My humble finger engine

[CallMeAL]

After watching John Bogstandard's build up of his fantasic finger engine, I thought I would try one myself. It is nothing as wonderful as what he is making, but it was good fun practice!

Here is a little video of the process:

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KR-BmQus9kk[/ame]

 

[Bogstandard]

That is great.

No such thing as 'humble'. You have got it spot on, be proud of it.

Maybe some of the members on here that don't fancy going as complicated as I do would love to make one like this.

Have you a rough sketch with dimensions? Just in case you get inundated.

John

 

[Divided He ad]

AL,

as John said "great" ! ;D I am liking the casting stuff (I can't really justify the expense though!) and it is a sweet runner too!
Can't help but think it might be hard to hold the casting square for the bearing holes to be drilled? I'm probably over complicating it like I always do! :
Con'rod is a nice shape too

I'd be a proud man if I were you ;D



Ralph.

 

[DICKEYBIRD]

Man, you guys keep teaching me neat stuff! I'd love to try the home casting process. It would fit my budget these days. Wood scraps for patterns + aluminum scraps from work (cyl heads, suspension parts, etc) are free. Just need the gumption to build a furnace!

Dumb question Al: what's the difference between open & closed casting? Closed = pattern buried in the sand with the molten metal poured down a flue?

Great post, video & engine Al, thanks! ;D

 

[CrewCab]

Al 8) ............... that's just great

Thanks for sharing it with us.

Dave

 

[Alphawolf45]

Not humble , just devoid of pretention....I.E.- "Honest Engine"...Very welldone Al....Great video as well..Maybe I will show my engine when its finished -will be no polish- its entirely American redneck testosterone ..I use sandcast aluminum too.

 

[rake60]

I like the sand to engine story.

Thanks for showing it.

Great little engine!

Rick

 

[Bernd]

Nice use of a 20lb. propane cylinder. 8)

I've done a bit of aluminum melting using both charcoal and gas fired furnace. I got a majority of the info from the David Gingery series of books he put out. There's also a lot of info on the net for home built foundries.

Nice engine design BTW.

Bernd

 

[Brass_Machine]

Very nice. I HAVE to try my hand at casting.

Eric

 

[Mcgyver]

it's always good to be humble, but there's not compelling you to be so with that effort - looks good. I have great respect for you guys doing your own casting

 

[chuck foster]

nice clean lines and a very sturdy design, i think you should be very proud of your work ! :bow:

also thanks for the video of the whole process.

chuck

 

[Bogstandard]

When I do my main display in September, the chap on the next stand to me casts his own engine cases and other bits out of ali. Not small either.
He amazed me when he said he doesn't use a furnace. He said that what he does is get a good hot fire going in his garden, then melts the ali in an old stainless pot kettle, 'it does take a bit of time' were his own words.
He also stated that his casting material for the moulds was garden soil, very finely riddled, I don't know the processes he uses, I will have to get some more detail when I see him next, but it does show that things can be done in the old ways. This must have been the way it was done for thousands of years.

John

 

[Circlip]

Looks a real plain Jane in comparison to some of the efforts of the Blingmeisters on this site CallMeAl, but the bottom line is did you ENJOY making it?? Isn't that what our hobby is all about??
Question, would a finger engine run faster if the alloy used in the castings were from Mustang pistons rather than Vee Dub campervan ones??
Regards Ian.

 

[wareagle]

Very nice engine! Nothing to be ashamed of there!

The casting thing is very intriging! Thanks for sharing your engine and putting the video together!

 

[BobWarfield]

Nice!

The casting process is very intriguing, I agree. Someday I'm going to have to try it. Gotta be sure I won't burn the house down though!

I've been saving the brass chips from the Team Build. Amazing how much of it builds up. I reckon as much as brass costs I oughta at least make an ingot with it for future use.

Cheers,

BW

 

[cfellows]

Nice work indeed. What is the pattern made from?

I've done a bit of aluminum as well as Zamac casting. I prefer an electric furnace. It's quiet and you can run it in the garage with the doors closed. However, for safety reasons, I poor the molten metal into the flask outside.

Mine runs on 120 volts and pulls about 10 amps. It will melt a pint of aluminum in about an hour.

Chuck

 

[CallMeAL]

Thanks everyone for the nice comments. The encouragement is much appreciated.

I will try to answer some of your questions:

Bogstandard: Have you a rough sketch with dimensions?

I have a simple layout sketch done in Sketchup (see below). I like this program very much for getting a feel of the look and layout of a part. Does anyone else use this? It is free download at:

http://sketchup.google.com/

I also use Designcad for exact dimensioning of making templates for patterns. I generally always make drawings to use as guides, but most of the time I don't let them stop me from modifying things as I go along!

Dickeybird: what's the difference between open & closed casting? Closed = pattern buried in the sand with the molten metal poured down a flue?

Open & Closed is my own terminology. I call open pouring into the bottom of the flask (cope?) without the top (drag?) in place. This was an experiment with this engine, trying to save having to ram up the drag and cut gates and sprues. I didn't like the result. Closed pour is as you describe.

I really enjoy casting. I like the look of cast metal. If you have a good scrap source it can be very inexpensive. I have about $150 USD in my foundry, 25% of that is in the propane regulator.
I use "green sand" to save money and this is the hardest part of the whole process, mixing and tempering the sand after a shake out. I hope to build a sand muller soon and have been gathering ideas and parts to do so.

cfellows: What is the pattern made from?

The patterns are made of medium density particle board and wood. Simple to make and easy to modify. I like making my mistakes in the pattern before I commit to metal. The are sprayed with a fast drying primer/sealer and coated with an auto paste wax to prevent wicking water from the sand.

Thanks again for all your comments. I used humble in the description of this engine, but what I meant was simple, straight forward, unadorned. I enjoyed the whole process of building this project and learned a few things along the way. I am happy with the result. If I wasn't I don't think I would of submitted it for your review! :

AL

 

[tel]

When I do my main display in September, the chap on the next stand to me casts his own engine cases and other bits out of ali. Not small either.
He amazed me when he said he doesn't use a furnace. He said that what he does is get a good hot fire going in his garden, then melts the ali in an old stainless pot kettle, 'it does take a bit of time' were his own words.
He also stated that his casting material for the moulds was garden soil, very finely riddled, I don't know the processes he uses, I will have to get some more detail when I see him next, but it does show that things can be done in the old ways. This must have been the way it was done for thousands of years.

John

I've done it that way on occasion as well, but for the little work and (shudder) money involved, it's well worth building a proper furnace.

 

[tel]

BTW - I was very impressed with your finger engine Al - might have to do one of these for one of the grandkids ( oops - then I'll 'ave to do 5)

Like you, I use MDF for patterns - great stuff