Does anyone here do sand casting?

[wazzabie]

Does anyone here do sand casting?

 

[Miss the Pontiacs]

Sand castles yes, casting no. Sorry just had too.

 

[stokefire7]

I'd like to, being a plumber , I come across lots of good scrap. Copper , cast iron, brass, bronze, lead, probably a couple others.

 

[stokefire7]

Yourself ?

 

[stokefire7]

I've been watching luckygen1001 on youtube. Australian fella I find really interesting.

 

[stokefire7]

Got this casting at my freight salvage place ( don't balk at the price, it was 50% off that day). The color was off, white background with black letters. Attempted to do a number on it. Don't think I'll have a rust issue.

 

[johninct]

I took a class in college ( the intro class to Mechanical engineering) where they teach basic manufacturing. We each did a sand casting to make an aluminum spool, turned it on a lathe and made a few passes on it with a Bridgeport. Years before, you would instead make a bench grinder from scratch.

 

[930dreamer]

I think it would be relaxing to do some casting.

 

[zkling]

I used to have a good sized setup evolved over the years from a clay pot and charcoal (never going back to that).

If you are serious about it, get setup right. That means proper crucible (aka not a steel pipe) and lifting tongs. Propane or oil blower burner (properly built), well built flasks, proper green sand, well insulated furnace with temp readout.

To get good results (read when machined have little porosity and the like), it is quite a space investment; which is why I got out of it.

 

[Djosbun]

I have been to an old, large foundry in the middle of Kentucky called JR Hoe & Sons. Not sure when they first opened but it was a long, long time ago. Very cool seeing them work with ductile iron pours into sand castings. Excellent people at that facility, too. Also have a boatload of machining/CNC/end mill equipment.

-- Dave

 

[tool_scrounge]

I took a class in college ( the intro class to Mechanical engineering) where they teach basic manufacturing. We each did a sand casting to make an aluminum spool, turned it on a lathe and made a few passes on it with a Bridgeport. Years before, you would instead make a bench grinder from scratch.

There are certain applied engineering universities in California that have casting classes for Manufacturing engiineering students. The students get to choose their final project. Historically 95% of the students made cannons.

 

[Dave455]

I don’t do it myself, but I’ve had it done. It was all very easy to be honest.

I borrowed the patterns and dropped them off at a local foundry. If you leave your patterns the day before a ‘pouring’ day, you can collect your castings the day after.

There is a little more to it than you think. Once the patterns have been removed from the sand, they paint the inside of the mould with a special paint (which gives a good finish) push in a few air holes to prevent bubbles in the casting, and glue the two halves of the mould together.

Having said that, the costs were very reasonable. I seem to recall they just charged by weight, and it wasn’t much. There was all sorts of stuff being cast there. Machine parts, street lamps, artwork, classic car spares etc!

 

[wazzabie]

I've sand cast in metal shop class. I still have an item I made from school. I have an item I would like to get cast.

This guy is amazing.

 

[DGersic]

1970s junior high shop class included sand casting with lead. Still have the wheel paperweight.




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[ZRX61]

Did it in HS metal shop. We each made a name plate from cast aluminum first. Can't recall what we did after that.

 

[lis2323]

In the late sixties HS we cast aluminum ashtrays. [emoji1]. Turned them in the lathe. Flat bottoms with grooves cut in the sides with a parting tool.

Everyone but me smoked in those days. No metal detectors back then. We all carried switchblades or modified locking knives. Most of the girls did too. It was a rough school.... fights every day. Teachers were terrified and only came out to pick up injured bodies. Don’t know of any deaths though, but then I was just a scared scrawny 13 year old...[emoji1]

 

[junkyardwarrior]

Yeah I messed with casting aluminum, years ago. I was at a racers auction in Illinois and found an electric foundry that nobody bid on, so I thought what the heck. For $5, I wasn't passing it up, figured I could salvage it for the elements, etc. Well....little did I know when I bid, I bit off more than I wanted. With it came a mold to make a Dart small block chevy head sand mold. About 50 lbs worth of coke cans made a head casting. I did fine until I realized that I got the "Dart" cast backwards. Still have it laying around somewhere. Years later I done Sold it, and everything that went with it, kept the "head" casting. Electric *****. Takes forever to get hot but you can maintain temp a little easier once it is hot.

I kinda wish I'd have kept it but the neighbors all were wondering what on earth that smell was, plus it takes a lot of juice to use it, it's obviously hot and at nighttime bright as could be. We attracted a lot of unwanted attention.

 

[stokefire7]

Pattern making seems to be a whole other art to itself.

 

[chrisnazzy]

Check out Windy Hill Foundry on YouTube. Clarke Esterling is the owner. I was fortunate to be able to purchase one of thirty Athol Machine Co. Vise display stand plaques that he recently cast from a sand mold he made.

Chris

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[stokefire7]

Check out Windy Hill Foundry on YouTube. Clarke Esterling is the owner. I was fortunate to be able to purchase one of thirty Athol Machine Co. Vise display stand plaques that he recently cast from a sand mold he made.

Chris

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Nice !

 

[laser3kw]

Dude works fast !

 

[WittHay]

High school metalworking class in the 80's. Made a cast aluminum meat tenderizer and a few rope pulleys. Cast aluminum wheels with a forged steel hook. Some guys made cast iron cannons.

 

[bas157]

I had a couple of foundry engineering classes in college(Penn State), even had an interview at a foundry. Every month they had an open foundry night where students could go and 'play' in the foundry, making casting and stuff. Still have some of the stuff I made over 24 years ago (actually can see one of the things right now). Most was aluminum since it was easier to work with than the cast iron.

 

[Stephenw]

I’ve done quite a bit, but not in the last 15 years. I don’t have a furnace anymore. I will probably build one in the near future. I still have everything else on hand. I used petrobond sand and have that stored in 5 gallon buckets out by my shed.

 

[JJohns3WG]

Big difference using Petrobond sand rather than greensand. I made these up a few years back, fit the 472 / 500 Cadillac motor.

 

[Miss the Pontiacs]

^^^ Nice job, you got talent

 

[gearhead1]

I had a couple of foundry engineering classes in college(Penn State), even had an interview at a foundry. Every month they had an open foundry night where students could go and 'play' in the foundry, making casting and stuff. Still have some of the stuff I made over 24 years ago (actually can see one of the things right now). Most was aluminum since it was easier to work with than the cast iron.

I had the same class at Penn Sate when I was there as a mechanical. We had to make the pattern, then mix the sand mixture with just the right amount of water, and heat the aluminum up and pour it in the mold. I made the Chevy bowtie and still have it.

I wouldn’t trade that education for anything. I came right out of school with an engineering degree but know how to cast something, run a mill, run a lathe, cut something with a torch, and weld something. We also programmed a small CNC lathe and mill (G code). I knew how to do some of it on my own, but the program exposed you to it if you didn’t have any experience in it.

 

[itb76]

My day job is at a production iron foundry, but I don't do casting as a hobby.

Pattern making seems to be a whole other art to itself.

It certainly is, and there are few who still do it.


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[stokefire7]

My day job is at a production iron foundry, but I don't do casting as a hobby.






It certainly is, and there are few who still do it.


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Can you post some of the work you do ?