I have a 1/2 scale Napoleon cannon, I've been casting balls, 2" from lead in an aluminum mold. Wondering if I could cast aluminum in it. If so are there any tricks to doing it? Chilling the mold maybe, appearance of cast balls not a factor. Thanks for any suggestions, John
The casting shouldn’t stick as long as there’s no weird pitting in the mold surface. Sooting the mold might not hurt just to be on the safe side if it’s convenient, but probably not necessary. The molten aluminum should solidify rapidly enough so it won’t melt the mold but you might start getting erosion where the gate meets the cavity depending on how the cavity gets filled. Pouring as cold as possible would help with that. Pouring cold will also minimizes solidification shrinkage. I’ve done it a couple of times and it worked ok. The normal moisture concerns in the mold still apply. Pete
Meteor, Evidently Bob Puhaka has not made an impression on Ruana knife works. ;-) That comment may make no sense to you since it was a couple years ago that this rather "colorful" figure made quite a splash here and in the foundry world in general as he had, according to him, solved all the problems confronting the world of aluminum casting. I am being (slightly) unfair to him. But he did tend to pontificate and would have been aghast to see the top-pour at the time you indicated in the video. Their methods are so straight forward and basic! Loved the video. I showed it to my 8-yr-old grandson. Now, he is lobbying for our next collabortion to be making a knife from an old file with an aluminum and elk antler handle copying roughly the patterns of one of their knives. Our production will be far cruder I am sure. But, I look forward to having some good times with my grandson. He learns a great deal (he is a "highly capable" learner) and I love the time spent together doing something hands-on in stark contrast to the modern video game world. Denis
I cast a handle for an old butcher's knife with a separated wood handle. I used some old plasticine since it would be contaminated with sand when I molded it up. I just formed a lump around the tang and squeezed until I had a fit that was comfortable. Then I sliced the clay on one side of the blade, rammed it up, rolled the mold and replaced the other half of the handle pattern. After the draw, I cut the gate and replaced the blade and poured. This is what I ended up with. It appears that I pulled the temper at the shank, but the blade was not affected. It holds an edge.
