https://www.ebay.com/itm/Foundry-Sn...rentrq:2ab609bc1760ac3d3e3d03f5ffcd4a40|iid:1 I ordered two of these flasks from texas, the price was just too good to skip. $63+ 60 shipping if you look at the images you will note there are two different styles in the pictures, sadly I got one of each, My intentions were to clean them up, redo the wood if neccisary and use these to cast aluminum flasks, also one of them is not functioning and needs some parts . I have a set of Adams hardware I purchased off of someone on AA ( If that person is here and wants to sell me some more parts contact me)please I have been trying to get ahold of Hines for some spare parts they dont respond to email, and close at 3:00 I'm wondering if Covid has them closed , I spoke with the Ebay lister, very nice gentleman retired Molder in his 70s, his grandson is trying to unload the Flasks, and they have pallets and pallets of them every size imaginable. they lost their ass shipping to me and want to do Pallet loads , so probably a dozen, with shipping i'm looking at A grand, does anyone else have an interest in snap or pop off flasks, they will look for specific sizes and styles, Now a couple of things, I serioulsy suspect besides wood damage all the hardware will be in some way lacking , and the reason why is ... why did a foundry ever have pallets of snap flasks , you use snap flasks over and over, they are not like conventional flasks where you need one for every mold, in snaps , you need one of every size , so the only reason to have more then one or two, is because one is broken. and i did ask about the possibility of selling just hardware to save on the shipping, no interest. any chance we have a member out in el Paso Texas, that might want to pick up some flasks and sell the hardwar??? V/r HT1
I contacted Hines , took 2 Emails to even get an answer they sent me this page from their Catalog , Once they heard I did not have an account and was a hobbiest I stopped getting any responces, so I guess I will have to Canabalize what I have into one working flask which really cerfukers me since I need at least two different sizes , Im really considering just stealing the pin assembly's, and making my own snap flasks, But it seems like reinventing the wheel V/r HT1
Guess they have so much business that its not worth it to them to sell to hobbiest. That being said, im going to go shoot myself in the foot since I can hop around on just one...
well since Hines flasks wants nothing to do with me!!! has stopped answering my Emails, I guess I will Just have to make my own Snap Flasks , there will be a more detailed build thread and probably a video for the second set of flask, I'm definately having to learn as I go I can already tell the first set may be a failure TOO HEAVY , but once I know how to make them I can improve First off for safety I want to be able to use Jackets , for those who have not seen one , this is a jacket, it replaces the flask before you pour so there is much less chance of a runout going to ground, and of course as the bonus to the Snap Flask is getting to use the Flask over and over Sorry I missed out on alot of pictures, because this is really out of my wheel house, I watched 20+ YOUTUBE Videos to figure out how to do compound miters correctly the sides of the flasks taper in 5°, the tabs correct that on the exterior of the flasks so I can use standard hardware, and the flask will open flat you can see the 5° clearly here, those tabs had to be perfect lots of trial and error here you can see a mock up of the hardware I intend to use( I know the hinges and the clamps dont go on the same side, Just a picture) here you can see the Adam's V-grove flask pin's, I have 2 set in good working order I will use for the first 2 flasks , then I will make patterns and produce something similiar , Note how everything is neatly adjustable, the pins get their 5° angle using allen screw pushing against a steel plate the guides have 5° casted into them here is a close up of the 5° adjustment on the pins V/r HT1 P.S. I did A check on Patents, everything is Insanely out of Patent the most recent flask patent I saw was 1957 ( I'm going to start another thread with the best Patents I saw Some are really neat (Yes I went down a rabbit hole)
I have stopped the above Build and started a new one , I could tell the above pattern was going to make for a very heavy Flask , By starting an new pattern, actually 4 different patterns I can reduce the weight of the finished Flasks considerably and each pattern will need a follow board , the peiecs are parallelagram, so there is an irregular parting line. Should be quite the challenge V/r HT1
Parallelogram??? I’ve been trying to imagine why a parallelogram. Would you mind helping out someone with no imagination? Denis
I found this on the Hines page...says to contact this guy (Hank White) at this number as they sold it. Not sure if this is helpful or not. I almost called them myself earlier but I got lucky and contacted a local foundry owner and he is going to hook me up with some flask and jackets! He has a ton ( a whole big building full) of them he doesnt use anymore and I may be able to get more after I talk to him. If I can get some to sell I will post on here. Hines Flask A Division of Buckeye Aluminum Foundry 5906 West Center Road Linesville, PA 16424 PHONE - (814) 683-4420 FAX - (814) 683-4405
I was exchanging Emails With Chris Huffman, as soon as he heard I was a Hobbist he went silent, Hell I had to Email him twice to get an Initial response, I just think they have no desire to deal with small accounts V/r HT1
I get that when you have large order customers vs small order customers you have to keep the big guys happy. I am assuming business must be damn good for them to not want to make a small sale. We do have to put orders on hold occasionally when WalMart or Target or Amazon hit us hard. Maybe we will find some used ones for the low low. If I talk dude out of any quantities of snaps and jackets I will let you guys know and have first crack at them. I am only going to get some for personal use but I saw thousands of them stacked up in a building not being used.
I've had decent luck with group buys in the past; for example a few years ago we ordered around 15 tons of malt, my share of that was around 200lbs as I recall. It was nice to be able to get big-boy prices and for the vendors to even pay attention to us, whereas if I'd have ordered that on my own I'd have had to go through another distributor willing to do such a small volume and the assosciated markup. Might be worth seeing who else is interested and banding together for some purchases.
watch the sizes, I watch the secondary market constantly, while there are always pieces out there the small sizes , that hobbiests will want (10X 12X 14X in short 3or 4 inch heights) are crazy rare . I bought the 12X16 and 12X20 to cast flask parts, day to day I I use 12x12 for 90% of my patterns and have just a few that would not quite fit so are in 13 or 14X flasks V/r HT1
Yeah...most of the ones I built are around that same size...12 x 14, 10 x 12, one monster 14 x 14 that has 6 inch cope and drag...not sure what I was thinking but it is about to be two 14 x 14 with six inch cope and four or two inch drag.LOL I am pretty sure I had forgotten how heavy the molds get when I built that one! But I figure it out when I kept dumping shovels full of sand in the flask and it was not filling up very quick. Pretty sure that bastard is what took my back out a couple of weeks ago.LMAO I will look for the small stuff. This is an entirely hand molding company that has been around since the 1800's and I am almost positive the previous owners never threw out anything. They just built more buildings to store stuff in. Hopefully he wants to do some cleaning and makes me a good deal on a bundle, but you never know how it will go. Depends greatly on the mood he is in at the time and whether Alabama beats Ohio State or not.LOL
I cast the intermediate patterns yesterday. I cut the weight nicely. Really wish I could trim it more. It’s going to be 16 lbs for the flask before hardware. The pin assembly’s I’m using is 2.5 lbs each. The latch is a pound . So I will be at 23-25 lbs for an entry flask. Not sure any lighter is possible. The back wall of the flask panels is 5mm. Maybe a little (decorative) work to lighten things a little V/r HT1
Ok here half the hardware I have to deal with the 5degree taper upwards. I’m thinking I can do a custom machine if operation for that... router table with 5degrees tilt
Ok I cast half a flask today. Hope to get the other half down in the morning so I can start assembling. I’m very excited V/r HT1
I’m probably not going to help you but the entire flask is A right frustum with a 5degree angle . This angle allows the sand to be jacketed after the flask is removed so there is no concern of the side of the mold blowing out... don’t worry when I’m done there will be a video to make it all clear. V/r HT1
Got everything cast started assembling. The sides warped a little so I gave them a little love. Touched up the corners on the disk sander.... will be bolting drag together shorty... Gotta buy hardware V/r HT1
Well it was too cold for most of my work so I got an extra day at the flasks You can see me drilling the fixed corners. No special tools mall done 5/16 bolts and washers. I may come back with nylocks but for now we are good I had three corners square and one way off. I had another piece warped (actually I think I might have over corrected one of the pieces I straightened earlier. ) but was easy to fix this is one thing a lot may have a problem with I have a 22x44 one inch thick metal working bench. And it’s really awesome for straightening and jigging up This is all the noticeable error now . But very much acceptable. The interior is square all 4 sides... ill throw out a couple of notes: if anyone else try’s a project like this. The corners could be tweaked with shim material. This would be critical. Especially if you overground the corners for fit up. And need to “add” material back rather then remove V/r HT1
For those of you wandering how to dress those corners. Set the table On your sander at 45, Then set the slide at 5 with the template we made in the very beginning. Then dress really lightly and check constantly Just a little note I did not use the cross slide I just aligned the end of the piece parallel to the table ... but most people would probably be served better using the slide to keep that 5 degree angle V/r HT1