He talks about pouring one piece at 650 C (1202 F) is a bit on the low side. The pouring rig he has is bizarre. His melt was not that large, and he could have easily hand poured it and had much better pour control. He would be better off with a straight pouring shank with a heat shield about 2" from the crucible, and a handle pointing straight down about 4" from the crucible. People sometimes try to pour metal while supporting the pouring shank about 36" away from the crucible, which makes for a very large twisting force. I am still trying to figure out what his mold was made of. Steel? Seems like that would act like a bit chill. Does he preheat the molds? He makes a statement "A cooler pour makes a stronger part". I am not sure that is true. Definitely a better surface finish with a cooler pour. I started out using a steel crucible since they are easy to make, and easy to weld tabs onto to allow a pouring shank or hooks to grip them, but they degrade over time, and supposedly can cause the aluminum to go brittle or something like that if the steel is not coated properly. Its so easy to use a clay graphite crucible that I am not sure why people use steel. Maybe they don't want to make the lifting tongs and pouring shank to fit a clay graphite (or silicon carbide) crucible. .
Look at some of his other videos dont just pass judgement off a single video, Then you will figure out the thread title.. Yes steel hand made mold from flat bar... Thought force came from leverage not distance??
I am not sure exactly what he is doing. No judgement passing. I will have to watch more of his videos. There is something to learn from many of the online casting videos. Any weight that is off center from the centerline of the pouring shank will cause a twisting force on the shaft. I try to put the centerline of the mass of the crucible and metal just below the centerline of the pouring shank shaft, so that when I twist the shaft to pour, I do not get a resistance force from having to lift metal and crucible. It is difficult to get a smooth pour when the twisting force is varying, such as when the crucible is full, and also when it gets empty the forces is suddenly removed and you can over compensate. With lightweight aluminum pours, just about any pouring shank configuration will work; you can just overpower any design deficiencies. When you get into the larger crucible sizes with iron, it really pays to have the pouring shank geometry work for you, not against you, and having the correct shank geometry can make the difference between being able to hand-pour 60 lbs of iron relatively easy, or not. Edit: I have experimented with some different pouring shank configurations, and with different pouring cart configurations, and this can be done using weighs, and does not have to use hot metal. I had one person sit on the end of my pouring cart just to see if I could handle a weight in the 150 lbs range with the cart (I can). You can find out what works pretty quickly with weights, although I did add a sheet metal heat shield after my first pour (heat on the glove hand does not show up in the static testing). .
I mistook your previous comment as meaning how far away he was from the crucible and not distance from center line.... His pouring shank has sort of a Z in it putting the c/l at the top of the crucible, although not ideal it is probably not too bad and could likely not be any better for clearance reasons when pulling the crucible. I find his videos interesting for several reasons, mainly the hand made steel molds but the lift and pour shank is pretty interesting as well as boron nitrite coating.
Even though it may not be ideal, it's great that they've found a way to make it work for clearance purposes when pulling the crucible. Innovation at its finest!
I agree, the handmade steel molds sound really cool and add an extra layer of craftsmanship to the whole process. And the lift and pour shank definitely adds an interesting element to the mix.... It's amazing how these little details can make a big difference in the final outcome. Thanks for sharing this insight into metal casting for music. It's always exciting to learn about the behind-the-scenes techniques and materials that go into creating something special. If you're interested in checking out some music, you can visit this link: https://songlifty.com/spotify-promotion/. Enjoy the tunes and keep exploring the fascinating world of metal casting!
