Became a member years ago when I was going to make some items in the garage. Got a little side tracked. I'm back on here looking for info.
All for hobbies. I want to cast some plastic action figures in aluminum and see if I can polish them up for display. I'm starting with some small parts for an old cap gun I want to repair. I was hoping to find someone who could do it for me but looks like I'll be trying it myself. Just hoping the learning curve is not too long or expensive.
Welcome along. Should be fairly inexpensive to get into casting at that size. The learning curve? Well that goes on and on. Plenty of clever folk here to give you advice
A lot can depend on your starting point. If you have no foundry equipment, you need to break the endeavor up into several areas. You'll need some basic Personal Prtotective Equipment (PPE), a furnace (build or buy), molding media and flasks, crucible and tongs/shank, and some patterns or ability to make them. Aluminum is a good starting point for beginning casters because it's easy to melt and scrap stock is plentiful and economical. I'm a lost foam caster and it's definitely the lowest cost and shortest route into casting once you have the ability to melt and handle molten metal.......but you need to be able to make a foam pattern which is easy for simple objects and not so much for complex shapes. Best, Kelly
