What Projects are People Working On/Wanting to Work On?

Planning on taking a shot at cast iron this spring, at last. The greensand ingredients are on order from Foundry Supply Source and I'll be making the road trip out to Milton during the last weekend of this month. I would buy it premulled to save time and effort, but their ribbon mixer can't make batches as small as the 500# I ordered, so I'll have to mull my own. And figure out how to get a ~500# cardboard barrel of silica out of my van when I get home.



One of the new crucibles I got from G3j (https://forums.thehomefoundry.org/index.php?threads/a16-crucibles-for-sale-or-trade.2881/) is an A12 iron rated salamander, so that will be what I start with. I've got the ring portion of a new shank forged, just have to weld on the handle and figure out the tongs, (it's a much different shape and OD than my 10yo silicon carbide size 12, which is close enough to the shape and size of the new SiC 12's that came with the salamander that I think those won't need new tools.)



A couple of guys I've met over the past couple of years since (and due to) taking a part time job for a few months teaching at Vans (a local blacksmithing school) have been inquiring about cast iron and telling me they can't find a foundry that will work with them unless they're willing to wait almost a year for their jobs, so maybe this'll lead to some fun projects. One of them is a blacksmith from Montreal who does a lot of architectural restoration work. He mentioned fence finials.

He actually bought up the casting equipment from Vans recently to play around with, including the little aluminum flasks and rammers etc., that I made for them a couple years ago. Small world!

https://forums.thehomefoundry.org/index.php?threads/a-big-new-foundry-project-for-me-at-least.2104/

He also got the "muller" which is a pretty terrible cement mixer conversion, but one that has potential (the old owner of Vans had attached the crossbar to the frame instead of the yoke, so there's no way to dump out the sand. Bolted on though, not welded at least... Also the plows are too flimsy and the wheels are too skinny, it'll mix but not really mull). He left that behind for me to use for greensand (with half a bucket of petrobond still in it!), so once I get that working properly I'll have separate mullers for oil and water bonded sands, how convenient. And it'll make mulling up all that greensand go twice as fast in theory, without having to clean out the petrobond muller more than once or twice.







Jeff

 

When I spoke to John from FSS on the phone he told me they usually just use western bentonite for iron sand because southern bentonite will just burn out at those temps, which doesn't quite jibe with his email screenshotted above, where he says typically it's half and half western and southern bentonite for cast iron sand.

I asked him to clarify, and he said that depending on the shape of my castings I may want the southern bentonite to make mold breakdown and casting cleanup easier. I'm still trying to wrap my head around that. If using southern bentonite is going to burn up my sand faster, how much harder would using just western bentonite really make breaking out the molds and cleaning up the castings? As I understand it no southern bentonite would mean losing some green strength as well. The sand has to mold well, but for me, making it last a long time is also important because getting more means a 9 hour round trip.l for me, whereas a big foundry with a loading dock could just have it shipped.

Any iron casters reading, I'd appreciate any insights you might be able to offer on what bentonite(s) you use in your greensand and how much of an issue southern bentonite burning out of the sand really is compared to western bentonite in a hobby foundry setting.

Also, what do you all think about only adding the sea coal to a smaller batch of sand kept aside for facing, to slow down the burnt coal dust fines from building up? Would the rest of the sand without the coal dust then also need less clay to start out? 10% is a lot more clay than they put in the aluminum casting greensand I bought from Smelko years ago, IIRC at the time, Tim Smelko told me they use 4-7% clay for that

Here's the rest of the info John sent about the bentonites (and sea coal fwiw) that was cut off on my screenshot:

Thanks,

Jeff

 

Thanks!

Jeff

 

I got the pouring shank for the Morgan A12 just about finished up. Still needs a heat shield for my right hand and a handle on the back end, but that'll all be pretty easy.





Better still, it fits my silicon carbide B12's too after all! All it took was the couple of rake tines welded onto the top of the ring to keep it from falling out.





A big improvement over the old shank that I cobbled together in 2015 when I bought the one above with the chipped spout. That shank was always getting in the way, bumping into my flasks and preventing me from getting the crucible spout as close to the pouring basin as I'd like to.





The rusty spade blade on the left will become the heat shield.

The old and new silicon carbide crucibles are pretty close to the same shape, so the tongs for the old B12 should still work for the new ones. But the A12 would fall right through the old shank!


So I'll be having to build a new set of liftout tongs for that one too, I believe.

Jeff

 

Been mulling the new greensand...



88% 56GFN sub-rounded silica
10% bentonite
2% seacoal



Coming up on 250# made so far. 40# in the small grey bin was made with 10% western bentonite, and the rest (about half the big orange barrel) so far has 5% western and 5% southern.



Feels great so far, as far as squeeze tests...

Edit - I have parts cut out for a new set of A12 liftout tongs as well, that's the next thing I need to work on.

Jeff

 

Tongs for the A12 are coming along. Not visible here are 4 wide washers that the hinge bolt passes through. Together they are as wide as the 1/2" square bars, so they all sort of ride on the cross pieces and the jaws open and close pretty smooth without being wobbly. Based on a set that Bldr J showed me when I visited his shop. He also provided the washers and 1/2" square stock (thanks again!). Come to think of it, Josh isn't the only forum member who contributed parts - I also got the slice of pipe from David aka Michelhandjello (boulder sculpture guy who I need to go visit again soon). That's kind of fun.

The rusty cross pieces are left over from a piece of C channel I cut up a few weeks ago, I used the tapered sides to forge the pouring shank rings for this A12 and an A20.





It was a nice break from watching the muller go round and round and torturing myself overthinking the western and vs. or southern bentonite conundrum and whether to put seacoal in all of it or need to keep making facing sand. I just put it in all the sand, and mostly I'm making it with 5% of each bentonite. Made some with all Western as well to try out as facing. John P from the supplier told me that the southern type will burn out of the sand much more than the western at iron temps, but makes for easier shakeouts.



Got about 350# of sand ingredient mixed up so far. I might keep 100# of the 56GFN silica in reserve for future needs. Plenty of bentonite (and coal FWIW) left too if I ever want to use some of my 130GFN olivine for anything other than keeping the K-bond dream alive.

Jeff

 

I'd like to be able to hold these one handed without crushing the crucible if for some reason I should need to, so some additional bending of the handles/reins has yet to be done. But they're getting pretty close.,.









Jeff

 

The handles, at least that is the hope. Good idea though. If I do need to add a stop, it'll probably look a lot like that...

Jeff

 

I only had to bend the handles a little bit to make them close enough to hold one handed. They will not close all the way on the A12, but I can hold both reins in one hand and lift it. I am confident I can avoid the temptation to over-squeeze and pop a crucible, the tongs I use for my A6's do not have stops either and that's never been an issue.





Got the heat shield and the pouring lever added to the shank. The heat shield just slid on, and is tight enough not to flop around, yet loose enough for me to move and reposition as needed.



I ground the corners off a 1/2" nut so it could fit but not spin inside the 1" pipe. Screwing in the lever pulled the nut tight against the inside of the pipe. Seems quite secure.



About a hundred pounds of silica left to turn into greensand, and I'll be just about out of excuses not to go for it!

Jeff