Here is why I got into casting... Several years ago, I wanted to set myself up with a metal lathe...but I had no way to afford one. I came across back yard metal casting based on the Dave Gingery series of building your own metal shop from scrap metals (foundry, lathe, shaper, mill, saw, drill press.....and bits and pieces to add to each). I read several build articles on Dave's Charcoal Foundry, and decided I was going to build one. I picked up a 5 gal bucket, 10 ponds of lincon fire clay, a 12" concrete form and a bag of sandbox sand. Spent a couple hours sifting the sand to get it as fine as possible. I mixed up my refractory, scooped it into place between bucket wall and concrete form. Carefully rammed the refractory tight and solid as I went. Once done, I let it sit for 2 days....filled it with charcoal and lit it. I ran it thru 3 burn cycles to harden properly (and also it burned out the cardboard concrete form during this stage) I made my lid with the same mix on that first day, and baked it at 400 degrees for 6 hours to harden it. Built a nice little blower made from old stove vent. Next step was to read as much about building Dave's lathe, I read everything I could find on it, looking at tons of pics, and made lots of notes. I produced my first parts not soon after, and started building my version of the Gingery Lathe
. I was right at the halfway point (was just about to power it up and use it to machine itself and parts for itself) when my friend passed away and I wound up with his harbor freight mini lathe. Unfortunately I have not moved forward on my Gingery Lathe since then. Pouring is a blast, and waaaaay cool!!!! I tried to plan all my pours for nighttime hehe. My casting were rough, but functional! Since then I have converted my minilathe to CNC, and find myself longing for a milling machine. Now I stand looking at my half built lathe, and see that if I remove a couple things it could easily be the base and ways for Dave Gingery's milling machine. I don't see myself lucking into a mill, so I am going to have to dig out my furnace and lathe project, and plan a retrofit to make it into a mill instead of a lathe.
Plan your patterns and your molds well, a very important thing to keep in mind! Safety is also a major concern when pouring, as well as preheating metals before dropping them into your cruicible (if they have moisture in them watchout!!) As mentioned before, pour over a nice sand mold for safety. Have a place to put your extra melt before you start pouring. I used a tablespoon wired to the end of a long rod to remove the dross from the top of the melted aluminum. I lacked a good crucible, but used coffee cans. I would get 3 good melts per can before they were useless. Now I find that there is another book by Dave on making crucibles and I will get it soon.
I am planning my first engine block casting to make a miniature mercruiser 120 engine (inline 4 cyl gm). The block will be a challenge, as I want to cast the water passages into place using sand cores. at the same time I cast the block I will cast the head, and oil pan. There will probably be a followup pour for alternator parts, water pump housing, and exhaust manifold/riser (both of which have water jackets cast into them as well
) . I expect this project to take me some time to finish, but I would love to make it as detailed and scaled as possible.
Casting is very fun, challenging, and cool!!!! Adds a new dimension to your finished project to be able to tell people that you cast everything yourself!! My dad and older brother would have loved my little foundry setup, but they are no longer with us.....I think of them every time I look at my furnace and little growing shop and it brings a smile to my face each time
Best regards,
Will R. Everett, WA.
