I was severely rushed to get this made for a Christmas present so I had to take some shortcuts. Wasnt the best casting in the world but will work. I will make it again later and see if I can improve upon it. I mainly just wanted to see how the furnace did on a melt and get this casting out for a present and was pleased with the performance of the furnace. I found out that I had to run my gas pressure on 12 to 13 to get aluminum to melt and it took around 15 minutes to melt. I poured two but the first one was way too hot and had shrinkage. On the second pour I pulled it immediately after reaching melt temp and it was about right.
Isn't it great that even a guy that makes castings for a living can still get the home foundry bug?....Merry Christmas! Best, Kelly
I'm just amazed at the amount of support gear that goes with casting at home. And somehow, many do it on a shoestring and turn out some first class work. (present company excluded)
I'd say you do alright for yourself. It's not a hobby for those that need instant gratification but if you're one that isn't easily discouraged, resourceful, and willing to work at it you can get good results and it can be very rewarding. Best, K
Right...you would think I would get tired of castings and sand.LOL I get way more excited making a single casting for myself or someone else than I do making 5000 an hour for the company. I will admit that I do get excited at work if I am the one who designed the casting and the tooling and my ass is dangling on the line. It is quite rewarding to see an idea come to fruition. It is also very tense seeing a 30K dollar idea not working out so great..can cause the butt to pucker up a little bit, but we generally get it right.
Few sand inclusions but it wasnt too bad. Actually turned out better than I thought. Always rather have extra metal than not enough.LOL