Pouring Cart and Lifting Crane

Discussion in 'Foundry tools and flasks' started by PatJ, Dec 20, 2017.

  1. PatJ

    PatJ Silver

    Here is my pouring cart and lifting crane.
    Also shown are my lifting tongs.

    The pouring cart started as a two-person pouring shank, which I modified.
    It will handle a #30 crucible, and it has adjustable fingers to allow a larger crucible size (a #30 is probably as large a crucible as I will use).
    A #30 will hold about 86 lbs of iron, and the crucible itself weighs almost 20 lbs.
    There is a retainer that slides over the top of the crucible to prevent it from falling out of the shank when pouring.

    I used large wheels since I was not sure if I would need to work in the grass or not.
    I discarded the rubber tires since they will melt and otherwise go flat all the time.
    I have tested the cart with 150 lbs of weight, and it still moves and handles easily.

    The crane is a bit unstable, although it does work if everything is balanced correctly and the stops are set correctly.
    I am going to modify the crane to attach it to the furnace frame as Denis has done, in order to stabilize it.

    I used standard lifting tongs, which required a somewhat tall crane mast.
    I hate to cut off my lifting tongs since I sometimes use them manually without the crane.
    I guess I could make a short custom lifting tong.
    The tongs have a notched bar towards the top of the handles that swings down horizontally and locks the tongs in place.




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    Jimmy Cogg, _Jason and Jason like this.
  2. Ironsides

    Ironsides Silver

    Pat, For a long time I was terrified at the thought of putting pump up wheels on my pouring trolley, so I used solid lawn mover wheels. It worked great until I got the bright idea to mount a video camera on my pouring trolley. The solid wheels transmitted a lot of vibrations when moving to the camera. I removed them and put on pump wheels from a pram. Have a look at my video when disaster strikes at the three minute mark and yes the wheels still hold air pressure today. If I were you I would put the tires back on again.

     
    Jimmy Cogg, dtsh and chris.trotter like this.

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