Metal Casting Zone

Hello Mates!!

Now I got a lil request for help and I hope you can help me solving it.
As I mentioned in my introduction thread I’m fond of art and bell casting and would like to learn more about it and castings in general.

Many objects could be copied or re-casted by a surface replica ,done by a sand casting mold,but some of those objects are very heavy or not able to be handled to a prepaired sand casting mould.

So that’s where the dilemma begins :

How can you measure out objects as exact as possible (with very very limited variation)?

Any Ideas are welcomed =)

Giving a little model for one of those “to be measured out” objects


Thanks alot , Julian

(If somebody shoul wonder why I don’t ask a bell technician or bell caster for help , I can give you a simple answer : they are very frantic of people with too much knowledge about their art so sb. could open a concurrence workshop/foundry ,so they do not tell anything!No matter if you’re hobby artist or pro )

hi there! there is a member here who casts pewter bells! he may be able to help. checkout youtube as he posted vids on casting bells.(if i can remember who he was i will pm the user name to you so you can pm him. )

i think it is member (drescher3 )

Thanks for the reference =)

For measuring out ,which tools could be used??
Or should I consider to create fitting tools?

For an exact copy of the shape/profile you need alot of datas :

-diameter
-height ( bell only ,canon(if the bell got canons),height inside
-thickness of the walls (several places ,especially the place where the biggest wall thickness occures)
- inside diameters (as many as possible)
- all measures of the crown/canon system

Regards, Julian

Uploaded this version of the drawing I already posted
Trying to show what I posted last time : you need to get as many details about the measures as possible ,that prevents occurance of errors or excursions.

Any idea about how to do it or which tools could be used/constructed for it?
The red lines show the most important measures needed

Thx, Julian

Your going to need a large set of calipers, OD and ID. Take lots of measurements
Here's a site that may give you some ideas.
Calipers

i get it now .you want to take measurements of a bell! no problems. you will need a set of internal and external micrometres. let me know if you need a pic and i will show you mine. you can pick them up fairly cheaply on ebay for a fraction of what they were when new. it will however depend on how big your bell is.

xlchainsaw wrote:
i get it now .you want to take measurements of a bell! no problems. you will need a set of internal and external micrometres. let me know if you need a pic and i will show you mine. you can pick them up fairly cheaply on ebay for a fraction of what they were when new. it will however depend on how big your bell is.

Thanks alot

Well ,there are a couple of Bells around my Area that I'd like to give a try ,most in Medium sizes (but big if you're new into metal casting art),size is usually between 30cm and 180cm diameter of the bell (and height is almost same range always).
There's especially one bell in my hometown , diameter 114cm and almost same height ,I'm afraid the bell will be sold as the church where she's standing will be shut soon.

Regards ,Julian

its a pity about the church bell. i will take some pics of my "measuring tools" when i get them out next in a couple of days.

xlchainsaw wrote:
its a pity about the church bell. i will take some pics of my "measuring tools" when i get them out next in a couple of days.

Thx alot

There are alot of Bells around here ,so I'm gonna have a lot of practice possiblities hehe.
Many bells here are very old (The bells of a Cathedral not far away from me were cast in 1449 and the following decades!)and the art of bell construction is dying out here.

Regards,Julian