New here from Utah

A place to say a little about yourself, who, where, what sort of thing.
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Harry
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Re: New here from Utah

Post by Harry »

dallen wrote:don't skimp on the materials do it right the first time. otherwise your going to be redoing it again.
Amen to that. I recently rebuilt my big furnace with an 11 1/2" bore for an A20 crucible. I made an insulating layer 3" thick with Kastolite and put an 1 1/2" layer of Mizzou over that. This is going to last a very long time. Will be rebuilding my small furnace soon with something similar but about an 8 or 9" bore for A10. This will be the third and hopefully last rebuild on the little furnace.
I'd rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints the sinners are much more fun...
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Jeff Clark
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Joined: Mon Dec 05, 2011 3:40 pm
Location: Woods Cross UT

Re: New here from Utah

Post by Jeff Clark »

Dallen,
Thank You, and thats why im here to figure out what is best in my fabricating skills to use, I would like to think I do not skimp.. If you ever get a chance to see my work I would hope you feel the same,
Pour Naked!
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Harry
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Re: New here from Utah

Post by Harry »

Jeff, please dont take the comment personally. There a couple of mindsets to this craft/hobby that run very much along the lines of how much you really want to get out of it. When you get down to the brass tacks you can melt metal in hole with a wood fire and pour into sand dug up from the yard (if you happen to be lucky) ofr just about nothing in terms of $ or you can spend a fortune or anywhere in between. I am in the middle ground I think. My equipment is pretty good and I have spent a fair amount putting it together but very little of what I have is commercial in that I have built it myself using quality materials.

This same line of thinking goes on to what you cast with once you have your foundry set up. Sourcing good stock doesnt necessarily mean buying certified ingot but it does mean knowing what you are melting.
I'd rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints the sinners are much more fun...
Muller
Jeff Clark
Posts: 85
Joined: Mon Dec 05, 2011 3:40 pm
Location: Woods Cross UT

Re: New here from Utah

Post by Jeff Clark »

Harry,
Im here for just that reason I took nothig personal in what Dallen said, I hope it did not come off that way, I take alot of pride in what I build no matter what it is, and this is just the reason im here is to lern, I have been looking around alot and seeing the various items that have been built for the foundry room and given me some ideas. Im starting on my room with a lay out now and im sure I will be asking alot of questions, I have read and read but in my personal experience you never lern till you actually do it. And then even after im finished with my small foundry im sure I will be making some changes. There is alot of skill here and I take what people say as experience. Thanks Again!!
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dallen
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Re: New here from Utah

Post by dallen »

Jeff, I like your mind set no sense doing it unless you do it right the first time, which I didn't on my first furnace and a couple of other that I build, but I'm no furnace builder. I do know a couple things that will work that you may want to look at incorporating into your furnace.

you can tell me to be quite if you want,

Number one, is use quality materials, if you can get em cheap enough use the white alumina oxide brick to build your furnace with the 2600 degree ones, it makes for a simple build cut with an old handsaw and place em in the furnace, don't worry about mortar use a shell that you can tighten up with bands and your set for every thing up to cast iron.

number two, you burner there are a lot of good designs out there, you just have to figure out which one is going to be your workhorse burner, if you want to try others find but don't mess with the one you have that works. What you want to burn for fuel and how cheap you want to do it, is something you will have to decide. lot of people are using oil some will tell you that waste oil is hotter. I'll tell you that it can cause problems with plugged nozzles and things like having to heat it or thin it with diesel or kerosene. A lot still use propane. Myself I have sorta switched to a dual fuel burner I guess you could call it, I ca burn oil and propane at the same time or just one at a time, and believe me when it tell you the thing gets hot, even on just propane at 4 to 5 psi its HOT.

number three, drain hole like harry says put it in the side if you don't need it plug it with some ceramic fiber, you make you furnace right you can as Harry says scrap in it. or melt items to large to get into a crucible, and let it run out the side into an ingot mold or throw em in a brush pile and set it one fire pick up the melted stuff after it cools.
Wood splitter works great for busting up car wheels tranny cases, water pumps,

Sources for material to feed your new hobby are any piece of aluminum or brass or bronze of cast iron that has BEEN Casted before. Screen Doors and Window frames don't make the best casting material. unless you got some good stuff to mix it with, or you allow for a huge amount of shrinkage.

get yourself some reference material's Principals of Metal Casting put out by the AFS American Foundrymens Society is a great book and everyone should have it. cost about 15.00 from ABEBooks.com

Crucibles, buy em, they just work better then a piece of pipe. they are made to melt metal in, pipe is made to pump water thru. Take care of em on aluminum they will last a long time. on cast iron I won't use anything by Silicon Carbide. Clay Graphite for any thing else.

Fluxes, as for as I'm concerned, buy them also, salt is for the dinner table, the commeercial fluxes that are out there don't cost that much and do a much better job. i used some yesterday on a pot of aluminum that was almost totally clear of anything floating on top of the melt, when I put the degaser in it, what came out of the melt was almost a cup of oxides floated up. Salt won't do it and there are people that will tell you that you don't need to use it, you want top quality castings you gotta use the good stuff.

Yea I get long winded at times, but don't do like I did when I build my first furnace and had the lid hinge up instead of swing to the side. Bad mistake having that lid flipped up looking you in the face while your trying to pull a pot of hot metal out of the thing.

David Happy Holidays enjoy your new hobby,
two of my casting projects, the flask is on going in that I am starting on my third revision of it, this was the first. the two handles you see laying on it were attempts at replacing the handle on my recliner that the square hole stripped out in. dang wood screw the furniture make put in broke.
Image

you will want one of these also/
David and Charlie aka the shop monster

If life seems normal your not going fast enough" Mario Andrette
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