Zebra Clutch cover

[dallen]

Well thats a bummer on the material, I have alot of it... but thats why im here to lern.. I will keep you posted on Larsons I have to go that direction today purchased a new Kenworth I have to sign on by 4 for Tax reasons KW is just a few blocks from them so I plan on stopping by.

aluminum ruck wheels work just fine if you do heavy hauling, you should have some cracked ones laying around

[Harry]

Only problem there David is breaking them down. If you have some means of busting them into pieces small enough to melt then you are good to go but I melted on on top of my scrapper and it took forever. It acts like a huge heat sink and draws a lot of the heat away. Of course when I did that one I seem to remember my burner wasnt running as well as it could have been.

One thing to remember is that any aluminum can be traded at the recycler for what you want, heads are nice for direct melting because they will fit down into most furnaces though you do have to remove the steel if you are concerned at all about maintaining alloy purity.

Oh, one more thing to mention, if you do use wheels make sure they are not the ones with the foil chrome coating. This is weakly magnetic and has a high chrome shine to it. I had one like that and it was a pain not to mention the concern of contamination. It takes very little percentage wise of some alloy ingredients to make big changes to the alloy.

[dallen]

I bet Jeff's got something that will bust em up seeing as how he has a heavy hauling and rigging business, bet if he talked real sweet to that KW dealer he might even throw in a couple busted truck wheels, with the hints that that next truck might be an Autocar
anyway I saw the wheels up that I melt, cause my furnace doesn't have a side drain, see Harry now you have a reason to get you one of them new fangeled Plasma Rigs what will cut 3/4"

[Harry]

I wish a plasma cutter was in the budget but sadly that one is still aways down the list.

Some of the sections on the truck wheel I scrapped were over 1" thick, busting these down mechanically might make for some sketchy moments. Car wheels in a log splitter seems a little on the edge to me thinking about pieces going flying but Bob does this. I think he said he tosses a piece of old carpet over them when they are breaking.

I just need to get my big scrapper finished then I will have no trouble with anything up to 30" or so diameter. The last couple of months have been a little slow so not a lot of extra money to spend in the shop but business is starting to pick back up so maybe soon. I still need to buy about 400 lbs of mizzou so thats close to $400 plus the electric trailer jack for tilting which is another $100 or so. After that a trip to my local steel remnant yard and leaving them a couple hundred more and I should be good to go. I am figuring all together the big scrapper will end up costing me just under a grand but will cut my scrapping time by a factor of three or four so it will pay for itself over time plus it will give me the ability to do very large pours and I have a couple things in mind I would like to be able to make in the future.

[dallen]

I bet it Jeff took an throwed in some silicon into the 6061 that it would cast just as well as 356 for what he is doing, and I would also bet that in one of them shops he sets up that they have a big A#s saw he could get access to too cut up them cracked and broken truck wheels

[Jeff Clark]

Yes the Petro Bond sand mix was 96, I know I will need alot more I just figured that would be enough for me to experiment with till I get the casting down. I did over the weekend find a drilling supply that has the organic bentonite in bags and I can get the sand local as well. I have a oil crew (unev pipeline) now pushing some pipe across our property and they told me where to get the Bentonite I need, Ive let the sub use our lot for parking and letting him drill a relief hole today I might just hit him up for a few bags to have... Ill see how that works...

[Harry]

Just remember the difference

Bentone - oil - about $3 or so a lb
Bentonite - water - super cheap, probably less than $0.25 a lb

Both are pretty much the same thing originally but the bentone is modified to make it want to absorb oil. Brand names vary but petrobond clay is one.

[Jammer]

FrankG in Canada, used a hydraulic wood splitter to bust up Aluminum rims. He said just be ready to duck.
Frank hasn't been around for a long time, hope thing smoothed out for him. He had a great build site but it's gone too.

[Jeff Clark]

Well this weekend was time to try things out, I got my mini foundry room finished up enough to give things a try, I was a little bummed on my Petrobond Mix I had purchased, I need to get a muller finished I can tell... the mix seems a bit dry to me brittle and powdery, I decided for a few hours just to do some molding and was having issues with the mix... I also spent a few hours melting verious items and getting to know melt times etc and made some igots. Not sure what the problem with 6061 is and casting, but I have alot of it so i decided to do a practice pour with some and a mold of a Honda valve cover I made the part is not the quality im looking for but wanted to try it, this is my first part cast in the mini foundry in 6061 I will need to get a muller and a better mix of sand before I do any more parts.

[Rocco]

FrankG in Canada, used a hydraulic wood splitter to bust up Aluminum rims. He said just be ready to duck.
Frank hasn't been around for a long time, hope thing smoothed out for him. He had a great build site but it's gone too.

I don't remember who it was but somebody over at BYMC was in contact with Frank a few months ago, apparently he's alright, he's had bit of personal difficulty that's turned his life upside down and that's why he's dropped off the grid, he said he plans to be back once everything settles down again.

Frank, if by some chance you see this; Good luck, I hope this year's better than last. You're missed, I hope we hear from you soon.