Hello From NY State

Discussion in 'New member introductions' started by raymond bryant, Mar 5, 2020.

  1. Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering student from NY state. Interested in home metal casting.
     
  2. DavidF

    DavidF Administrator Staff Member Banner Member

    Welcome Raymond.
    So what are you thinking for a first casting project??
     
  3. I mainly came on here to find out if its possible to use graphite molds for casting iron.

    I'm looking at making several hundred track links for a tank project. Being able to reuse a mold to cast those track links would be much mor convenient than setting up a new sand mold every time.
     
  4. DavidF

    DavidF Administrator Staff Member Banner Member


    How large are the track links?? Have a picture?
    I was thinking of a project from awile back that would have needed 600+ tank treads and had plans on casting them in aluminum in a cast iron mold..
     
  5. About 1 foot across.
     

    Attached Files:

  6. DavidF

    DavidF Administrator Staff Member Banner Member

    Pretty big track all things considered..
    You could probably use a graphite mold, but I would think that it would wear pretty quickly changing the part dimensions over the run.
    Might be better off using a resin bonded sand in a snap flask to produce multiple molds from the pattern, then just glue the mold halves together and pour frameless.
    Then you get to drill all the holes for the link pins....no joy there!!
     
  7. So a graphite mold would work with cast iron?
     
  8. DavidF

    DavidF Administrator Staff Member Banner Member

    Or lost wax ceramic shell... ;):p
     
  9. DavidF

    DavidF Administrator Staff Member Banner Member

    It should, but I'm not certain about its longevity.
    I think the iron will pretty quickly erode the surface.
     
  10. DavidF

    DavidF Administrator Staff Member Banner Member

  11. Thank you very much, I will definitely look into the possibility of using a graphite mold. The project has not yet been completely scaled in CAD, so its possible the tracks will come out smaller.
     
  12. DavidF

    DavidF Administrator Staff Member Banner Member

    Lol. Well with a 1' wide track I suspect you could carry atleast 3 passengers ;):D
     
  13. rocco

    rocco Silver

    Welcome! Sounds like an interesting project, whichever route you decide to go, we look forward to seeing it.
     
  14. Petee716

    Petee716 Gold Banner Member

    Welcome Raymond,
    What part of NY are you from? I'm south of Buffalo.
    I'm thinking about the bigger foundry picture for your project, meaning, consider the type of mold you use, the volume and size of the parts you need, and how you're melting and pouring the iron. The time and effort to heat a furnace to pour 1 mold a couple hundred times doesn't really work. Even one with say 4 or 6 cavities (bring your money) might be a stretch. But making a matchplate pattern 2 or 4-on to be molded in greensand and poured either at home or at a commercial foundry might be a better fit. That way you can have as many molds as your furnace will accommodate. Any way you slice it this is a big job and a lot of work, especially for a backyarder.

    Pete
     
  15. Al2O3

    Al2O3 Administrator Staff Member Banner Member

    Welcome Raymond,

    If you're interested in building a home foundry you're in the right place. 100 iron castings for your first casting project would certainly be ambitious. I must say, if I wanted 100 of any iron casting that size, I'd probably be more inclined to make pattern, perhaps cast a few proof parts to bug out tooling, and farm out the production to a commercial foundry. Not saying it can't be done but it'll take a substantial commitment and literally ton of molten iron....but I'd like to see it done.

    Best,
    Kelly
     
  16. Melterskelter

    Melterskelter Gold Banner Member

    For a project this size, I am thinking green sand, cores for the pin holes, a small cupola, 3 guys running it, and 5 weekends pouring 10 links Sat and 10 Sunday into molds made Thursday and Friday. And 3 or 4 weekends learning how to run it (if lucky). A typical home furnace simply wont hold up to the volume and heat duration needed. It could be used but would have to be rebuilt a couple times likely and could typically only produce a 50 to 60 pound link per melt. A cupola on the other hand would be a hoot and vastly faster. Big learning curve either way. Muller to be made. Handling setup for 300 pound molds. Lifting gear for crucible, skimmers, patterns... Yup, ambitious, but a worthy endeavor.

    It would be great to see it come together.

    Denis
     
  17. Rocketman

    Rocketman Silver Banner Member

    Welcome to the forum. Coincidentally I also wanted to cast tank treads, which is what brought me into the home foundry world, nearly 2 decades ago. My project never panned out but my forays into casting have worked out in the long term.
     
  18. Melterskelter

    Melterskelter Gold Banner Member

    BTW, if these are to be functional treads, I would think casting them as ductile iron would make them a lot tougher.

    Denis
     
  19. I am not sure a graphite mold will have the throughput rate you need to do this in a reasonably timely manner unless it is multiple cavity. I think it would last, but a am new to this. Normaly the forum recommends against cupola furnaces because they are set to pour many batches on a short cadence and must be fed continuously. That is what you need for this project. Start with a conventional furnace to work the bugs out of the prototype then move to a cupola for production quantities. Denis number sound reasonable.
     
    Last edited: Mar 6, 2020
    Melterskelter likes this.
  20. Rocketman

    Rocketman Silver Banner Member

    Ductile iron would be a necessity. Someone brought one into the iron foundry once, it was indeed ductile iron. Grey iron treads would break apart
     

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