I am thinking of casting some pulley blanks and some hubs that are at most 4” od. I’m thinking of cutting a group of them around a central pouring hub. Is this likely to work?
Sure why not? Just remember thicker stuff solidifies last and pulls from thinner areas. When I do shell stuff, you should see the amount of crap I cram onto a sprue. The less pours, the better.
You can, but whats your hurry? With having 4 castings on the same gating system and or in the same flask if something goes wrong your likely to loose all 4 castings.
I've had good luck casting two and four patterns together. Sometimes I've had failures extending the gate too far trying to miss an adjacent pattern. Getting all the patterns arranged where they can be mud coated and not trap air when vibrating sand can be a challenge.
Parts are small and cutting with the CNC is so fast and easily repeated that screwing it up isn’t a big issue. Funny thing about the hurry comment. I’m 66 and still working full time with no current plan to retire soon. A few years ago I was very disappointed in myself, my job, and the fact I couldn’t get up much enthusiasm to get off the couch at night. So before quitting my job or leaving my wife I started seeing a psychiatrist. Talking to him and taking a low dose antidepressant has made a big difference. I changed jobs, work at getting along with my wife and have so many things I want to accomplish that yes I am in a hurry. After all dad just passed away at a only 90 and didn’t finish everything he wanted to do.
Even before your latest comment, I would say go for it. I pour multiple castings in the same flask usually with a central runner and then gates to each piece. As cautioned, pay attention to the volumes of the parts so they do not act as risers for other pieces. Over the years I have made runner and gate patterns so it saves hand cutting them and when I pour castings I've done before the feed system is the same.
lol... get along with the wife.... Repeat after me! "It's cheaper to keep her" Say 5 times when you wake up each day.
Yes, the pictures are very helpful and I see how this is done. Should work fine for the parts I have in mind.
