Book: Cast Irons - ASM Specialty Handbook

Discussion in 'Links to useful information' started by PatJ, Jan 16, 2019.

  1. PatJ

    PatJ Silver

    I was able to find a used copy of this book, and bought it in order to try and establish a baseline of information on cast iron was reasonably accurate.
    Edited by J.R. Davis

    There is so much information and mis-information about iron on the net, and many seem to have an expert opinion, with the problem being that some of the opinions are indeed from experts, and some are anything but.

    Cast-Irons-Book.jpg
     
    HT1 likes this.
  2. HT1

    HT1 Gold Banner Member

    on Most every Subject. I cringe when People Claim Success while not following any of industry standard or best practices, then seem miffed or simply disappear when they cannot repeat their crowning Glory. AA was full of people with big plans that ghosted ( I blame KOR).

    at one point I wanted to do cast Fe for some ornamental projects, , Just could not see all the effort involved ever paying off particularly having to deal with Green sand. But if you are doing machine parts... Well Cast fe has it's place.


    V/r HT1
     
  3. PatJ

    PatJ Silver

    Green sand with cast iron parts can be an issue, not that you will ever hear that from ironsides (he has mastered green sand just like he has mastered iron).
    If you can't get your greensand right, then you can forget about making good iron castings.

    How do I get around greensand problems?
    I don't use it; I use bound sand to avoid problems, but more importantly to give very fine detail to small parts, with almost zero distortion, and castings that are very close to net size.
    Problems solved when using bound sand, and no mulling (but there is mixing of the binder with the sand).

    For a number of years I was terrified of iron pours, and they were very much a white-knuckle affair for me, and almost always went badly.

    Once I zeroed in on the burner settings, and figured out how to add scrap during the melt and push it through the slag cover and under the surface, then everything changed very much for the better.

    Working with iron is very hot, and you need a heat shield on the pouring shank, and some other heat precautions such as everything rated at 3,000 F.
    But when I walk out to my furnace now, an iron melt is only slightly more difficult than an aluminum melt, mainly because it takes a bit more effort to get the slag skimmed off of iron.
    I wear the same leathers, facemask and such for both metals.

    I can set my watch and know almost exactly when the iron will be at pour temperature.

    I am still learning about metallurgy, ferrosilicate levels, cooling rates, gating and risering, etc., but I feel like I am getting there, and I feel like the major battles with iron have been won.

    I actually find iron much easier to melt and pour than brass/bronze, because there is no zinc to worry about boiling off.
    With iron, you just give it everything the burner can possibly put into the furnace, and let it get as hot as it can possibly get.
    At some point I may look at reducing pour temperatures to improve surface finish, but for now I am going to pour as hot as possible.
    I am going to try using a ceramic-based mold coat.

    An iron-rated pyrometer would be nice to have, but that is out of my funding range, and will not be happening with me unless someone turns up a cheap one with inexpensive thermocouples.
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    Last edited: Jan 16, 2019
  4. HT1

    HT1 Gold Banner Member

    resin sand has a huge downside cost & not being reusable... disposal, how are you managing that.. I figure my Petrobond cost at about $100/ year for Makeup sand . so about 4.6 cents per casting give or take.
    your sand cost must be extreme, green sand would of course put you in My region, after initial costs... I know how to make and Maintain green sand , and I know I would need more muller then I have, I could probably make it work with a full size cement mixer converted into a muller . BUT you cannot Make Green sand work well with Home Brewed ingredients unless you are really Lucky on sourcing. you are going to have to Buy Southern and Western Bentonite and Seacoal.... a Big part of the Issues with home brewed ingredients is that binders act differenty depending on how well they are ground, lumpy clay will not coat the sand grains so you will not get green strength even if you have added enough binder


    V/r HT1
     
  5. Jammer

    Jammer Silver Banner Member

    I think I have that book, still packed away somewhere. I'm trying to find some Ferro-Phos. It improves liquidity and will help fill thin parts. Ironsides did a demo of that also. Hope to get with cae2100 this spring for some casting. I've got a lot to unpack and sort out before that will happen. Cold and snow now and another storm this weekend. It's so great to be back in Ohio. o_O
     
  6. PatJ

    PatJ Silver

    My sand costs are not cheap, but then again I don't do very much casting work either since it is just hobby stuff.
    I am trying to transition to all sodium silicate binder, and I think I can reuse the sand if I wash and dry it.
    If I can recycle most or all of the sand, then I only have the initial sand cost.
    Sodium silicate binder is pretty cheap, and it is not really considered toxic.

    And the trick to using bound sand is to make flasks that wrap around the pattern very closely with no more than 1" maximum between the pattern and the outside of the mold, with a 1/2" minimum thickness in places.
    And large open spots in the flask can be filled in with filler blocks of wood to save sand.
    So for a typical mold, I may use 25% of the sand that would be used in a typical green sand mold.
    This light weight is also extremely helpful when handling molds.

    And I try to have every casting turn out usable, and have been able to do that with bound sand and aluminum parts.
    I think I can get close to a 100 % success rate with iron also.
    And these are not production parts, so I can repair minor defects should that happen, and nobody is going to use these parts under high stress or anything.

    A typical household that uses things like weed killer, drain cleaner, and bug spray generates 1000 times the waste toxicity that I ever would.
    I don't use toxic chemicals like weed killer or other things around the house.

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    Last edited: Jan 16, 2019
  7. PatJ

    PatJ Silver

    It this the additive you gave me at Soule?
    I still have that, but have not tried it yet.

    The phosphorous is suppose to make iron very liquid, but also supposedly ruins it for things like engine use, so I avoid any scrap iron that has phosphorus in it such as old iron radiator and other thin parts that would need that additive to be able to fill the mold.

    How close are you to cae2100?
    He has a very nice horizontal shaper going now in his shop.

    I would really like to make ductile iron crankshafts.
    I guess I need some fero-magnesium?

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  8. HT1

    HT1 Gold Banner Member

    SS can be washed, but im not sure how a hobbist would do it without using insane amounts of water , I would think something like a sluice box is possible perhaps on a continuous loop with a ejector or any pump that can handle some sand ...

    as to the custom Flasks well that is a cost too... (and storage) you and I have sort of an apples to oranges sort of thing, I put down 9 molds 2 or three times a week , all 12 X 12 X3 inch, all my patterns are based on that, even when something bigger would be better... get two patterns on one matchplate in 14 X14 for example, which I have considered but dropped mostly because of Flask storage. I could do a little better with another 300Lbs sand, probably get near 12 Molds , 3 pours in one day... Soon

    V/r HT1

    P.S. Maybe we should get a sort of Bloggish overview from each Member about their operation, this was very enjoyable
     
    _Jason likes this.
  9. _Jason

    _Jason Silver

    Finding anything other than ferrosilicon in hobby sized quantities is going to be a real trick. I haven't found anything online anywhere. Perhaps someone knows a foundry products rep who has connections?
     
  10. Jammer

    Jammer Silver Banner Member

    Pat, Nickle-Magnesium 3 is what I gave you. That's for ductile Iron. still have a lot of other alloys, Manganese, Chromium, Molybdenum, Ferro-Vanadium, Ferro-Niobium, some Ferro-Silicon, and Ferro-Manganese.
    It's about an hour over to cae2100's place.
     
    Last edited: Jan 16, 2019
  11. PatJ

    PatJ Silver

    I don't think he comes over here anymore.
    I have tried to get him back on here, but to no avail.

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