Latest iron melt.

[100model]

I have made a video of my latest iron pour and go into some detail about what metals in the iron group not to use. Steel can be mistakenly added to a iron melt and will raise the melting point depending on how much has been added. Ductile iron can be used but if you are a beginner it would be best to avoid it until you have some experience melting iron. Ductile iron uses powerful carbide stabilizers to turn the flakes of graphite into spheres so there is a chance that the iron will have chilled edges.

 

[GreenTwin]

Great video, very informative, and nice casting.

Notice luckygen does not use an offset pouring basin, but instead pours straight down the sprue.

If you only watch one iron casting channel on the internet, this is the one to watch.

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[100model]

Thanks for watching my video. I don't know why some people think that a offset pouring basin is needed?

 

[GreenTwin]

Some of the books on gating and risering use the offset basin, and in some cases it is shown in the Navy Foundry Manual.

So once it gets into print, and general use, then it is very difficult to convince anyone that you don't need it.

I saw a simulation video of a pour basin, and it was churning metal badly, and not preventing aspiration of air down the sprue very well.

The square basin at the base of the sprue is also a big no-no, and it churns the metal very badly too.

I do put my gates on top of the runner, and use a spin trap at the end of the runner.
I don't step my runners, but just use a linear runner, and I don't have fill problems.

As Bob Puhakka has pointed out many times, pretty much every method that is commonly used in most commercial foundries is a bad idea.

As I recall, Bob said that the cross sectional area at the bottom of the spure should match the cross sectional area of the runner, and the sprue should have a very smooth transition into the runner, with no sharp corners.

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