OK, after first firing my furnace and making "muffins" last October ... I finally made my first real pour today. Last year I bought some foam Halloween decorations on discount. And over the winter I had made a Sparty plaque from foam (Mich State Alumni and daughter is in Med School there now). I had two small tombstones I mounted back to back on piece of 1x1 foam, with the foam extending about 1/2 way down each back. A larger tombstone about (1 4"-16" tall) Sprued that with 1x1 foam about 25% of the way down the back. And the Sparty plaque, I sprued with 1x1 foam on the top. I then covered each with one coat of semi thin 90 min drywall mud a couple weeks back. Packed all in dry sand, vibrating as much as I could. Each piece was placed vertical. Pleasently pleased with my results. The two small ones piggybacked and the Sparty came out pretty nice. The taller one ... well lets just say all the aluminum was out of my crucible, but the pouring cup kept going down ... and then the sand started collapsing over where the pattern was. They all took more aluminum than I had expected. One issue that I have on all pieces is some pimpling. Some in corners, some in flat areas. Hard to see in the pics. Here are some pics of the outcome: Me with the neighbor, looking like I know what I am talking about. The back to back small ones after water dip, they are about 8" tall: Sparty after water dip, 7"x7": And all cleaned up:
Well, I am on here reading every other day or so ... so lets just say I had good teachers. ;-) One thing I did learn today ... I need metal buckets, LOL!!
Metal is best. I still use a plastic bucket every once in a while for small parts and multiple pours but if it has many pounds of metal or features close to the wall, or if you have a run out, you can have metal running all over the place. Best, Kelly
