Metal Casting Zone

Hey all!

I'm new to this.
I have a furnace kit on order, it comes with everything except the refractory to mold the inside and propane tank & regulator. I plan on casting things to turn out on my lathe etc...

Anyone in San Diego Area?
Where can I get a few bags of kast-o-lite in this area?

I can order on-line but the shipping costs more than the stuff!!!
FreeForm Clay and Pottery is nearby I'm going to call Monday to see if they carry it. That would make life much easier.
Tom

Good luck with your search, should be someone around that sells it. I'm about 3000 miles east of you.
Where did you get the kit?

Welcome to the forum.

I ordered it from Back Yard Metalcasting, and I also found a local source for castable refractory at Squires Belt Material Co.
I'll wait to gather the rest of the needed things until I get the basic furnace built. From what I understand, It required a long curing process to avoid steam explosions.
I have a buddy with a welder and I can get steel pipe for the crucible easy enough, Rebar for the hooks and tongs etc....



In like flint!

Sounds like your about set. I kept mine covered with damp towels for about a week and then put a 100 watt bulb in it for a couple days. After that I just turned the propane burner on to low until it started to steam and then turned it up slowly to as hot as I could get it. Until I ran out of propane. I only had about half a tank, so it wasn't as long a fire as is recommended. I think the commercial stuff is pretty forgiving. The hotface is fine but the insulating layer of clay/foam is crumbling, so I may have to reline it.

I'm still trying to wrap my head around the whole sand casting thing. How do you get a two piece mold from a three dimentional object?

Lets say I want to cast a round ball. How do you get a top and bottom half mold? cut the ball in half?.....That sounds too easy to goof up.
I'm waiting for more books to arrive and I may answer my own question. I'm currently mining the internet for "how tos" but there's not much out there.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sand_casting#Patterns

Here's wiki's info on sandcasting. For a ball that you don't want to cut in half, just fill one half of you flask (Drag) and scoop out an area for the ball. Put the ball in and pack the sand around it to the halfway mark, coat it all with parting dust(talc) then put the top of the flask (Cope) on and fill it with greensand and pack it. Pull the cope off and turn over, remover the ball, cut in your sprue, gates and riser. Put the flask back together and pour.
For something simple like a ball I like to use the lost foam method. Make what ever part you want out of styrofoam (white beaded or the blue or pink stuff), attach a piece of foam for a sprue and another for the riser and put it in sand, either loose or greensand has work for me. Pour in the hot metal and the foam will burn away as the metal takes it's place.

Hi Jammer
I never knew that you could cast this way. The pattern making in timber was the standard way it was done . Now foam is used, must make pattern making easier.
Is this foam pattern tec used extensively in foundrys ..???

I might even try it some day...JOHNCAST

It's used for all kinds of casting, even engine blocks.
This is a picture of some stuff I picked out of an old foundry that my employer bought. There's a gallon paint can for reference. The big thing is some kind of sprocket and the other is a pintle hitch for large machinery.

OK,
My furnace is all built, now I'm just waiting for the refractory to cure a few days before I burn out the forms and pre-fire it.
Next I'm in search of green sand recipe and a high pressure regulator for the propane burner.
Then I'll build the cope and drag, and try not to burn down the neighborhood! LOL
Here's some pics

Very nice furnace.
This is the worst part, waiting on it to cure some and then heating it slowly. I always want to put heat on it right away and then blast it with all I've got.
But, I don't want my work wasted so I wait. Then heat slowly, then I crank it up.