Flask Purchase

I know it's probably on here somewhere but I have surched and couldn't find any information on flasks what I'm looking for is a place to purchase probably 10x14 or thereabouts anyone can help send me a link or a contact for a company to purchase these at a reasonable cost please send me the link or phone number thank you very much

 

Anything keeping you from making your own? There’s not much to them unless you have some special requirement.

Pete

 

You aren't going to find new flasks for sale that are affordable. For the price of a single industrial flask you can buy all the tools and plenty of wood to make all the flasks you need.

There is some guy selling mdf flasks on amazon and ebay for a ridiculous price, with dowel alignment pins. Don't be the guy who falls for that, just make some.

Keep your eyes on craigslist, offerup, facebook marketplace. Every now and then you might find a small foundry selling their flasks.

 

Umm, you're a woodworker.

Don't stress over details. If you're using a matchplate you have to have flasks which match anyway. I've made dovetail flasks. Glued and screwed. Air nailed. They all work.

Some guys are casting aluminum flasks. I considered it. Too much time and effort for me.

Old hardwood flooring works great. The relief on the back goes inside and makes a great sand holding ledge.

 

Depending on where you are it can be easy to find slats for bedframes. They are perfectly straight plywood so no worries looking for lumber that isn't warped. Try driving around apartment complexes people just throw that stuff out.

 

What I haven't figured out is why our forum doesn't have a set of flask patterns that can be passed around so guys can cast their own???? I'm not a sand guy, but if I was.....
Need a tool, make a tool is what I say.

 

1x4 at a lumber store (not a lumber department) should get you decent stock if you dont have any kicking around. As long as its solid and straight. Bottom edge of the cope and top edge of the drag just have to match up. Some of mine use pins, some use wooden wedges. Both work. Whatever you attach to your cope for alignment just make sure theres enough room for your fingers to get underneath without mashing them!

 

In reality, they don't even have to be straight. So long as the cope and drag overlap a little bit you can ram sand. Knot holes, nail holes and splits work to. It seems to me so long as the cope and drag are flat against each other it works. I screwed up the other day on a pinned flask and rammed the drag up upside down. (I'm sure I'm not the first) Not a split pattern, just a feeder in the drag. I didn't notice it was upside down until I flipped it. Being in a hurry I went ahead and rammed the cope, pulled the patterns and set the cope back on the drag. It poured just fine. In the future when I have a small simple placque type casting I may dispense with the pins for speed.

I'm not very good at this stuff.

 

You’re definitely not the only one to have a flask mixup. I have paint, notes, arrows, letters to Momma, -you name it- all over my flasks to prevent mixups, and I still catch myself sometimes. Sometimes it’s only the offset location of my alignment pins that saves me!

Pete

 

I have r, l, f, b labeled on cope and drag, a shape drawn across both so it has to line up, and sash locks only face one way. Haven't made a mix up yet but some people probably think all that is overkill

Helps to commit flask placement and filling process to muscle memory, too. I always set things in the same spot during every step of the process

 

Most of mine are liberally spray painted with unique color codes: red/green, blue/yellow, etc.

This was a new flask I'd built in a hurry several months back and haven't gotten around to painting it.

 

I have been making my own but they're burning up I was just trying to figure out a way to try to preserve them and save them but I guess based on the price and so forth it's just easier to make them

 

You betcha I have been making them and like you I used a box joint to put them together it's just been time consuming but based on what I've seen and the prices of things for flasks it might be better better to just keep going on doing what I'm doing and burning them up seems cheaper and they fit right

 

Quit spilling metal and they won't burn up. You can learn to stop as the pouring cup gets full. Dish out a nice big target cup with a spoon while you're removing the patterns and you should not be spilling metal. I've not ruined a flask yet, just burned a few several times. They still work for me.

 

Keeping the crucibles pouring edge or spout free of buildup helps too. Ask me how I know.

 

I also use a strip of sheet metal flashing like roofing drip edge to cover the wood right under the crucible. The radiant heat from the crucible will char the wood.

 

You can use a steel can as a catch above the sprue hole for over-zealous pouring. Helps keep the button from accidentally being too big as well

Aluminum drink cans work too...but they will smoke from the paint and plastic liner. Anything hotter than aluminum will melt them too XD

 

Have you actually done this? It seems like a good idea that could end up being not such a good idea.
Not the same, but on the same order: I poured bronze into steel dogfood cans to make ingots. It worked as planned except I had to turn much of the steel off the ingots on the lathe, so, meh. I did it again at a different time only this time the bronze was hotter. The first can filled and as I was starting on the next can the first can began to empty out, as did the second can. I ended up having to chip alot of limestone out of those cowpies. No real hazard there, but no one wants "unexpected" flow.

Pete

 

I hear you...I'm getting better.... I have to get my match plates to pour right before I decide about getting anything different that a wooden flask I'll tell you