Wisconsin new guy

See! I didnt scare him off He will fit in just fine around here.

 

It sounds like do you have put together a really good furnace. Can you share some pictures? We do love pictures. What type of LP torch are you using? Don't be so worried about your first attempt part. Once you get melting, it's all part of the fun.

What kind of hairdryer are you using?

The soda cans and the spent brass casings, have you ignot them up?

 

POP doesn't fair well to direct heat as a refactory, charcoal is quite self insulating and I got away with high alumina cement for a while but when you start introducing a flame it's a different matter. Unless I've missed a new build in the thread.

Shell casings are good but expect a lot of dross and as HT1 will mention sulfer (Is that how you lot spell it?) zinc burn off is an arse, avoid fumes or it will be like the worst hangover you've ever had, except when you met Claudia Shiffer in a bar and woke up to....

Have fun.

 

woke up to what????

 

Err, not Claudia Shiffer. You never dated Tessie after shed loads of beer? She had a great personality.

Point is zinc posioning is quite unpleasant, so stay downwind of the pot if it starts to fume, I was laid up for a week from brazing galv and it is kind of like a cross between flu and a hangover. Your composition in the melt becomes an unknown.

 

Agreed. I'm surprised it held out even with charcoal. There are some homebrew recipes for refractory as well but most I've heard of turn into goo in short order under oil or propane service. Commercial refractory is really the way to go. Finding it shouldn't be too hard in Wisconsin. Furnace/boiler repair shops or refractory brick layers might be a place to start looking for it. Try to find it locally though as its heavy and shipping gets quite expensive. Nothing you buy from the big box stores or the fireplace shop will do. Even the "right" stuff takes a beating. I would keep what you have for the time being if it's working but I wouldn't hold out much hope for it.
Tobho has a great build thread in his signature.
Another proven and simple option is the kaowool/satanite design which you will read about frequently here. Tobho and others have also built this version and have had great results.

Pete

 

Ok so I took your guys advice and started with aluminum. It was a fail, but I learned a few things. I tried to cast the plane and the stand in one pour. My vent holes weren't large enough for one thing.
I also learned 10 pound of sand isn't really much. I bought the bag on amazon thinking that it would cover more area than it did. oh well live and learn. The Cast Master furnace work much better and faster then the coal burner I built. I can post pictures of that when I dig out of the garage. I now have a real crucible, and retired the fire extinguisher bottom I was using.
Is there anyone with a recipe for casting sand? I would like to have more on hand without the retail price for a backyard hack like myself. The mistakes will get expensive as I learn.
Thank you in advance.

Paul

 

Good job Paul. You'll only get better with each melt! Most times you learn more from failures or partials instead of from perfect pours.

Here is my first and a recent casting I did.

 

Very cool

 

Most of the greensand recipies I have seen call for 100-150 mesh sand with bentonite clay as a binder, composing 8-12%.
I mixed up my own greensand, around 50lbs of it and I'd rather not ever do it again if I can avoid it.
If you're looking for cheap though, sift a couple bags of sand and pulverize some kitty litter for the bentonite clay.

When I need more sand I think I'm going to reach out to Badger Mining and see what their greensand costs.

 

For your little airplane there, block investment was the way to go. Investment is cheap, just learn how to work wax. It's not hard, you recover the wax and reuse it too! Details are superior to sand, only real down side is it's not as fast as ram and pour. Each method has its strengths and weaknesses. What you might $ave in materials usually gets spent in labor one way or the other. If you are stuck on your petrobond, learn how to reuse and refresh it. It's funny to see the idiots on youtube casting with it and EVERYTIME its virgin stuff. Why not spend 80bucks in sand to cast a useless foam sword out of beer cans? Some guys get amazing results with green sand. Trouble is, it may depend on where you are located. Play sand in my area is not the same as play sand in florida. Its locally sourced and my stuff here is only suitable for filling in a hole in the ground. It's far from casting material as you can get. Making good quality green sand takes lots of practice and a muller is kinda important to save your back too. I gave up on greensand quickly and went straight to shell. It's slow, kinda expensive, but works good for me and my artsy fartsy trash.