It’s been a few years since I’ve posted and it’s not from a lack of questions or content. Between getting married, buying a house and starting a new job, I haven’t been able to dedicate the time I wanted to casting but that’s slowly changing. building the mini pole barn with my brother/co caster Having permanent, dedicated space for casting is going to be glorious. Everything having a home and with that effective workflows for processing/storing/melting. Unlike many on the forum, my castings lack utility outside of being (hopefully) interesting to look at ha. My journey with metal sculpture has spanned years and progress is slow but I’m finally getting to the point where pieces are coming out as expected. I try and make one piece each week to keep the juices flowing. (Just the foam piece, not actually pouring ). My goal is getting these bad boys in a gallery or anywhere people would go to see stuff called art. I’ve never submitted anything for consideration but we’re getting close Snippets of my little studio area where I keep the weekly pieces. Mostly junk but some nuggets here and there. Over the last 8 years I never really felt finished with any pieces but I finally have some that are close and wanted to share two of my favorites Three different metals ( brass/copper/aluminum) roughly 2’ tall and way heavier than it should be ha really happy with how the patina turned out on this one. Standing ~1’ tall and around 9lb of copper. Big shout out to Richard Hughes and his work on patination https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Colouring_Bronzing_and_Patination_of/Fi2PEAAAQBAJ?hl=en My current experiment involves immersing a brass piece in HCL and seeing how different levels of finish and general surface characteristics play out when the HCL attacks the Zinc. It’s been about 3 months and I’ll probably pull it out here soon. Pictured below are the unfortunate volunteers Hopefully I’ll have more to share soon once I get the building finished and the new furnace constructed (waste oil anyone?)
Nick, Congrats on all the life changes and building your studio/foundry. That's gotta feel good. That's a heckuva post and way to announce your return. Welcome back. Are your patterns 100% foam save maybe a little wax and glue? The creativity and artistry in your work is great. As a lost foam caster myself I see some interesting things in your post and work and would like to know a little more about your pattern fab/prep and molding process as time permits. Maybe some loose sand and some shelling there IIRC? Also, as a LF caster, I know what it's like to invest in an expendable pattern and only getting one shot at making it into metal. Every time I try my hand at artwork the piece comes out looking like a machine part.... Best, Kelly
Thanks guys, appreciate the kind words. "Are your patterns 100% foam save maybe a little wax and glue?" 100% foam ( well minus a few experiments) and hot glue. I haven't felt a need to use wax yet but that probably stems from laziness ha "pattern fab/prep and molding process" I could dedicate numerous posts around this topic. My "process" really centers around creating mechanisms to shape and mold EPS. I converted am old dryer into a foam tumbler of sorts, filled with abrasive media and various shapes of foam. Couple that with the heat function and you get all sorts of funky shapes and smooth finishes overnight. I also modified an old paper shredder to take foam and similarly an old pasta roller to create strips and on and on. The guy above was my first test piece around the tumbler and def shows promise ( even tho I goofed the pour a bit) I have a dedicated area for slurry dipping ( old shower) and the slurry is a mixture I've been fine tuning over the years and I'll try grabbing details when I get home. I thoroughly vibrate all my "casting boxes" using a mix of off balance motors and concrete vibration motors. Looking to emulate what you've done with the drum/integrated motors. I'm also experimenting with using vacuum motors to extract sand from molds. One byproduct of doing that is sand being broken up as it moves through the hose and into the reservoir. the plan is to bring things full circle and use only vacuums to add/remove sand from casks. oh course my hot wire tabletop comes in handy
The concrete vibrators seem to be very good....good energy and relatively compact. Imbalanced electric motors are very (energy) efficient, but compared to pnuematics are quite massive for the same level of vibratory energy. The added size and mass of the motor itself is the objectionable part for me. Pnuematics can generate a lot of energy in a small space so they package up nicely, but they are compressed air pigs. I have a fairly large source of compressed air and deliever plumbing compared to most hobbyists (20 scfm @ 175psi), and I only vibe for a few minutes. It just doesn't run long enough to constitute any material energy cost difference, so it was pnuematics for me. On my larger molding rig (16"D x up to 48" tall and 550lbs of sand), sometimes I need to pause occassionally to recharge my 80 gallon compressor tank, and by the time the flask is full, it's hard to excite the entire mass, but in those instances, the pattern has already been well packed in the lower portion of the flask before the additional weight of the top of the flask which is usually just sprue height and not a packing challenge. If the sand is reasonably cool, isn't a large shop vac sufficient? It might not even need to be that cool with the dilution caused by the amount of air being moved and natural cooling from the pressure drop. It sort of depends upon the mass of the casting compared to the mass of sand in you flask. For small low mass castings I'd think it's a nonconcern. I'd think you could mount a cyclonic seperator on top of a barrel and vacuum to your hearts content. They great thing about hot wire cutters is there's no mess, just a little odor. I dont think people fully appreciate what can be done with a hot wire and a little enginuity. There are some great YT videos, but these days I primarily use mine for resizing material and cutting sprues and gating. Patternwork is cnc. As a lost foam caster, it's really quite the material to have in your arsenal. The product at the link below is specifically formulated for LF casting, and is absolutely great. I use it for sealing cracks, small patch work, fillets, and appliques. I'd think as an art caster you could make sheets, carve it, engrave it, texture it to far greater detail than you could ever achieve in foam. Might open up some new avenue for you. I dont know what the limit is for content, but I used a pile of it on one of my intake manifold with no ill-affects. http://forums.thehomefoundry.org/in...51-cleveland-ir-inline-carbs.2448/#post-48565 Best, Kelly
