I bought a fairly large container of graphite a while back. Makes a very good parting powder and slicks the pattern for clean draws. I use ground sea coal in my sand to improve finish though graphite should also work. Denis
Never heard of it. But i'm new at this. So I looked it up. I guess that works better than talc or similar facing powder. I use more petrobond than green sand so i'm always a little leery about what I am mixing into the sand.
Bill, The sea coal would be used for iron casting. Petro is not commonly used for iron as the heat burns the petro quite badly I am told—-no experience casting iron into petrobond Denis
I'm still learning how to roll over and crawl. LOL I do lost wax mostly, petrobond is the second method I use for the flat pieces. Greensand was the first method I used and I love how easy it was to make myself. I don't want to sound naive I know greensand is a science in itself. Cast iron is a little too hot for my little setup. Maybe someday. What kind of things do people cast with cast iron at home. Honestly I cant think of one thing, but i don't do any machining or anything like that.
There are good many folks who cast iron to make model steam engines, make working scale-model trains, make parts for vintage cars and tractors, make straight edge castings (me), make special tooling for lathes, milling machines, and so on. Denis
That makes sense casting parts like that. I kinda live in the artsy world at the moment. I do use petrobond for copper and bronze castings and that eats up some sand. Pouring @ 2050-2100f
Doing a industrial rigging course years ago.. Our teacher told us of a old I.C.I (they make explosives here in Australia) flim clip from the 60's of a semi/tractor trailer load of railway sleepers.. Hard wood (ie ironbark gums) Stacked over a remote opperate Alu furness, that was tipped into water,it shattered a 40ton load of railway sleepers.. From That story & I learn the potential TNT of aluminium has put a bit of a damper'ner on casting the stuff.. It realy go's down to how aluminium reacts big time at a molecular-level...its bomb making 101.. Seen the odd news clip of big Chinese Alu factory nuking themselves , from bad foundry operations (teach em for scabbie short cuts ! & $3 hour pay rates,pay peanuts get monkeys!) & scary part of 7/11 attack on the world trade center you could see molten Alu,from the plane running out of the skyscraper , falling down onto the st ,I think that hit a burst fire mains pipe in the building & added to the kaos (at a molecular-level).. Still baby steps 4 me A4,then A6,then I been given a new(1 pour use) A120 plumbago crucible, see my avitar,I wont to pour a 12kg/38lb wax mold.. & do a slush casting..sick of cores.(see end of post why..) So yeah read all this post. Took all your warnings on board!,skip the more flippant replys, find someone a bit more advance at Alu melts to watch/help, pick brains . P.S anyone in Melbourne Australia wonts a offsider -I worked in foundrys as a youngster,green/black sand molding lacky.. But now wont to try ceramic shell,& have done investment glass casting. .never to old to learn is my moto & dont give a toss if its from a younger person ( as long as their not torking crap / or show poor workshop habits ) but still see big $'er signs when I try for a profession foundry quote to cast my wax mold or just the general pissed off 'nes That I made my own wooden master patten & jipped them out of a weeks work,whatever.. Its not that hard to step up to patten making after a few year of ramming steel cope n drag green sand molds for a living..
