Metal Casting Zone

Ok its in the mail, you will have to make up your pouring tools but thats easy.
then you will need an ignot mold, now there is a good first project for your welding.
got green sand?? and I forget what was it you wanted to cast?

Actually this is great! I found a sandblasting shop right next to the steel shop 5 miles up the road. Bought some extremely fine sand from them. I think I'll first cast some ingots. Then my first real cast will be some soap stamps. I want to have a stamp that leaves a pressure impression on the soaps I craft. I also already have 2 friends that want me to cast some stuff for them commercially. One is a mod shop that modifies off road vehicles. We live in the coastal area so AL parts are in HIGH demand. The other is a friend that custom builds high proformence engines, he wants me to cast valve covers that have his company logo in it. (Is this possible?)

Anyways the crucible looks great. It seems as though you put care into crafting something for a stranger. I appreciate that. If there is anything you need (I know all kinds of ppl) please allow me to be of help to you.
Thanks aonemarine!

Oh yeah ... one othere question. What are hard drives made out of. I work in the IT depart of a local municipality and have access to some dead hard drives. I think they are either AL or MG. Any ideas? Oh yeah ... are Neodymium Magnets able to be melted and cast to any shape? ... they come in hard drives also.

Firestix wrote:
The other is a friend that custom builds high proformence engines, he wants me to cast valve covers that have his company logo in it. (Is this possible?)

What one man does, another man can...
(Name The Movie)

The hard drives i have pulled apart were al, but to make sure take a knife and scrape some small fileings off them and hold a torch at them. If they ignite and burn white it is magnesium. No idea on the magnets.
Valve covers would be interesting, its just a matter of the surface finish, most valve covers are die cast under pressure. not to say you wouldnt be able to match the surface finish but i know there will more than likely be that little pin hole that will p you off.
when you get you soap mold done you will have to send me one of your finishd bars

The magnets wouldn't be magnets anymore after you melted them. At a certain temp they would lose their magnetism (de-gauss, I think is the term). Also, I have my suspicion that rare earth magnets like that are probably more a ceramic composite than metal, I could be wrong. A valve cover wouldn't be that tough, it is basically a box, the tough part would be depending on the size of the engine you may need a pretty big flask. Get a friend to help you, those will tend to get heavy quick. As far as the surface finish goes, proper melting technique and de-gassing would take care of pinholes, etc. Very doable project.

this project is moving along nicely. well done!