A friend of mine had a little bell and hanger he had that was broken. It was a rough cast iron casting and I decided to make the bell out of brass and the rest out of aluminum. I have never melted or poured brass before this past weekend so I made lots of mistakes. I poured 3 too cold and had one sprue that I broke a chunk of sand off into the sprue causing it to misrun. I believe I would have made two of these if i had my metal a little hotter and the fourth one I cut a sprue straight into the top of the bell because I was not going to do another melt and was determined to get at least one. I dont have pics of the failed attempts yet but I did a little bit of cleaning up on the solid casting this morning. It turned out well enough for what it is but I will not be making anymore from that casting. I am going to 3D print the next one off so I can get a cleaner parting line and reduce the inclusions. All in all it was a great learning experience and I am fully confident in my furnace and have dialed it in for much faster brass melt times ....the first attempt took over an hour. SOme of the ones I poured too cold came out nearly perfect except for the misrun so I think I am really close to getting the brass gating under control.LOL I also added a pic of an aluminum cross I poured right after the brass while the furnace was still good and hot.
This is a bronze I did a few months ago. I had a bad transition at the base of the sprue and the sprue broke right off at shakeout. The mold filled fine anyway. I left a stub on top so I'd have something to hold onto on the lathe. The black bell and firetruck were used as patterns which I borrowed from a friend and cast in aluminum so I'd have a set to use for patterns later. I painted his cast iron one before I gave it back to him.
Sweet! I honestly thought the brass would sound better than the cast iron but the cast iron sounds much better. Someone suggested I add nickel to it to make it sound better, but I do not see that happening anytime soon. I imagine the bronze has a nice ring to it...do you think it is a higher pitch like brass or lower toned like cast iron?
Judge for yourself! I think the tone is a bit flat of where it should be but there is little I can do now. I dont think the small cast iron ones are much about tone, more for decoration.
Hmm...not that much different than the brass one I made...at least to me...just a little deeper...probably due to the size....but Ive been told my hearing is dropping off for the last few years now.LOL May need to give that old cast iron a whirl in my furnace soon, just to see if I can melt it or not...probably need to have a few bell molds made just in case I can.LOL
The bell was made as closely to Navy specs as I could get it including the alloy, so I got what I got. I was very happy with it and so was its recipient. I'd make those molds if I were you. You'll very likely be successful melting the iron and you'll be kicking yourself if you dont have anything constructive to do with it! Thanks for the kudos guys. Pete
The thing about bells is that every little factor takes a part in the final sound. Like wall thickness, height to diameter ratio, alloy, metal temper, and the sweep of the profile. The gong material, and strike point of the gong make a difference as well. Another thing that can make a difference is how solidly the bell is fastened. For instance, if it was hung by a rope with a washer just big enough to not come through the hole at the top it would sound different than if the washer was larger. The bell does sound like a navy bell Pete, congrats! Patrick
Yeah...I was thinking the same thing...I need to get a better pattern of the bell made first too. Yours is super nice though Pete! Excellent job!
I did a little research and you are correct...apparently everything has an affect on the sound...probably matters which way you flow the molten metal through the casting as you pour it too. Im starting to think making bells is not so simple.LOL
Making bells as a musical instrument, to get a specific tone is difficult, casting a bell shaped object is not that difficult the best info on how to get what you want, look up DOD-B-24673 this is the military spec on bells, mostly for ships, and ships bells must have a specific tone, based upon the length of the ship, so there are lots of sizes , with cutaways for exact shape, and even specs on the hardware( It even details the required packaging for shipment V/r HT1
Well Im apparently going deaf based off of my last few hearing test...specifically high tones so I cant tell much difference.LOL I will check it out though....I am going to print off a new bell pattern and might as well do it right. Thanks!
