All, I copied and pasted the Foundry Tutorial as sticky in the Furnaces and Their Construction subforum. It exists in several other locations on the web but I'd hate to see that one lost to the ether. Like at AA, it isn't intended for posts so I locked it. It will need to be formatted, links and attachments updated, and tidied up in general which I will do in time but at least it will be preserved here and an on-forum reference for our members. Any comments and/or suggestions are welcome here in this thread. Best, Kelly
Thanks for taking the time and effort to bring the book here. It has been helpful to many folks and I suspect will continue to. Breaking it up into chapters-by-post is helpful. One thing that has always been inconvenient has been the lack of table of contents. I'm wondering if the chapter names could be listed in the first thread so the user has at least a relative idea where to find their subject of interest. This is super-duper! Pete
That's a good idea Petee. I think that can easily be done with Hyperlinks to the location within the thread. I also plan to add the pdf file so it can be downloaded. It has better formatting and illustrations. Might try to add the illustrations locally and clean up the tabular data......just editing time. What's there at the moment is just a straight cut and paste. Best, Kelly
I attached the downloadable pdf version to the bottom of the first post. I also updated the preface because it read like the post was my work, when I was really just reposting here for posterity's sake. Best, Kelly
In September 2018 I created an EPUB version of the document, and I downloaded and included all the images from Alloy Avenue. I can’t upload it in this forum, but this link should work: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7Ip0rcqdCw4ZjVpdkdwd2FlazQ/view?usp=sharing
Thanks JC. The landscaped formatting and pagination of that download was a bit unusual but at a quick glance, I believe it is the exact same content and illustrations as the pdf I attached to the bottom of post #1 in the sticky. Best, Kelly
The pagination and landscape orientation are artifacts of whatever you’re using to read the EPUB. And if you unzip it (EPUB files are in Zip format), the images from the Alloy Avenue thread are there in a subdirectory.
Nice work Kelly! Talked me right out of melting some magnesium we have amassed over the last couple decades.LOL We have a mountain of it and have had two fires with it...dangerous stuff! Chemical extinguishers are a must!
It's a great collection of information. I posted the tutorial here but not my work. Just wanted to restate that because when I did the original cut and paste it read like I wrote it so I added the opening note. It was Anon, a mod at AA and I believe one in the same with the Author named in the pdf (not totally sure on that though) that created the AA thread. I have toyed with the idea of casting mag but always end up shaking my head and concluding it's just not worth it in a home setting. I don't weld it either. The handful of times I've needed a mag part welded I took it to a buddy who's forgotten more about welding than I know. You don't want to get any significant amount of mag ignited. It can become a Chernobyl like event and start other things burning that would not normally burn. Bury it in sand and walk away. I think Petee here had a butt puckering event with it one time with some. If you ever machine it, the swarf and fines are potentially dangerous too. They have so little mass they are very easy to ignite and when that happens hold on to you butt! I did save a little baggy to sprinkle on the campfire as pixy dust. Best, Kelly
At ~7% and balance Al, it won't burn in air......but very small amount of Beryllium. Great mechanical and machining properties as cast......but wonder how well it does cast? With there melting points so close, might be fairly safe if you could introduce the mag and keep it immersed. Best, Kelly
10lbs to start with would be good to see how it casts. A lot of foundries offer that alloy so it must be reasonably well but dunno how the substitution of mag for Silicon affects fluidity. After that maybe few hundred pounds depending upon cost. A few months ago I just bought 750lbs of A356 ingot so I'm pretty flush right now. Best, Kelly
I will see what they say...one of the plant managers want to send it to recycle since I mentioned it.
I asked around about the plates and they stuck a 55 gallon barrel outside the door for us to pile it in...like it would fit...I didnt tell them that though...so..probably will be slim to none on the mag. I will let you know if that changes...just need to talk to the right person sometimes.
