belt buckle

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dallen
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belt buckle

Post by dallen »

Harry here are photos of the first and second attempts I made at pouring the belt buckle yesterday.

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the first one poured full and would and will clean up to either be used as a buckle or to be passed on to someone else to use as a pattern. the one on the right was an attempt to pour it in more durable brass, it will also look better in brass. I throwed in some chrome that had pealed off of some plastic. No reason it shouldn't have a little nickle in it.

Anyone know of a easy process to remove the chrome plating off of plastic?????????????

the Brass attemp was too cold I think, every thing was the same as the one on the left gated in same place, two vents in the belt loop one on each side, I'm thinking maybe three on in the middle also small 1/16 tig rod used to vent with.

The brass one also has some small pits of looks like bubbles in the rim along with some other defects in the front, it was poured face down which may account for the bubbles, the sand that I was using was pretty course for this type of work, but I have some that is finer.
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Harry
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Re: belt buckle

Post by Harry »

I gated into the belt loop part David and used no venting. As long as the metal is hot enough to flow through that narrow passage into the main part of the buckle it should fill no problem.
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Nudge
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Re: belt buckle

Post by Nudge »

Anyone know of a easy process to remove the chrome plating off of plastic?????????????
Put it in the furnace! :lol:

I gated my buckle into the back so it would be easy to clean up.
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I also had a short pour, mine was because the melt was too cold, I was trying to add more copper and didn't mix it in proper. :oops:
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The one that came out I poured a LOT hotter, it made it come out quite rough and needed a little bit of clean up.
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I used a bit of sandpaper and the buff to get it looking ok.

It is worn with pride almost every day. :D
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The only place I vented it was in the pin (the hook part) I used a 1/16th wire .
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dallen
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Re: belt buckle

Post by dallen »

I used a 1/16 inch wire that I pushed thru at each end of the the loop where the belt hooks onto it, I know that the brass one as cold, the aluminum one in the picture poured ok but was a little rough. I did another aluminum one that was hot enough and the metal was nice and shinny and smooth but it poured short also. I set all three up the same vented in the same place and gated into the edge of the buckle so that I had whats suppose to hook onto the belt in the gate but the gate wasn't cut very wide. Sitting here thinking about it that may be whats wrong, cause I'm using a 3/8" sprue cutter and cutting the gate only about a 1/4" square. anyway it will be a few days before I can get back to it, the boss man has seen fit to put me to work.

Nudge that brass buckle look really nice, the metal that I was trying to use for the brass one that I poured was a bunch of door keys that I had melted down to destroy for my brother with some other brass added. I received my Silicon metal that I had ordered yesterday so next time I try the buckle I'm gonna drop in a gram or two see if it will help with the pouring plus use a large sprue and gate setup and a larger vent in the belt loop.

David
David and Charlie aka the shop monster

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dallen
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Re: belt buckle

Post by dallen »

Nudge wrote:Put it in the furnace! :lol:
Thats what I been doing holding it over the exhaust but was hoping for an easier way like drop it in some acid and maybe plate it onto a wire or copper plate.

I wadded up some that I had and put it in the buckle. its and easy source of nickle if you can get it off easy. what I have seems to want to come off pretty easy but there is still a lot left on the plastic. Ford 20" pickup wheel is where the plastic came from.
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dallen
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Re: belt buckle

Post by dallen »

OK looks like its been a while since I visited this thread.
Yesterday I said to hell with it and played with the furnaces, I tried to pour the belt buckle pattern that Harry had sent me. with the same results that I had before the last two times I poured it.
Image
I poured this with a half inch sprue gated directly into the back of the buckle, I also added on the first try yesterday three vents into the belt loop, that one almost filled with only about half and inch of gap in the loop not filling, but had some slag inclusions specially around the sprue which was gated so that it set half way onto the cavity. sorry no pics of the backs.

The first melt was at 2100 degrees as checked by the digital thermometer that I have acquired it may be off EVIL BAY purchase but it works. second melt I didn't check furnace temp.

The metal used was a mixture of some old keys that I had tried with before, to which I had added some yellow brass and a couple of old mig gun nozzle's which are pure copper, there also might of been some chrome plating added that I stripped off of a glamor cover off of a 20" Ford Truck Wheel.

The melt was degassed and fluxed with N400 degasser/deoxidzer for Small Foundry Supply this was used for both melts. As a degasser it has a very aggressive bubbling action but for no more metal then I had in the crucible didn't cause any splashing in the furnace. I didn't weigh the amount of chemical used but will next time along with metal used, because one a full crucible it might cause problems with the crucible boiling over. The metal as you can see from the picture has a nice luster to it, there is some pitting in the rim but I think that is strickly from the sand that I used, which has a large quanity of regular play sand in it, I should of face the front of the buckle with a finer sand (which I have mixed).

The rim of the buckle was handed sanded with 400 grit paper and then polished with Mother's Metal Polish.

This buckle was poured right at the point of the zink burning out of the melt, in other words I was starting to see yellow around the rim of the exhaust hole in the lid of the furnace and on the block I set on top of it.

I am thinking about casting that loop as a solid part then milling out the excess. also I may mill the back flat and then add it on to an oval rectangular plate for a larger buckle, but first I need to figure this out so I can progress forward from here.

Forgot, I also added a slight dap of ferro silicon to the pot due to adding all the copper, I filed the edge of the rim with a needle file and found that the metal was almost to hard for the fine teeth on the Swiss file to cut, but the metal sanded and polished great. Of course the files may of been pre-used files from Boeing Aircraft In Witicha Ks.
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Harry
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Re: belt buckle

Post by Harry »

As I said before I gated into the loop of the buckle and used no venting. Brasses should pour more fluid than aluminum if they are up to temp. I am wondering about your assessment about being right on the verge of the zinc burning off, I believe the zinc can begin burning off as soon as the brass is molten and it makes a whit smoke rather than yellow. I have seen yellow around the vent on my furnace burning oil but I believe that is due to sulfur in the fuel.

Did you use a cover over the melt? A charcoal cover or some other cover such as glass is needed to prevent O2 from feeding the zinc allowing it to burn. Also, the digital temperature measuring takes a bit of trial and error to get any kind of repeatable results. I aim for the crucible right above the metal int he crucible and believe this will show slightly higher temperatures than the actual melt, the reflective nature of molten metal really screws with the optical devices.

I honestly believe you simply need to be hotter before pouring, the buckle looks great BTW other than the short. I need to pour one of these in bronze for myself. Just noticed, looks like the guy on the buckle has his junk hanging out... now thats balls pouring like that :shock:
I'd rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints the sinners are much more fun...
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dallen
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Re: belt buckle

Post by dallen »

its the way the pattern arrived at in my mail box, the temp was taken with a regular thermal couple, I hate the laser temp guns, the yellow smoke could be from sulfur but its not from the fuel as I was burning propane, the first one of these that I poured was with aluminum and it was gated into the hook with a runner and the sprue set just off to the side, and with the vents into the loop. It poured great but didn't have the greatest finish and I want it in brass or bronze.

As far as the temp goes I'll say that it was at 2000 degrees cause the copper mig nozzle melted last in the first pour yesterday.

AS you say pouring thru the loop, or gating into it may fix the problems, but I also think that my sand is some of the problem as it packs very tight, and there is no reason no to vent the mold, if it was a greensand you would have to vent to stop steam bubbles from the water in the sand.

Yes the chemical that I used to degas with was also used as a cover it can be used both ways. it really makes for a nice melt.

When melting copper base alloys I normally pour as soon as everything is melted if the mold is ready or as soon as I get the mold ready I don't like cooking the melt. its a waste of fuel and can ruin the alloy.

I will try pouring thru the loop next time I do it. I really like the way the metal came out with the added copper and Silicon, it looks almost like gold.

And I still haven't made up my mind about if I will remove the defect of leave it.
David and Charlie aka the shop monster

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Jammer
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Re: belt buckle

Post by Jammer »

I had the same trouble when I cast mine. It's all in the gating, but I can't remember what I did. Mainly I think it was head pressure. I put a soup cans full of greensand with the hole through it for the sprue and riser. And tipped the riser end up a little. That was for Aluminum, I haven't had any luck with Brass because I always get it too hot.
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Nudge
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Re: belt buckle

Post by Nudge »

I have been making the same type of buckle only with a different face, I have had no problems with short pours.
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I start off with the pattern face up on the bench, ram up. Then flip it over, cope it down and ram up the back.
The sprue for these is 10mm (3/8") with a 6mm x 10mm (1/4"x 3/8") gate going into one side on the back.
The only vent I use is in the belt hook part.

As you can see I have made quite a few (I think I have made 30 now)
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Are you sure that the bronze IS up to temp?
Try the the steel rod trick to test the temp. pre heat a steel rod (not so hot that it is red) then dip it into the melt. If it comes out clean or what is on it can be knocked off with a light tap, is is Good to go :)

(The Pics are bad because they are off my phone)
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