Howdy.

Just joined the forum and I’m glad I found it.

I’ve got a machine shop in rural NC and got into casting and foundry work partly out of frustration with not being able to find parts for older machines (like old sawmills, planers, tractors, wood stoves.)

I went from hobbyist forging to making my own charcoal to my first furnace which was an add on for my forge.

I eventually graduated to using graphite crucibles, a medium sized home made furnace with propane for starting and pressurized diesel for hotter metals.

I use commercial refractory now, but I did once try to make my own alumnum oxide based refractory.

Along the way I even built and burned up a titanium foundry.

I’ve done castings in bronze, aluminum, copper, iron, and have tried steel but have had little success with steel.

I found the forum because I was searching for information on pressurizing my fuel system with my Delevan nozzles to see if anyone had had success with it.

I’m certainly not a pro, but being able to cast things has brought my machine shop work I might not otherwise get.

As the book says, I think metal casting is a natural extension of a machine shop.

I hope to learn from you all and share what I can.

thanks,
Bruce

 

Welcome to the forum Bruce. It sounds like you have had a lot of fun getting into foundry work. Oh, and by the way, we like pictures a lot. So just hinting that a few pictures of your setup would be great. I hope you enjoy this forum as much as I do.

Patrick

 

I’ll be sure to post some photos soon. Thanks for welcoming me!

 

Welcome Bruce. Yes this forum and the casting hobby have opened up some very interesting opportunities and interests. I’m assuming you were talking about pressurizing a delevan siphon nozzle. I’ve done that with success. Maybe you can start a thread and we can discuss?

Pete