocker covers for an engine in one of my trucks. There were a few reasons for me to undertake this project however the main reason I guess was to prove to myself that it could be done
I ended up casting the covers and pressing up all the breathers as well because the cost of originals was over the top. Unfortunately I didn’t take any photo’s during the process however please find attached a few of the finished product
I am based in Port Hedland WA Australia. The way I got into casting was because I watched a movie, the worlds fastest Indian and said to myself if he can do it so can I, the rocker covers were not my first project and will not be my last.
The rocker covers are fitted to a QSK19 Cummins engine rated at 700hp and fitted in a Mack Titan fitted by yours truly, the whole story is quite involved however the basic story is as follows:
To fit this engine I moved the cab back 140mm and raised it 120mm then moved the gear box back 80mm so the original front engine mount would still work I then had 2 new radiator cores made because I was using low temperature after cooling, (LTA) this is a set-up that has one radiator in front of the other the front being for the intake after cooler. And I had to manufacture new top and bottom tanks to suit I also had to section the bonnet and stretch it higher and longer and had a new grill made to suit etc, etc, etc
Latter on I decided to up-grade the injection system and change it from LTA to air-to-air inter-cooling this involved new intake manifold Inter-cooler pipe work and twin inter-coolers At the same time I decided to replace the cast-iron rocker-covers with either plastic or pressed tin covers that are actually available from Cummins however after much to-ing and fro-ing I ended up with some aluminium covers that didn't fit, so I gave up and decided to make my own.
style="font-family: Verdana;">
A very good mate of mine Neal McEwin does a lot of wood work and has a very well equipped work-shop so we spent an afternoon (more like a day) making a timber pattern for the cover:
From there after a bit of trial and error I got a sand mould to work and as the photos show a finished product and I even have a spare just In case some disaster happens.
The breathers on top of the covers I pressed out of flat stainless steel plate and stainless steel tube These engines normally have 1 breather on 3 of the covers and 3 covers set-up to have an injector lock-out for diagnosis if there is a miss or whatever, I decided that I still have the original covers so if I have this problem I can always use an old cover for the job hence the six breathers Besides they look a whole lot better than the originals
I'm not sure what else I can tell you except I never expect the first one of any casting to work out exactly as I want it but if the second is crook then I just have to sit down and re-think where I went wrong and never stop until I have what I started out to achieve.
I'm sure specialist engineers would get it right first go but I'm also sure those same blokes would have to have a second go if they were working with the limited resources that most of us have and for me at least the best part of the whole thing is doing what everybody tells me I can’t do!
Keep up the good work in spreading the word.
Regards
Jeff
W.J.Coote
Asset Kinetics
Wedgefield WA.
Section 2: Patterns & Castings.
First Place: Simon Milner: Flir Camera Mount Pattern.
 Gun camera sight-mounting bracket for a WW2 P-40F Kittyhawk |
Camera fitted
to the bracket.
|
 Camera installed. |
 Gun Stock Pad reproduction in Aluminium. |
Simon's Project Article.
Metal Casting Projects 2008-09.
The last 12 months have seen a pretty varied assortment of jobs with the metal casting.
Recently my work took on to supply a new CFA fire vessel for the Lake Eildon area. I was in charge of the fit out and was required to design the mounting method for the FLIR (Infra Red Night Vision Camera). While at work I made a wood template of the mounting bracket for the camera taking into account the angles and strength required to enable it to function without vibration problems. The original was made from plywood and the radius made with body filler.
I took the template home and cast it from aluminium alloy.
The next job was from The Old Aeroplane Company that specialises in ex military aircraft restoration. They had problems locating a gun camera sight-mounting bracket for a WW2 P-40F Kittyhawk. I got them to make the original plug for me from the original aircraft drawings and I cast the bracket from that and machined the casting to the dimensions provided in the drawing. The picture shows the wood plug, the cast & machined bracket, and the drawing sitting under them.
Section 2:
Second Place: Ken Hunt:
Valve Cover Pattern & Casting Project.
Why ken Made This Valve Cover.
Metal Casting Projects 2008-09.
The last 12 months have seen a pretty varied assortment of jobs with the metal casting.
Recently my work took on to supply a new CFA fire vessel for the Lake Eildon area. I was in charge of the fit out and was required to design the mounting method for the FLIR (Infra Red Night Vision Camera). While at work I made a wood template of the mounting bracket for the camera taking into account the angles and strength required to enable it to function without vibration problems. The original was made from plywood and the radius made with body filler.
I took the template home and cast it from aluminium alloy.
The next job was from The Old Aeroplane Company that specialises in ex military aircraft restoration. They had problems locating a gun camera sight-mounting bracket for a WW2 P-40F Kittyhawk. I got them to make the original plug for me from the original aircraft drawings and I cast the bracket from that and machined the casting to the dimensions provided in the drawing. The picture shows the wood plug, the cast & machined bracket, and the drawing sitting under them.
Section 2:
Second Place: Ken Hunt:
Valve Cover Pattern & Casting Project.
 Old valve cover prepared with car body filler to use as pattern |
 Green sand mold impression. |
 Raw casting with sprue, runner & risers attached, fresh from the sand mold. |
 Completed cast alloy valve cover. |
Why ken Made This Valve Cover.
This is my entry; a reproduction 1923
Oldsmobile valve cover, which was made at an operating foundry that I
retired from, and went back to work temporarily. The first photo shows
the build up of the original sheet metal valve cover, the second photo
shows part loose cast in green sand with the hand cut runners gates,
third photo shows the casting after the shake out, the forth photo
shows the valve cover after trimming and some finishing work, fifth
photo shows the finished product this was made for a project of mine
with pouring done by shop workers all other work by myself thanks all
from
This project was commenced because I kept seeing pictures of an old time one from some guy down under your way (Australia). It was an old time finned aluminum valve cover, and I had a stock one so I made a copy from the picture. basically added bondo and wood to exterior surface to compensate for shrink. I smoothed it all out and cast it. The mold was made on an old squeeze molder, air operated with a production cast aluminum flask.
I clamped the 2-part flask together with clamps then put it in the production line to be poured. The only handwork is making the basic mold and cutting runners, sprues etc after squeezing it in the flask. I have helped some people make molds and set up a charcoal furnace with a blower.
Ken Hunt.
Section 3: Art Casting. Let your creativity in metal run wild.
First Place: David Adams. Light Fixture In Bronze.
This project was commenced because I kept seeing pictures of an old time one from some guy down under your way (Australia). It was an old time finned aluminum valve cover, and I had a stock one so I made a copy from the picture. basically added bondo and wood to exterior surface to compensate for shrink. I smoothed it all out and cast it. The mold was made on an old squeeze molder, air operated with a production cast aluminum flask.
I clamped the 2-part flask together with clamps then put it in the production line to be poured. The only handwork is making the basic mold and cutting runners, sprues etc after squeezing it in the flask. I have helped some people make molds and set up a charcoal furnace with a blower.
Ken Hunt.
Section 3: Art Casting. Let your creativity in metal run wild.
First Place: David Adams. Light Fixture In Bronze.
 Molding & ramming the pattern. |
Pouring the molten bronze.
|
 Shaking out the casting. (The moment every caster waits for) |
 The finished light fitting - Pride of place on the wall. |
In the fall of 1976 I took a job casting bronze wind-bells for the Cosanti Foundation in Scottsdale Arizona. What followed was two and a half years experience in casting bronze, brass, and aluminum and lost Styrofoam casting.
Years later I put together a small foundry set-up and started experimenting with design and techniques for small artistic castings to fulfil a need for a creative outlet. Home foundry casting is an extremely enjoyable form of expression.
I enrolled in an independent study program at a local community college and as a project I designed a light fixture in cast bronze. It is a simple design but presented me with multiple challenges in execution.
A background in woodworking was valuable since my pattern was milled out of wood and I also built a custom shaped molding flask to reduce the amount of Petra bond sand I needed and to reduce mold weight.
The finished casting came out great and the light now hangs in my home. I have not cast another light yet but look forward to refining the casting process and developing new designs in the future.
David Adams.
Section 3: Second Place: Creative Art Sculpture Casting.
John Hartigan:
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 |
Hello Col,
I hope it is not too late to enter the contest, but this was a work in progress.
A friend of mine was playing with foam. He would cut out foam to a specific shape, pack it in grain, and pour hot metal into the foam. The foam would vaporize and the metal would displace the foam and take on the texture of the grain.
I took his process one step further.
May piece here is a contoured foam center coated in ceramic, then cast in iron. The second part is contoured foam surrounded by grain and sand and cast in silicon bronze.
I bought your ebooks two years ago and have since built 2 furnaces, one to take a #10 crucible, and one a #40 with some slight modifications to your design.
Thanks for the books! My wife and I are both artists and are having a blast pouring hot metal.
John Hartigan.
Section 4: Home Built Foundry Equipment.
First Place: Kevin Gallagher: Australia.
Home designed and built tilting furnace.
 Cad drawing design. |
Reduction gears for
tilting furnace.
|
 Furnace body fabrication. |
 The Furnace set up & ready to fire up. |
Kevins Story.
Hi my name is Kevin Gallagher, I was born in Yorkshire, I served a mechanical fitting apprenticeship with ICI and moved to Australia when I was 27. I always wanted to work for myself so from about age 30 onwards I owned and operated a business in refrigeration and air-conditioning, mainly specialising in prefabricated pipe work. I did this until I was 47, then retrained at University and went into teaching Design and Technology at high schools, which I still do.
Along the way though when you have something in your blood it’s hard to completely change, so I built a design/engineering workshop under the house with the intention of finding a niche market in design and engineering which is starting to come together.
But… no engineering workshop is complete with out being able to make patterns and also cast the metal, if one is to offer the completed product to the client.
So I set about the research… goodness, I had no idea what a can of worms I had unleashed. I spent 12 months doing the research before deciding on designing and building a tilting crucible furnace. I am sure would have seen something from other foundry people out there in cyber space who inspired me along the way. I am a great believer in what goes around comes around… so share I will.
I kept a record of the project in form of video so I do not have many pictures to show of the initial stages, but enough to show the general idea. so here goes.
Kevin Gallagher .
Australia.
So finally that's it for now, some very interesting and thought provoking foundry projects, we apologise for the long delay in presenting the entries & this ezine to you, but we have been plagued with more delays and hiccups than you could poke a stick at, we nearly gave up on it at one stage, but we persevered with the project because we did not want to let anyone down.
Now for some words of wisdom if you are still thinking about having a go at metal casting. You may have picked up on the following statements while reading the articles above?
# The way I got into casting was because I watched a movie, "The Worlds Fastest Indian" and said to myself if he can do it so can I". The rocker covers were not my first project and will not be my last.
# Although I have spent many hours constructing equipment to obtain the above results, once the first casting comes to fruition, "a great feeling of achievement is generated".
# This project was commenced because I kept seeing pictures of an old time one from some guy down under your way (Australia).
# "The finished casting came out great" and the light now hangs in my home. I have not cast another light yet but look forward to refining the casting process and developing new designs in the future.
# No engineering workshop is complete with out being able to make patterns and also cast the metal, if one is to offer the completed product to the client.
Can you feel the pride and sense of achievement that the above people have with their metal casting creations, and anyone who has taken on the hobby foundry challenge will tell you there are few things that give you great satisfaction when you tell someone else that " Yes, I really made it all by myself"
I trust you have enjoyed this very late issue of the ezine, a lot of reading and much to absorb, but I'm sure you will see the value in it. If you are still wanting to make a start with your hobby casting projects then why not have a look at the library page at our web site, or get the big bundle.
Thanks Again.
Col.