Metal Casting Zone

ive been a bit busy casting brass brackets that are used in our model displays.

Post some pictures of them and we will forgive you

i just did. the silver ones are pot metal. pictured is two days work!

im also playing around with small lengths of brass which can be twisted. i used 1/4 square 7/32 and 3/16 for experimentation.im going for the 3/16 but i also molded some more 1/4 square. this im going to use as shims in my lathe slides. twisted bras is big in the modeling world. just the brass square tube cost me $$$$$$$$$ i will need about 40 peices to complete my project.

Man thats alot of brass, nice job. This be for one heck of a display.
you will have to post some pics of what you have going on down there model wise.

You have been busy! I like the twisted Brass. Do you know what type of Brass it is? The Brass I have is too brittle and would crack if I tried that. Nice Job.

Jammer wrote:
You have been busy! I like the twisted Brass. Do you know what type of Brass it is? The Brass I have is too brittle and would crack if I tried that. Nice Job.well im kinda hopeing someone can fill me in with some tech stuff!! the brass is old plumbing fittings , little bits of brass ,old door handles...... other attempts at brass have produced a reddish brass and we want nice golden brass. i tried adding zinc but i dont think my furnace had enough heat. anyway i put the melt on and started molding. the brass was molten and i was burning zinc. the whole interior was yellow! i thought "if this was paint that yellow would have coloured the paint"" so i stirred and stirred.i let it settle and poured. result yellow brass from red brass! i have more questions than answers but i did it three more times with the same result. i didnt anneal the brass before i twisted it either?????? i have another sample to twist from another melt so i will see if it matches.as ive said ..more questions than answers!!

Some plumbing brass is red brass and sometimes overheating or quick cooling can make the piece red. You can try a good wire brushing to bring the yellow out, might work some.
I picked up some brass at the recycle place that was screw machine stock, Luckily the grade was marked on the end. It has some iron in it and wouldn't mix well with regular brass. If you get any round stock check to see if it's slightly magnetic, and keep it separate. These boys in England have a lot of info on different grades and a pretty nice website.
www.foundry-fopars.co.uk/

Enter the site and go to the top for Brass.

I like their front page tag.

Abandon Hope, All Ye Who Enter Here!

very interesting site.i guess time will tell. i picked up some taps from the scrapman so next time i melt i will try them!