Compressed Air for the Casting/Forging Shed

[cae2100]

Hey, I havnt posted anythiing in a little while, Ive been working on compressed air lines for the casting and forging shed, and I figured I'd show what Ive been working on, lol.

Ive been working on making air tools and modifying them to use at the sand molding bench for a while now, but since I only had a little 3 gallon pancake compressor that was horribly slow at pumping up, I just kinda wrote most of it off, and just kept ahold of all of the tools. Well, for christmas, I got a pair of new toys, which are air tools, so I figured what better time than to upgrade everything and do everything up, lol. The air tools are a pair of riveting guns, like the old ones they used to use to build bridges, ships, and steam boilers with, which the one is the actual probably 1920s-1930s riveter's gun, and the other is a rivet buster, so one to put the hot rivets in, and the other to remove them. Needless to say, these are jackhammers in every sense, and need a massive volume of air really quickly, so I set out to design a compressed air system to handle those in at least short bursts.

Well, I was out and about the one day over at my grandparent's house and driving up her driveway, her neighbor had an old air compressor setting out on the curb for someone to just take, the compressor itself had blew up (litterally), so I tore all of that off and hooked it up at the side of the sand molding bench as a buffer tank. It's a 20 gallon tank, and the air compressor Ive been using for the furnace and such has another 20 gallon tank on it.

Ive been casting out these blocks for a while out of aluminum, which I just machine up to make manifold blocks for compressed air, bases for lamps/lights, etc and hooked one up over the sand molding bench with a large pressure gauge so I can easily see how much pressure is in the system when turned on. The gauge is an old steam pressure gauge from a huber steam traction engine, which was made not too far from where I live, so it adds a bit of character to it too, lol.

Well, I found some air hoses that my dad had gotten at local auctions and had just been left in the back of the garage, so I started plumbing that in and getting it all routed in so that I could have compressed air running all throughout the shop, used one of the manifold blocks and put another pressure gauge on it out in the forging area for the riveter's gun, and ran it up and around the walls. I figured that going from the 3/8" hose to the 1/2" hose on the riveter's gun wouldnt work out so well, so I put the block in the middle of the shop, so both air tanks would supply it at once and give enough air to feed the larger hose all at once. It worked pretty well, but any other time, the ball valve just shuts that hose off and keeps it air tight, and plumbs all compressed air up to the buffer tank in the front of the shed next to the sand molding bench for the air tools at the molding bench.

I ran out of manifold blocks, but the hose runs up and around, and will come down by the door there, and be screwed to the side of the stud there with a quick connect sticking out the side of it so I can hook up air tools like die grinders when Im working at the post vise there, and also makes easy access for the hose to run out to run my oil burner for the foundry furnace too. There's a hole in the stud already drilled through that will have a hole drilled in the manifold block for it, and that runs out to a moisture/water seperator, and from there, out to the air compressor which will be outside in a dedicated air compressor cubby/enclosure on the end of the shed. I have sound deadening boards for that also to cut down on the noise from it. too.

But now instead of 3 gallons of compressed air, I have 40 gallons and it opens alot of options that were previously closed to me since I already cast out the matchplate vibrators and knee valve stuff from chastain's books, and have a homemade pneumatic sand rammer using a chipping hammer like Ive seen on here done, but it is straight through body vs the pistol grip style everyone else uses, so it's more like a conventional style pneumatic sand rammer, but with a 1" stroke instead of the 1 1/2" that normal ones have. I now have the capacity that I can just hit the trigger and leave it running for 10 mins and it'll only drop 20 psi on the pressure gauge and compressor would have to kick on again, so for doing up sand molds, it shouldnt need to kick the compressor on all but once or twice the whole time Im making up sand molds, lol. you can kinda see it hanging up on the wall in the pic over the sand molding bench. The blow gun has a mig tip in the end of it to restrict air flow and gives the perfect amount of volume and pressure to blow out sand molds easily without blowing them apart, so it really uses no real air at all tbh.

Ill need to machine up the knee valve still and attach it to the molding bench, but it looks pretty easy to do and shouldnt take more than a few hours to do tbh. Ill probably just go into town and get some rubber washers for a sink to use in it rather than cutting custom ones out and using his setup he had tho, which Ive heard many people say that the valves leak air, so thats why Im modifying a few things on the design of it, lol. I need to get some hose/pipe clips/clamps to hang the hoses up around the building also while Im there, I hit the ball valve on the wall with nothing connect to it and it shocks the hoses so hard that it'll throw the one off of the wall, so it really needs to be clamped in place on the wall, lol.

Other than that last manifold block and plumbing it out to the compressor shed, most of the compressed air system is done in the shed and I can already start using it. I do have a tiny tiny leak in the manifold block over the molding bench, but that manifold block/system is on a ball valve that gets shut off when Im done for the night anyways, and it usually takes a few hours for what's left in the lines to bleed off. Im pretty sure the leak is in the one air hose, so it should be easy enough to fix hopefully.

After all of this is done it's time to start on compressed air lines in the machine shop,which will be a piece of cake to say the least, but I have no manifold blocks left since Ive used them all, so I plan on just casting out a half a dozen of them when it gets nice out again.

[Jammer]

You got a lot done. Now it's going to be cold for a week or so. Supposed to be about 15F the next few nights.

[cae2100]

It really doesnt look like Ive really gotten alot done for as much time, work, and money as Ive put into it all already, lol. Yea, I know it's supposed to be that cold, or colder than that here. I went out earlier to work on some stuff, and the propane smell was so strong in the shop that you couldnt barely stand it, which it does that when the tank is pretty much empty, so that's probably the end of me working on stuff in the shop for a while, at least till it warms back up again.

I have a roof heater coil that I was planning on putting on the underside of my sand molding bench somehow and hoping that will heat up the sand enough when it gets super cold out, that way I can still ram up some sand molds when it gets to freezing temps during the early winter months, but just never put it on yet. Maybe Ill do that once I get everything else done up.

I need to pick up the clips for everything, then I can start putting up the blocks as soon as I get them cast out, which at this point, Ive been seriously ready to just melt some aluminum in the forge and pour them into some small steel ingot molds to get some manifold blocks to use, lol.

But with the new setup, it should make the sand casting alot faster and easier, the only thing else that I was wanting to do was put in an overhead gantry crane deal up to help lift the flasks and move them around rather than taking the abuse out on my back, lol. Ive had some sand molds that were 125-130lbs of sand before I even poured the castings, and they were not easy to ram up by myself to say the least, lol. I could use that to help with lifting the two halves of the sand molds apart too, so that should help alot hopefully. Ill probably use the existing rafters that are there and cut the ends off of some bed frame and put up there as rails for it to ride on.

[cae2100]

I got tired of only casting out one manifold block per sand mold, so I grabbed some pine I had sitting here and used the cooper's plane to cut draft angles on it and clean it up, then rounded the edges/corners over with a block plane and some sandpaper. Now I have a bunch that I can ram up all at once and cast a bunch when I need them in bulk. The big ones at the bottom are replacement ones for the pattern Ive been using, and the smaller ones at the right are the ones for the shop since I dont need or want as large of manifold blocks in there.

Ive gotten all of the air lines hung up, except for the little bit by the door, and that will be used to run to the air compressor enclosure box. I need an air manifold block for there, so dont want to tie the hose down till that's in place.

I had gotten some smaller clips for the hose in the shop since it'll be run by 1/4" air hose around the shop, and while I had the clips, I figured I'd work on something else too. I had a 20ft roof de-icing cable that I had gotten somewhere ages ago and I thought about using it on the bottom of the sand molding bench to heat up the sand when it gets really cold out, and when there is supposed to be a nice few days coming up during winter. Usually it gets below freezing during the nights, but might get to 50F during the day once in a while, so sand will want to stay frozen and unusable. But the theory was that I was going to put the de-icing cable on the bottom of the sand molding drum and let it heat up the drum and sand, just plug it in the night before, and the sand will be warmed up above freezing that next morning.

I finally got the clips and everything to do it, so I got it installed on the sand molding bench and is ready to use. You can see that everything was dripping wet from the moisture/humidity today, so when I turned it on for maybe 30 mins, it started heating the drum up enough that it was driving the moisture off of it. I fully expect that leaving it overnight should get the sand to probably 50-60F and easily warm enough to run through the sand muller and ram up sand molds without freezing my fingers off, even when it had been freezing temps that night.

The heater cable is a roof de-icing cable, but is 100W, 20ft long one, and was just long enough to go back and forth with no real left over cord on the bottom of the thing.

[Jammer]

That is looking nice. The roof deicer is a good idea.

[cae2100]

Yea, I thought about plugging it in tonight and letting it warm up the sand, then make up some sand molds first thing in the morning. I went out earlier and the sand really isnt that cold surprisingly, so Im not too worried about it. I had the heater rope on for a few hours the other day, and it seems to be good since the temps have been above freezing last few days.

While I was out there, I went to start doing up some sand molds to cast out the air manifold blocks, and the air compressor really was bugging me on some things, so I took a side tangent to tear the air compressor apart and see what was going on with it. It took a while to pump up the tank, usually 30 mins to pump up both air tanks, and had a weird sound that constantly sounded like air hissing out of the head of the thing, and I couldnt find it. I took it all apart and realized that the O ring/gasket that goes in between the top of the cylinder/liner and the head, it was blown out and wasnt even in the groove, and had actually stretched so badly that I couldnt get it back into the groove no matter what I tried. I finally gave up and went to the shop and found a rubber O ring the exact size I needed and using a tiny bit of grease, I stuck it in the groove so I could put it back together, after adding a super thin film of grease to the cylinder too to help it get a little better of a seal. It made it pump up in around 10 mins, quieted it down a bit, and now the compressor is running like brand new, lol. The air compressor would stall out at around 40-50 psi before because of too much draw on the motor and not enough power to the shed, now it pumps up to 125 psi without breaking a sweat.

I had the sand bench and everything open to make up the sand molds, but it started getting so cold that I just called it for the night and came in. I wanted to get those air manifold blocks poured so I can finish getting all of the air plumbed in, and also get the shop air done up too. I got the clips the other day to hang up the airlines in the shop, which is what I used to attach the de-icing cable, so everything's ready to go, just need the blocks, lol.

I also have some other stuff I wanted to get cast out, but idk if I have enough metal to pour everything all at once, so highest priority is the manifold blocks to finish up that project, lol.

[cae2100]

and testing the de-icing cable, it doesnt look like it has enough oomph to even heat up the sand up past freezing... I had it on and let it run for 6 hours, but it didnt do anything but get it to maybe just above freezing, so that was a bit of a failed experiment... I think the extension cords that the shed is on is stealing so much power from it that it isnt even able to do anything, so maybe it'll work after I get actual shop power hooked up out there.

I went out to ram up some molds and it went from the weather saying that it was supposed to be nice out, it went to crap rain on and off all day, so that is a bust. Tomorrow is supposed to be clear, but alot colder, so I might go out and ram up some molds anyhow and just pour them tomorrow if I can. I have a few patterns sitting here that I would love to get cast out, but not sure that'll really happen till this spring unfortunately.

Also, I went out and looked, after getting the air compressor fixed, all tanks were pumped up to 125psi, but when I went back out the next morning, they were only at 20-25 psi, so I have an air leak somewhere in the system, and Im not sure where at. I think it might be the manifold block, but I dont think I can fix that tho. Ill just have to wait till spring/summer to spray the stuff down with soapy water to see where the leak is coming from, but for now, I just pump up the tanks and I have compressed air for the whole day, so it's not too big of a deal really for right now.

[Jammer]

Saw your video. Looks like you had a good pour, and they machined up nice.

[cae2100]

Yea, they did, I just ran the wire wheel over them and it gave them a very nice matte finish, and they look pretty good now, lol. Now I just need to pick up the hose barbs for everything, then I can really start plumbing everything in permanently. I need to swap around a bunch of my quick connects and figure out that knee valve, but half tempted to skip on that and set up a foot valve instead, which might actually be easier to do tbh.

I just got back in, was in the shop working on the sand rammer/air chisel and was just finishing it up, and heard something fall, and something roll across the floor. It was the valve assembly for the air chisel, and the little thin disk that goes inside of it took off, so it kinda cooked that project... Ill go out tomorrow maybe and make a new disk from some brass shim stock, since it's just there to flutter back and forth and make it work. Im hoping that I can make one that works, otherwise the whole thing is just toast. Looking around online, it looks like alot of them are fiber or something, so I think brass should work fine really.

Ive been working on alot of patterns lately, just need to get out and start pouring some of them really, lol. Ive been saving up all of my scrap and I think I have enough to pour everything, but alot of the aluminum for stuff is in the form of wheel rims still, so Ill have to find some way to break them down without killing myself or my hands/wrists, lol. I have a few other patterns I wanted to do up still, but they're more of novelty things that would help with the patternmaking stuff really.

Edit: made up the brass flutter disk for the air rammer and it works fine now, plenty of power and works well. Now Ill just need to make a new shaft and piston for it since the current piston and shaft is just a piece of all thread screwed into the piston, lol. It's increased the stroke length a bit, from around 3/8" to 3/4", so that's better than nothing I guess. I tried shortening up the piston length and it made it not want to work at all, so Ill try a longer piston now.

[cae2100]

Shop air is completely done now, was out there working on that stuff for a few hours today and got it all plumbed in.

There's one next to the air compressor, which is very silent running so perfect for in the shop, one in between the shaper and drill press for blowing chips off of the shaper and out of holes while drilling, one at the end of the lathe for mist coolant for the lathe, or later on, I might want to add air over hydraulic for my hydraulic press, and finally the last one is next to the mill and set up so I can run mist coolant on the mill, and blow out chips when Im milling pockets and such.

I also did up the last one in the shed too to plumb the compressor and moisture seperator in, so that's all hooked up now. It has a pressure safety valve on the bottom in case the pressure switch and pressure relief valve on the compressor fails in some odd chance, and the side has a quick connect that I can use for air tools at the post vise. It also is close enough to the door that I can plug in my air hose for casting, and it will run out to the oil burner when needed. I do have one manifold block that keeps wanting to leak, so Im going to just replace that block since I already have one cast out extra, just getting it all apart is going to be the hard part, lol.

But yea, new manifold blocks are air tight and all is good to go now, so machine shop is fully set up for compressed air now, shed is very close and is working, but needs that one block replaced, but that shouldnt be too bad really. I also rearranged a few things in the shed too so that I could set up a foot valve or knee valve for the matchplate vibrators, but for right now, I mostly do loose piece patterns more than anything, so Im not in too much of a rush to do that tho, especially when I dont have a single match plate. I did move some of the hook points for the air tools, so they're much easier to each to grab them when ramming up the sand molds. Just stuff I noticed when I was ramming up the air manifold blocks from the video really.