Hi Guys. First I'm here to learn. I built a small propane furnace a number of years ago (10 maybe) I have done a number of castings, mostly prototypes that I then had a commercial caster reproduce. He was an artist and produced awesome quality, unfortunately he had health issues and the new manager let quality drop. I decided to set up to make my own castings. I have done lost foam, green sand and now use petrobond. Just bought my first load of Tenzaloy 713. Next need is a Muller, will post in that section.
And welcome from Canada! I had to look up Tenzaloy 713. Sounds interesting, as most of us here who are casting aluminum use A356 cast auto scrap like wheels etc. I built my muller by modifying a Princess Auto cement mixer I got on sale, works great. I've got a build thread on it here somewhere if you're interested. Looking forward to seeing what sort of stuff you cast. Jeff
Welcome! I'm not familiar with that alloy but it looks very similar to self/naturally aging 300 series casting alloys. I use A356, sometimes with modifiers and refiners. Post treatment to T5 is easily achieved. T6 is doable but much trickier. If weight isn't an issue Zamak alloys also have nice as-cast properties. http://forums.thehomefoundry.org/index.php?threads/happiness-is.339/page-2#post-27193 Best, Kelly
Jeff, I looked at your muller, nice work there! If I can't get the Mulbaro for a good price (including shipping from Montreal) I may go with a Mixer, I have found old HD ones on Kijiji.
Some of the stuff I cast. Lost foam pulley. Lots of prep work, successful but too time consuming, then I made a match plate pattern, worked even better and much faster. Ant Hill We cast 2 "rings" about 20" dia. , milled a slot and placed a heater element in the slot, sandwiched between the rings. It is a tube end plate welder for floating dock tubes my son builds. (tried to upload a Video, guess it needs to be Youtube) Rudder pedals I cast a male/female die set to press this SS star cap for a filter tower.
Thanks Jason, nope don't cast airplanes, just some of the parts for them. Just finished a flap bellcrank mount, design, patterning, casting and the jig to machine it took about a month! Morgan
Here is the MDF pattern and finished heater ring. It was cast in a one sided sand mold open face, then milled flat. I just wrapped the MDF with clear 2" packing tape to "finish" it smooth, worked great. This is the Flap Bellcrank Mount. CNC cut MDF pattern, then cast aluminum. I cut out the center in the aluminum #1 and used it to cast another. Cleaned #2 up and used it to cast the final one.
Quick question for ya... Are you coating your foam before burying it in sand??? If so, what are you using?
yes, I coated it by dipping in a drywall mud slurry a number of times, then allow to dry. Very time consuming, but amazing detail.
YUP Yup.. Works good. Kelly around here is our resident foam guy. He uses some kind of commercially available mud. Might asky him about it if he doesn't chime it. A couple of years ago, I experimented coating foam with ceramic shell then just burned the stinky shit out in a kiln. It's an expensive process, but could be suitable for oddball shapes. It worked well not having to rely on the metal to do the job of removing the foam.