My first attempt at casting

[dreeves]

Well I jumped in with two feet. Tonight was my first attempt at sand casting . With help from Dave (a.k.a. aonemarine) who loaned me his small foundry made with a coffee can. I was able to melt some brass which was already in the crucible with some add in by me. The Brass took forever to melt but forever could have been only 20 mins. for someone on there first melt ;D. I did not have enough brass to get a complete cast but I wanted to cleanout the crucible anyway so I could do some aluminum. I think it came out good even without a complete part. I did do a aluminum pour and had great success even with a little shrinkage. I used several unknown pieces to melt which could been a problem.

Well Here are some Pictures. Feel free to pick at me with problems
:hDe:

 

[aonemarine]

Nothing quite like seeing nice and shiney metal when you crack open the mold. Nice job Dave. Bet you cant wait to get the bigger foundry up and running.

 

[dreeves]

I'm hooked!! I need to get to Lancaster for the refractory. I needed to do my first pour to get me motivated

Thanks for all you help to get me here.

Dave

 

[aonemarine]

Pick yourself up some petrobond sand while your there... Bet you'll never look at scraps the same way. Lol

 

[metalmad]

Top Job Dave
It took me ages to gather enougth courage for that first pour.
Your off and running now!
Pete

 

[moya034]

Your first casting turned out much better then mine. Took me half a dozen times to get a usable casting. (My greensand had too much water.) Looking forward to getting my milling machine finished so I can start playing working with my foundry again.

 

[44-henry]

Looks good, I would concentrate on pouring aluminum for awhile before moving up to brass however. Brass is a bit trickier to pour and it also throws off zinc fumes which are not the best to be around.

 

[Sshire]

That is verrrrry cool. Making your own castings is fascinating. Want toi hear all about it at lunch.

 

[skyline1]

Very impressive

You have a small cold shut at the top of the ali one a bigger gate and a longer sprue will cure it. the shrinkage on the brass one is probably due to the same thing

After ramming the cope, put a piece of 3" pipe about 4" long on top of the cope around the sprue dowel while it is still in place, steel or even ali will do, grind it into the top of the cope, fill and ram with greensand, cut a pouring cup on the top then rap and pull the sprue dowel.

It usually works, It gives the liquid metal more "head" (just like water) and "punches" it into the mould cavity.

I remember my first pour it's quite an experience handling molten metal for the first time.

Just wait till you do your first Iron pour, that will be even more exciting, and SCARY !

I don't want to frighten you off but if you are going to cast brass it is essential to wear at least a good dust mask or even respirator filter and have plenty of ventilation. At melting temp it emits white zinc oxide smoke which is rather toxic and not something you want to get a lungfull of. (learnt the hard way !)

Regards Mark

 

[dreeves]

Skyline1. I did not have enough brass to do a complete pour. The brass was what was left in the pot I used. I cleaned it and did the aluminum pour. Thanks for the comments

Stan I look forward to lunch

Dave