The Hot metal Ezine

The Hot Metal Ezine. The International Hobby Metal Casting ezine. Brought To You By: Col Croucher, administrator of: www.myhomefoundry.com Australia. Number: 73 - December 2009.
Hello Fellow metal Caster. Well this is it, this December ezine issue spells the end of the line... for 2009 at least... now come on, you thought it was the last ezine didn't you! Sorry to alarm you. The past year has been one helluva year in more ways than one. The past year has been incredibly busy both business wise and on a personal level, but I still look back and wonder where all that time has gone, just about every week has been chockers full of stuff to get done, so I guess if you are busy, the time does fly. Even the ezine has suffered from at various times this year, I apologize for that, as I know many of you look forward to the monthly bleat in the ezine. You might think that most of the hobby casting action takes place in either of the; USA, Canada, UK, Aust, NZ & South Africa, but you would be wrong to assume that, just lately we welcomed the following new people who have taken up the metal casting challenge; Mario Baljkas from Croatia - Roland Hagbyvaegen from Huskvarna Sweden - Stef Scheepers from Veltheim Germany - Hugo Oosthuizen Brackenhurst, from Johannesburg South Africa, great to see you all learning the metal casting techniques and methods to create your own unique metal castings.... congratulations to you all. Did you know that our ebooks have now been distributed to more than fifty countries around the globe, amazing isn't it. Do you have a yen to provide a service, sell a product or some kind of special info via a web site? If the answer is yes, then we may have some good news for you soon, more on that in the next ezine or two. The casting masters of 2009 was a great success, entry submission was slow in the beginning, but then we had several really excellent projects sent in, you'll know who they are, because they were featured in last months ezine, and judging by the number of complimentary emails we received it was enjoyed by a large number of people, a BIG thank you to the people who made the effort & took the time to submit their projects, they are a group of very talented people. I suppose the question on several peoples minds will be; When will the casting masters 2009 book be ready? In all truth, I am not sure, as there is very little time at the moment to put it all together, but we will revisit the project in the new year. There are many reasons why people decide to become involved with metal casting, I don’t know about you, but for me it is simpy a complete freedom thing to be able to design and make a pattern, and create the casting/s required in a very short time... and as any long term caster would know, once your little foundry is set up & running the actual cost to produce castings is incredibly low, you wont break the household budget. All the more reasons to get started now.... even if you have only been thinking about it. Several of our clients in the past couple of months are retired fellows, some have worked in the foundry industry before, and others have been waiting for when they have more spare time to indulge in their hobby, no doubt in the future we will see some fine casting examples from these blokes. Col.
"So this is Christmas And what have you done Another year over And a new one just begun". .... goes the song, By John Lennon & Wife Yoko Ono. (1971) Have you ever looked back on the past year to see what you have really achieved? Sometimes it can be a little confronting, especially when you actually set out a list of things that you wanted to complete at the beginning of the year. But, "I've got all year" you say to your self, but somehow time get's away, and before long half of the year has gone... again! In the past few months a few people have emailed us to say how much they are enjoying their new metal casting hobby, the most common remark is; "Should have got into this years ago" Well, there's no time like the present to make the start. Check Out Our Christmas ebook Sale here. And Here. (Both For Only 72 Hours)	Aussie Built B/smith Forge And Charcoal Melter. The construction of the blacksmith forge frame. Construction of the fire/charcoal holding pot. The Air Blast Blower Arrangement. The Air blast Induction pipes and waste gate. A Hot bed Of Charcoal, heat metal for forging, or melt metal for pouring. Thanks to Mike Wallis for forwarding photos and article about his forge and melter. See article below.
Innovative Aussie Built Blacksmiths Forge & Charcoal or Coke Melter. Hi my name is Mike. I'm from Caboolture QLD Australia... all my life I have had a strong interest in metal casting and blacksmithing. So at the grand old age of 57 (probably young for some) I decided to do something about it.... well, the wife wasn't to happy about me metal casting at home, even though if things went wrong I could from our place lob a stone from my back fence into the grounds of the local hospital, LOL...So I thought I’ll start with blacksmithing. So out I go to the local historical village to see if I could do some learning with the other blokes there, they're answer was, yes, "but only if you become a volunteer", only then could I go into the smithy and do some learning. It so happens that I’m a shift worker, and my time and historical village didn't always coincide. The next step was that maybe I should build my own forge. I’m also a member of a forum called I Forge Iron and there was a photo of a forge on the forum, after studying the photo, I thought hey, I could build that, and I did, but with one or two modifications & improvements. The next project is building an anvil out of a fork lift tyne, I'll also use the forge for the time being to melt some aluminium just to show that if done properly it can be safely done at home in the backyard. Regards Mike. Caboolture QLD Australia. Interesting Articles From Past Ezines :1 Looking over the 2009 ezine articles, there are a few that aroused quite a bit of interest, so thought it might be nice to recap them again for the benefit of many new ezine readers.. From # 66. April 2009. PB Engine Australia. If you are a model airplane enthusiast then you would be familiar with the following brand names: GB, Sabre, Glow Chief and Taipan. Australian model plane enthusiast Gordon Burford has built model aircraft and engines since his boyhood. He is the founder of GB, Sabre, Glow Chief and Taipan model engine manufacturing. Gordon's oldest son Peter is now carrying on the business family tradition. You may read more of Gordon's unique and exceptional history, and about the plans that son Peter is taking the business by visiting the company web site. Read about the new & exciting PB 0.33 miniature diesel model airplane engine. http://www.peterburford.com.au/history.php I think this is fantastic, not only because the business is based in Australia, but to think a father and son can build a successfull business from the needs of their own hobby. Sure, when you look at the workshop Peter has today it is sophisticated & highly efficient, and I believe they even cast their own new engine block castings using the investment (Lost wax) technique ... it would indeed be fascinating to watch the manufacture process at work. I trust you will enjoy looking through their web site. There are several pictures and a couple of videos to watch also... have fun exploring. Interesting Articles From Previous ezines: 2 From: # 68: July - 09. Finishing & Protecting Metal. Imagine for a moment, you have just made/created a beautiful metal object. Most metals, if left exposed to the elements will tarnish, suffer from rust, and generally discolour & lose the lustre that most metals are known for. How Do You Protect The Metal Surface? * Spray Paint your metal creation. * Send the part away to be chrome plated. * Perhaps zinc plate. * Nickel-plate. * If it's aluminium, maybe colour anodize the part. * Or just buff, polish & lacquer. Sometimes a natural clear finish lacquer on metal can be a very effective way to preserve and protect, a method used extensively by people who build metal furniture, a product available here in Australia is called Tectyl Rust Preventive, it is a clear hard film for aluminium and other metals, available at auto stores. Electroplating Will Give Your Metal Parts A Professional Finish. Click Here To View The Pictures. There are so many metal-finishing alternatives that it may be confusing to pick the most suitable method. If you want a relatively hardwearing surface, electroplating might fit the bill. I particularly like bright zinc plating for protection against corrosion and also for the excellent finish it provides on well prepared metal surfaces, while it is not a hard surface like chrome or nickel, but it is cheap, easy to do, and the best part is that you can do it your self or DIY. The chemistry and zinc anodes are all supplied in the kit which also comes complete with plenty of instructions and advice. The machined plates above were zinc plated in the Jane electroplating bath, a friend and I set this up to small automotive nuts, bolts, brackets and other small components. Zinc is probably the easiest to do, however there are several other types of plating kits available. there is one thing that is paramount with plating, the base metal surface has to perfect, if it has pitting, roughness and poorly prepared then expect far less than perfect results. Is DIY plating worth it, absolutely, the plates above cost $5.00 each at a commercial electro plater, DIY electroplating is a mere fraction of that.... and the turn around time can be one hour or less. There are several companies (Aust, USA, Can, UK etc) who supply hobby electroplating kits ranging from small to large size, depending how serious you want to get, start exploring from the list below. Jane Kits Australia. http://www.janekits.com.au/mainframe.php Nickel Pating Kits, Zinc Plating Kits, Copper Plating Kits, Gold Plating. Power Supplies, Electrolytes, Anodes & Polishing Supplies. Brush plating is a way of electroplating gold, silver, copper and other metals without the use of a tank. http://www.goldn.com.au/ http://australia.caswellplating.com/store.php/categories/plating-kits http://www.mrcybermall.com/machine_tool_parts/link1.html myhomefoundry does not have any financial interest or commercial connection with any company listed above, the links are supplied as a source for you to begin your search if you are at all interested in exploring the art of electroplating . Interesting articles from previous ezines: 3 July-09. Number: 68. Milling Cutter Sharpening Machine. Dyson Watkins. Near Swansea. Wales. UK. Workshop Projects. There are only two castings on the cutter grinder, both being on the vertical column. The stand was salvaged from an old metrology stand. The slide came from my junk box and was originally from a Myford seven lathe. The remainder was made in the workshop. I have also made some attachments for it, one for generating radius shaped tool tipped lathe tools, the other for sharpening slitting saws. The whole thing came about after buying a milling machine. The milling cutters I had were blunt, and would have cost quite a lot to have them re-ground. The ideas for the grinder then evolved. I attach another couple of pics, some of my wood turning lathe showing the tailstock body that was cast. I have already published an article describing the construction of the lathe (minus the tailstock. Most would-be constructors might not have casting facilities, and I added a section on making the tailstock from a fabrication. The large sized steady for the Myford lathe was made when I needed to support a large diameter tube, too big for the standard sized version. The hand wheel was a replacement for my son's mortising machine. A photo of the pattern being turned I attached together with the finished hand wheel replacement. Click here to read more and to view pictures. The Advantages & Benefits Of The Home Hobby Foundry. Apart from the fact that foundry work is probably considered to be "Boys own stuff" it does have a wide appeal to many people, the hardest part is knowing where to begin... sometimes the thirst for knowledge is pushed by an impatience to learn it all in a week! That unfortunately, can’t be done, no matter how hard you try. Metal casting is a bit like a jigsaw puzzle where you have all of these parts lying around and you have to figure out how to put them all together, it is easy when you know where all of the small bits fit, but a bloody nightmare to sort out if you are not familiar with everything. But once you have your "system" sorted, and you know what you are doing, it does not take long to go from an idea in your mind to a full blown, completed casting project sitting on the foundry floor waiting for the next stage, which is generally machining and finishing. For anyone who has worked with metal all of their life, metal casting completes the circle of skills, the only decision you need to make then is to ask "do you fabricate or cast" that project which is just a seed of an idea in your mind. With experience you'll know straightaway which way to go. Over the many years that this ezine has been published, and through our online presence we have met some wonderfully creative people, there are far to many names to mention, but most have become involved in metal casting for all kinds of different reasons, and not all are from an engineering background, there are many, many professional people who keep a low profile while being actively involved with their metal craft hobby while going about their business of creating and building things, and as anyone will tell you, having an interesting hobby where you are creating and building things with your hands can be one of the most satisfying things one can do. It is true that many of today’s young people have digital based hobbies, you see them everywhere you go "Heads bowed as if in prayer" but clicking away on some useless electronic gizmo, far removed on what’s happening around them... are they in zombie land? Looks like it! But not all young people are like that. I will never forget the time that we demonstrated the foundry craft at one of the biggest steam & heritage festivals in Australia about two years ago, I was amazed at the number of young blokes who dragged their dad over to our foundry site to watch the action, they seemed to be mesmerised at the sight of molten metal pouring from the crucible into a sand mould, their keen interest told me they had suddenly found something they would very much like to get involved with. We had a group of blacksmiths next door and they too were experiencing a lot of interest, does that tell you something about the intrigue & interest in old age metal crafts... a lot of people just love it, the next step is finding the info you need to begin your journey. Can you imagine the fun and excitement of taking your small idea to right through to a completed project, there is plenty of testimony of this by the people featured in several past editions of the hot metal ezine, you can read about them all in the member’s section, there is a lot of learning to be had just by reading those articles. Every ebook package customer has immediate access to the member’s area as soon as you download the ebooks, and if you have missed out on the membership for some reason, then just email us with your original order receipt number (PayPal or Clickbank) and we will send you the sign up link, it is as simple as that. Well, this is it for 2009, another calendar year gone which you wont ever see again, the sands of time are constantly moving, I trust that the year has been a good one for you & your family, have a very Merry Christmas and a Great New Year in 2010. Hopefully we will be back in January with another ezine. Thank you very much for your interest & support throughout the past year, we appreciate it. Col Croucher www.myhomefoundry.com Australia. Before you go: If you are about to begin your metal casting journey. Click Here.