brass lineshaft brackets

[xlchainsaw]

ive been a bit busy casting these 4 inch brackets for lineshafts.

 

[bigal2749]

Great Work
Always interested in what you're up to.
Al

 

[Bernd]

Hey xl,

On that brass casting, do you add zinc before the pour? Do you use scrap brass or buy ingots?

Was just wondering. I'd like to try brass someday. have done aluminum.

Bernd

 

[Mike N]

Nice work!

I am just getting started in the foundry fun! I have poured a few brass ingots from brass wire EDM scraps, I get about 30% slag when I melt it down initially. I have been scrounging yellow & red brass castings from our local scrap dealers, I plan to melt some of this down this weekend. Do I need to add anything to make the brass more pourable? I do have some flux that I purchased. I have a flask ready & a pattern made to test out the process. I was told that throwing in a piece of Aluminum would help to make the brass more liquid??

 

[xlchainsaw]

Nice work!

I am just getting started in the foundry fun! I have poured a few brass ingots from brass wire EDM scraps, I get about 30% slag when I melt it down initially. I have been scrounging yellow & red brass castings from our local scrap dealers, I plan to melt some of this down this weekend. Do I need to add anything to make the brass more pourable? I do have some flux that I purchased. I have a flask ready & a pattern made to test out the process. I was told that throwing in a piece of Aluminum would help to make the brass more liquid??

glad to hear you are getting started. im not an expert with brass as yet. please dont put aluminium into the brass!!!!!!!!!!!under the right conditions you will end up with a thermite reaction and that will just melt through every thing.! dont use any flux!! at first i put it in and that was a big mistake.if you put zinc in with red brass it is suppose to make yellow brass. my experiments failed on this.... but!!the brass shown was red brass??????? and now its yellow brass with nothing added?????? i even poured some 1/4 inch square7/32 and 3/16 and twisted it without annealling or shearing it??????im awaiting an opion from a qualified source at the moment but i did the first pour by accident!! then i repeated it three more times with the same result. there is nothing new in foundry work only dark secrets.

 

[xlchainsaw]

Hey xl,

On that brass casting, do you add zinc before the pour? Do you use scrap brass or buy ingots?

Was just wondering. I'd like to try brass someday. have done aluminum.

Bernd

brass is very interesting and there are so many different recipes. with special testing gear its beyond the home caster to know exactly whats in it. i have a mate who works in a foundry all day pouring brass, he knows all about commercial foundry work,products mold making ect. but!!!! he doesnt know exactly whats in the pot! first they melt the copper and then add zinc and a bit of this and a bit of that.! its like coke and kfc. and chefs recipes. the brass pictured came from door handles,pipe fittings, lathe shorts.

 

[xlchainsaw]

Great Work
Always interested in what you're up to.
Al

thanks bigal. brass sure has expanded my modeling ideas.

 

[Mike N]

I have a bucket full of yellow brass pieces. I broke up a bunch of old water meter castings that were removed from old homes in the city. I will try to melt them without any flux or additives to see how it works. I also have a few pcs. of red brass castings that I broke into chunks, I plan to keep them separated. The wire EDM scraps (.010" dia. x 1/8" long) I melted down only gave about 60% clean brass & 40% slag, I'm not sure it is worth the work to retrieve the good brass from this material, however it is free to start with. From the ingots I made they melt down clean the second time. I tested one of the ingots & it machines nice & it is strong & flexible. Brass is fun to play around with! ;D

 

[xlchainsaw]

this isnt a bad website for brass info.http://www.foundry-fopars.co.uk/
checkout the brass section.

 

[maury]

I've been pouring what I call bronze for some time now. It is mostly junk yard red brass. I mix in some yellow brass sometimes, and will ocasionally throw in a lead fishing weight if I use the yellow brass. I like the bronze color. When I start the melt, I always put the machine scraps and small pieces on the bottom of the crucible, about 25% full. I add a teaspoon or 2 (for a 12# melt) of borax with with the melt as flux. It melts and coats the top of the metal, helping to keep the zinc from burning off, and keeps the metal clean. If you use junk yard metal, you will want the flux to help clean the metal. I always skim all the flux before pouring.

maury

 

[xlchainsaw]

"throw in a fishing sinker!!!!" the next time i melt brass im going to experiment with throwing in a bit of 50/50 solder. the tin and lead apparently brings out the "yellow" . further research revealed that the scrap brass was refrigeration brass!!! and contains tin and lead!

 

[abby]

Common yellow brass is 60/40 copper/zinc and most of the scrap water fawcets , and plumbers fittings that you collect will be made from this.
Red brass , gun-metal here in the UK , is a different animal and is typically known as 85/5/5/5 bronze , copper/tin/lead/zinc although there are commercial variations of this alloy.
Red brass is used for higher pressure valves and steam fittings ( steam eventually leaches the zinc from yellow brass).
Yellow brass requires no treatment during melting , the vapour pressure of zinc prevents ingress of combustion gases, but it does fume badly at higher temperatures and a flux will help to control this.
A flux of potash , borax and rock salt mixed about 1/1/3 will help remove the dross and refine the metal grain, addition of a little clean dry sand just before pouring will thicken the slag and allow easy removal. The fluidity of red-brass can be improved by the addition of a little phosphor copper.
Aluminium can be added to copper , although it is quite difficult due to oxide formation , the resulting alloy is aluminium bronze , which is yellow like brass but much tougher and quite hard work to machine

 

[cfellows]

Hey, XL, nice work. What process are you using? Lost Wax or what?

Thx...
Chuck

 

[tmuir]

I'll answer for XL as I'm online at the moment and he isn't. ;D

XL is just using sand casting at the moment.

 

[cfellows]

Hey, XL, nice work. What process are you using? Lost Wax or what?

Thx...
Chuck

The reason I had asked is because it looks like the sprue is coming in through the side of the flask, along the parting line. I've never seen that before...

Chuck

 

[xlchainsaw]

the reason for the sprues position is that i use special flasks that i made.