Ingots form the base metal for your casting
work.You can make ingots from scrap cylinder heads, gear box
casings, cast Al cover plates, broken down alloy engine blocks, car
& truck engine pistons. Care is required to keeep the scrap metal of
the same type. But for general casting and simple hobby projects there
is no need to worry too much.
Build Your Own Go-Kart
Wheels.
Yes, you can make your own home built Go-Kart
wheels.You'll be the envy of other people in your street when they
find out you made your own wheels.You'll need to have access to a lathe
to machine and finish the rims, but hey, what a cool project this
is, you could even start making them for others and make some extra
cash.
Kart Wheel Rim Patterns Made From Block
MDF.
The aluminium go-kart wheels above were made from these
MDF half-rim patterns.The inner & outer rims were cast
as single units, then machined to make up one complete wheel. MDF
is cheap and easy to work with, it is ideal for hobby foundry patterns.
(But please wear face mask to protect from inhaling fibres &
MDF dust) The patterns above show the front & rear wheel
rim half patterns. Note: Block MDF = Several layers of MDF boards glued
together.
Home
Designed & Built Alloy Go-Kart Wheel Rim.
The finished Go-Kart wheel rim,
made as two split rims held together with small machine screws and
totally secured with the wheel hub mounting studs. This wheel
was made from the MDF patterns above. They are not difficult to make,
the rims are machined and finished on a small lathe, rims are
designed to accept ride on mower tyres that have tread,
instead of using slicks.
Creating A Blind Recess Cavity.
Every now and again a special problem arises, like
having to create a blind recess in a casting, this neat trick will allow
you to make a recess hole any size you like, but there are a few
tricks you need to know first.
The
Result.
Only a steel core will form a neat clean recess in a
metal casting like this. We show you how to utilize this neat
foundry trick. It is all explained in the hobby foundry ebooks available
from the ebook library.
The things above are all pretty basic stuff that you can
do in the hobby foundry, but once you have some experience in
pattern making & metal casting you will
begin to get very creative and start to build some great projects, a
recent article in our
Hot Metal Ezine presented
photographs and a story about a chap whose name is Mike who lives in
Kalgoorlie Western Australia. Mike has embarked on a project to
manufacture his own aero engine, the project includes
designing & making the patterns and pouring all of the castings, and
then machining them.
Now we are not suggesting that you will want to make
your own aero engine, but we are showing you this example to
show what can be achieved when you put your mind to it.
There are many things
to learn about metal casting. It is best not to be too ambitious when
you are just starting out, be eager to learn all you can, but take
it slowly...you have to crawl before you walk. Too many newbies want to
cast something really complicated first off.... which
generally leads to failure, then loss of interest in the
hobby. If you begin with simple projects you will build a solid
foundation of skills and methods which will enable you to tackle more
complex projects with confidence and skill.
Hobby Foundry Work is NOT difficult to do as
long as you take the time to learn and understand the
proven basic methods & techniques that work. The
ebooks you'll find in our library will outline the methods that
work in the home hobby foundry.
The collection of ebooks we have
available on this web site provide an extensive knowledge base to
help you achieve your dreams in metal.
Now revisit
our
library, and the
testimonial page,
we can help you to make the start right
now.
