Leatherwood
Foundry Welcome to the foundry. As part of my love for building things, I often wondered why I could not just cast my own parts. I have limited machinist skills since I am a self taught machinist, I have the machines to make these parts but alas I lack the ability to make some of the more complex shapes. Since I love building miniature internal combustion engines I figured that would be a good justification for building a small back yard foundry. The first thing I did was get on the web and found Lionel Oliver's web site ( Http://www.backyardmetalcasting.com ) and ordered one of his books on building a small flowerpot crucible furnace. I have found a site that after contacting the host of the site has been very helpfull in getting this little foundry working underway, A special thanks goes out to Ray Brandes and his website for all the help.

Here is the picture of the foundry as you can see it has been hot, the refractory is only mortar/sand mix and the excess heat has started burning the graphics off the can. I made this just as it is outlined in Lionel's book with the exception of a larger hole in the top and the gas burner tube. This allows me to add most scrap straight through the lid as it is heating.

Here is a look down inside the furnace with the crucible in place. I have just started the burner. This flowerpot furnace was supposed to be fired using charcoal but I ran across this burner tube in a scrap pile and just had to try it. I made a new orifice for the burner since it was originally used for natural gas and I wanted to use propane. As you can see I still need to make a stand to hold it but the welding clamp is working for now. I have found an a place to buy very good crucibles at resonable prices. check out LA graphite , check with Harry.

I ordered some petro-bond casting sand from Budget casting supply ( http://www.budgetcastingsupply.com ). I couldn't wait until the sand arrived to melt metal so I fired the furnace and melted some of my scrap aluminum and poured ingots into a cast iron corn bread muffin pan. I had to leave this outside for a few days to build up a rust layer. I have read that this help the metal release from the ingot mold. No sticking problems here.

While I was waiting on the Sand to arrive I figured I better make something to put the sand in. This is my first Flask. It is 8 x 10 inches the cope and drag are both 3 inches in height

The Sand arrived.

Here I am ramming the sand in this huge box to pour a part that is about 3/4 in square. I will have to build a smaller flask for this little stuff. I want to pour hot metal so bad I decide the smaller cope and drag can wait. This is my first attempt at this. It took about 4 tries to get something ready to pour.

Here is a shot after removing the pattern. I told you it was small. This will be a block of aluminum with a negative impression of a face. This casting will be used to mold glass beads that my father masterfully hand crafts. Click Here to see this mold in action.

Here is the flask ready for my first pour.

All websites that I have seen about metal casting always show a picture of the hot metal being poured. Here is my picture. This is the first time I have ever poured metal so thank goodness the camera does not show me shaking <grin>.

Here is the casting before it has been cleaned up. Can you see the negative Image of the face? Back to Home More Casting