Hello To All, I am hoping to find a metal casting mentor, or at least a kindred spirit within a reasonable distance. My long term goal is to cast the main pieces of a single cylinder I.C. engine that would replicate what was made in 1910 or so and used to power the motorbikes of the day.
Welcome Jack. That certainly is a good goal. It might also be helpful to know a little about whether you have any previous foundry experience and pattern making skills to help gauge your starting point. Best, Kelly
Hi Jack You have come to the right place. I think one of our members is in the Tampa area?? Do you have any drawings/blueprints for this engine or just doing a scratch build?? Casting it is the easy part
Yes, I would definitely be interested in this build. I have a photo somewhere of an old bike I would like to make. I will see if I can dig it out.
It's a slightly smaller scale than the engine your considering but not much. If your goal is to make 1 or a few, might give some thought to taking this approach to making cylinder, head, and crankcase. http://forums.thehomefoundry.org/index.php?threads/chainsaw-cylinder-head.268/ Best, Kelly
Picture added in opening post showing a NICE example. Thank you all for posting! I do hope to accomplish this high goal. I think it would be quite an achievement. My experience is zero, sorry to say. So I have no bad habits/practices as of now. There is a blueprint in a book on the net here, with the engine building details begin- ning on approximately page 118: https://archive.org/details/motorbicyclebuil00hasliala
Hopefully you are a good machinist and fabricator. Like David said, castings are the easy part . Welcome aboard. Best, Kelly
Al203, I looked at the foam thread and you can bet I will go through it several more times! Very, Very Informative!
Did you sort out a furnace yet? I see that OCD is selling his. He's in sarasota. Price seems a bit high, but I know how many hours he has in it. You'd have to cut all that shit hanging off the bottom to eliminate the tripping hazard. An no, it won't melt STEEL despite the craigslist claim. https://sarasota.craigslist.org/tls/d/casting-furnace/6740068634.html
Hi Jason, Thank you for pointing me toward a look at this furnace! It sure looks like a fine set-up. I have to be out of state from tomorrow through after Thanksgiving, so I have no option to investigate it before my return. We shall see what plays out when I get back from traveling.
I think it will still be around. its priced a bit high to be honest with you.. That being said, it does come with lifting and pouring tools and that will save you around 10hrs of construction time for just them. Total material cost for his rig is probably 400bucks if you had to duplicate it. It all depends on how handy you are with a welder or would rather get to pouring quickly. Time is money ya know.
