Cincinnati Shaper

[dallen]

put some heat in the furnace on friday to start the curing process wasn't able to take it all the way do to having to run up to Tulsa for some business, didn't get back till late yesterday evening so nothing done on the furnace yesterday other then to check and see if it had gotten wet during the rain which it didn't.

Today I have a new pattern for the ratchet on the table leadscrew for the shaper that I hope to pour tried to pour it the other day with cast iron but had a really short messed up pour which is what moved this furnace reline project to the front of the roundtoit list.

I'll let you guys know how things go

edit 9/29/13 12:59
had the furnace up to aluminum melting temp with no problems wall still in one piece, had one good full pour on a new design ratchet for the leadscrew the other mold, a idler wheel poured short due to me not having enough metal in the crucible.


DA

[dallen]

fired the furnace a couple more times today taking it up to aluminum melting temp actually probably quite a bit over that the last time from the looks of the casting.

here's a shot of the part that I casted yesterday in the lathe getting some work done to it.

the new pattern

the part


this design/version will allow me to put in a larger pawl pin and also fix it so that everything can be taken out without having to take it off the shaft to clean and lube it.
its also shorter which will allow smaller steps on the table movement

DA

[Jammer]

For not liking to make patterns, you are sure making a lot of patterns.
One of my printing presses had an advance like that. The cog wheel was much larger and it only advanced a very small amount at a time. It would push the stack of paper toward the suction pick-up to feed the single sheet of paper into the press. It was cool to watch. I wish I had taken video of it before I sold it.

[dallen]

Jammer I really don't like working with wood, that outlook would probably change if I had wood working tools, which I have very few of. But the problem with this shaper is that I don't have broken parts that I can cope down around so I have to make the patterns, I should say that of all the parts that I have made there were only two that I could of used the original part to make replacements with, and they would of been hard to work with. Plus if I ever get to the point of actually making a steam engine in the size I want to make one, I'll have to make the patterns, and besides I would whole lot rather mess up some wood then to mess up a pot of cast iron which I have messed up a lot of that lately it seems.

I also like the looks of the new ratchet casting a lot better then the second one I made. as far as I can tell it resembles the original closer, still wish I could find a photo or pattern drawing of it.

and most of the patterns that I make are really pretty simple.

hows the shop doing you get all the stuff back in the house, the ticker not giving problems is it.

DA

[dallen]

ok today was a total loss, I rammed up a pattern and then proceded to get the furnace up to temp and melt some iron but, (a BIG BUT) didn't ,make it. refractory helt up well thou. and should be pretty well cured as I had liquid iron in the crucible but liked that little bit extra bit of heat to be able to make the pour.

Anyway tomorrow may bring better results.

DA

[Jammer]

I wish I had a small wood lathe and a compound miter saw. I can do a lot with the table saw and router. I need to get the CNC set back up and running so I can start trying to make some patterns with it. It's limited in depth of cut but should be able to do about 3" deep. I've got most of the stuff out of the locker. Just the real heavy stuff left, I'll have to get some help and a bigger trailer.
Why couldn't you get to pouring temp? Is the new lining less insulating or just not enough time at heat?

[dallen]

I have a wood lathe but the motor on it is fried I just need to find another one thats totally inclosed to keep saw dust out. and learn how to sharpen the tools.

Thats one of the main reasons I did the CNC on my mini mill but sad as it is to say I still have to finish it. most patterns I do or need aren't very big, but I also have been told that I can use a friends of mine's CNC router to do patterns on, I'm going to go to tulsa one day and hold him to that,

I made some changes today and like I have told people to video and write down every thing you do when melting cause you can't remember it all. I removed the filter/strainer from the fuel line, and tired to melt with a different nozzle, no luck so I changed back to the old nozzle which is a 1 GPH hago and you guessed it with the strainer our and the fuel wide open I was able to get to pouring temp.

Jammer cast iron can be a real mean bit$h to melt. The new refractory isn't the problem it just makes the melt take a little longer because the heat has to build up in it first, the problem is and I'm sure that you've seen it when working at the foundry that there is a point in the melt where if your just a little bit cold that the stuff just sits there and eats up BTU's like my sisters pet hog. whats really crazy is it will be liquid but because your on the breaking point of it being cold it will start hardening up in the crucible really fast and the smaller the melt the faster this can happen. I thought I was going to lose it today because I forgot to put a weight on the flask and stopped to grab one, that little pause is all it takes if the melt is on the breaking point.

But you gotta just love it, when it goes right and you get machinable iron that sings to you when your cutting it, I added some silicon to this today I hope it was enough and at the same time hope it wasn't too much, I've been thinking of trying to mix in some graphite just before the pour to see if it will help with white iron, one thing I do need to do is stop using the iron i have that has been melted three or four times, but it should be ok, I never take my melts to the point that I have carbon sparkles coming out the exhaust.

OOOh yea almost forgot that I also need to use some ceramic fiber under the lid to seal up the heat lost there. you'll see what I'm talking about in the video

the part


in the lathe being cleaned up some


all cleaned up and no place to call home,




DA

[Jammer]

Could you be loosing carbon in the iron during the melt? If the carbon drops the melting point goes up. Remelting iron and having too much air in with the oil can cause to carbon to drop.

[dallen]

not sure whats happening, if the carbon was burning out due to a lean furnace I should see sparks in the exhaust, there isn't any except for when I get some slag on the exhaust port.

The hunk of crap that I dumped out of it had what I though was a layer of the crucible on it, but after reexamining it I think its a heavy layer of graphite which the only place it could of come from is the metal that was in the crucible as I didn't add anything to that melt. Will post a photo later of the crap. thinking about remelting it.

I added about .1 oz of silicon to the melt yesterday and it machined ok, hard but manageable, most of the hard was just a shell on it, the hole I bored in it cut like regular gray cast iron with nice broken gray chips (sorry no Photo).

here's a short clip that shows what it looked like coming out of the sand and after I cleaned it up


Jammer whats your thoughts on adding graphite to the melt just before pouring, I've been reading the principles of metal casting but it deals with melts in the thousands of pounds not in one or two pounds.

The new lining helped tons with the melt yesterday after I got the burner straightened out again. the refractory that I put in is holding up pretty good so far (will take a photo and post it later), I had a fuel strainer for a lawn mower in the line and it just wasn't letting enough fuel thru. I don't know what fuel consumption is as I keep forgetting to take a scale out there with me to weigh the tank with.

one question is I have some 95% pure silicon is it the same as regular FeSi, I have some of the FeSi also.

DA

[dallen]

here's some photos for you guys to look at, comment on and just plain make fun of.

first up is the inside of the furnace after it fired it yesterday, it has some stress cracks but otherwise in fine shape


second is the clump of crap that i dumped out of the crucible yesterday before starting, black shiny stuff rubs off in next photo


sorry bad out of focus photo, stuff has an oily feel to it like gaphite.


inside of the crucible I have no idea what the white stuff is, I've seen it a couple of times after having problems with a melt