Metal Casting Zone

Casting on the cheap
A NO Money fix!
This is the story of a young pulley adapter now only days old, from concept (a no brainer) to finish. The fire, the smell, the sight, the fun of it all! This is the coming together of Hard wood scraps from the wood shop, a Kirby vacuum Sweeper tossed out by a house wife, AL storm door parts and an AL threshold all tossed in someone’s trash. They shall all now be reformed and re-born to usefulness. To begin with we needed an adapter from a 5/8”(motor shaft size) to 1 ½” the size of the variable speed pulley we wanted to use(also a trashed item by another soul). Simple straight forward task. First thing was to find something to use for a pattern. We chose a piece of scrap CR steal 1 ½”+ in OD and 4” long for our pattern. This would in-turn cast a piece of AL the size we needed to turn the adapter from. You can see the old Kirby used for the air supply in the upper right hand corner.

Next comes the fire..... Just scraps of hardwood left over from the wood shop, Oak and walnut some cherry wood.


The scraps of wood are leaning in the box in the upper part of the picture against the shop wall and just above the cement furnace. This furnace was originally built for a gas burner and a crucible, but works reasonably well being miss-used like this. Air is forced in the pipe in the bottom from the hoover.



Once we get some small AL puddled in the ladle then we can get on with melting the bigger chunks with ease.
Now to pour in a smooth continuous action from bottom to top button. We’ll live with the shrink on top, we have extra length on the blank so it can be machined off.


Looks good now we wait for a bit for it to cool.


Next we pop it out of the sand and break and cut off the flashing and button a little so it can be chucked up in the lathe for further shaping. Next to the newly pored AL adapter blank you can see the pulley it is being made for. The shrink is in the center will be drilled out when the ID is cut to 5/8” to fit the motor shaft.


On with the transformation from junk to useful adapter.







One picture says it ALL!

wow, looks professionally done.

Thanks kineticdc,
But as you know it was an easy straight forward task. I posted it to motivate those who are thinking about casting and haven't jumped in yet. There is nothing much easier that this type of project. There is a particular satisfaction in needing a device to make something work and stopping to making it right then and there. It is intoxicating with delight to be able to do this.
The things not real apparent here are that the furnace/used like a forge, was made from flashing and regular cement. The top was formed with flower bed liner (the green metal) that is around the outside, then with a 1/4" rod gas welded criss crossed like small rebar, it was cast with a 3" tin can in the middle for the fire vent.
Njoy.....
Marv

So everyone knows that it is an easy task

very well done.

Yea. I was very surprised at how easy it was when I finally got it done and melted for the first time. I am addicted now.

Scottydawg wrote:
Yea. I was very surprised at how easy it was when I finally got it done and melted for the first time. I am addicted now. its very addictive. once you start getting good results its like a child going to a lolly shop.lol ... i will have one of this and one of that all costing next to nothing. if i cant afford gas i use wood at the moment ive calculated it costs me $3 au a kilo for gas with about 10 kg being melted from a 8.5 kg gas bottle. nothing for the wood except it takes quite a while to cut it up and gather it. the neighbours dont like the smoke tho.the metal i have given to me

You ever thought about oil? That is what I use. Very little smoke, You can find it for free, and it does not use that much or take very long to get hot enough to melt. I built my burner for about 25 dollars (very simple). I like the idea of running it for free.

Actually the picture I use of a furnace is waste oil fueled. I use it for brass,bronze and cast iron. I have an auto service shop that gives me 70 gal a week. FREE is good, as you say.
[img size=150][/img]
Marv

Scottydawg wrote:
You ever thought about oil? That is what I use. Very little smoke, You can find it for free, and it does not use that much or take very long to get hot enough to melt. I built my burner for about 25 dollars (very simple). I like the idea of running it for free.i like free best. is there an odour with your oil burner??? my neighbours complain about the odour of my scrap which has been painted when i melt it. i live in the middle of the city . if i lived in the country i would burn waste oil,coal or wood.