Hello From Florida

Discussion in 'New member introductions' started by Swiftsure 33, Apr 11, 2023.

  1. Swiftsure 33

    Swiftsure 33 Silver

    Hello everybody from the Sunshine State.

    I'm a hobbyist that started with casting to determine if I could reproduce some silicon bronze fittings and hardware for a classic sailboat restoration I'm working through as my long term project. I quickly realized there would be a lot of practice required to make usable castings, but also quickly fell in love with casting as a new hobby. I've been spending plenty of my free time researching and making anything I can think of to improve my skills. I'm mostly doing greensand casting with patterns designed in CAD and printed on an FDM 3D printer, but I've also had some limited success with lost PLA and lost foam. I've even started selling some of my successful casts on Etsy to continue investing in my home shop. I look forward to further building my knowledge, and I'm sure I'll be asking plenty of questions here in the future. For now though, I would just like to ask for some recommendations on resources, preferably online or books that can be accessed through libraries, so that I can keep diving into all of the nuances and techniques. Thank you to all the professionals here who are willing to share what they know.

    For those who are interested here are some details on my current setup:

    -Furnace is a a 6 gallon steel trash can with 2 inches of ceramic fiber blanket and satanite refractory, has a maximum capacity of I believe a 12kg crucible, though I have not attempted a pour that large. It is driven by a single propane burner with a 20psi regulator. I lack a pyrometer but I have successfully melted small amounts of cast iron.

    - Homemade lifting tongs and pouring shank made from mild steel and stainless fasteners. I plan on learning to weld eventually but I just have too many hobbies at the moment.

    - I make my own greensand, and typically use a combo of facing and backing sands. The backing is 60 mesh silica and the facing is 200 mesh ground silica, both at 10:1 with powdered bentonite. I am able to achieve a very nice surface quality without venting this way, but the next project on my list is a powered muller as I am quite sick of mixing and sifting by hand.
     
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  2. Petee716

    Petee716 Gold Banner Member

    Welcome! You’re in the right place.
    I’ll go ahead and throw you right in the pool: Pictures or it didn’t happen!

    Pete
     
  3. Swiftsure 33

    Swiftsure 33 Silver

    Here's a few photos of what I have going on, including a couple unfinished projects.
     

    Attached Files:

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  4. Tops

    Tops Silver Banner Member

    There are some nice shop-built mullers from members on the site and there are a few of us just using small concrete mixers with the blades removed and a round rock as an agitator.

    If you have pictures of any more boat bits you've done...or the boat itself... ;)
     
  5. Swiftsure 33

    Swiftsure 33 Silver

    I've been having a look at the different designs posted here, I'm very much leaning toward a ball agitator design for the simplicity. Just need to decide if I want to wait for a good deal on a mixer or start putting one together from spare parts.

    As for the boat, I haven't quite worked up the courage to cast any of the critical hardware as of yet, but I do have plans for some ornamental pieces in the near future.
     
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