Thanks Dave. Much appreciated. Check out my automotive timing cover. People always ask me what my favorite project is.......answer: my next one! Best, Kelly
@@kellycoffield533 I got in an argument with a backyard foundry man about lost foam. I told it's best to start wood. He said that's because I didn't know how. He made blocks. So I made 2 burner venturi one for demo and one for myself. I used a small cnc mill cut 4 pieces glued and posted pictures, he shut up then. Simple compared to what you're doing. But I now have a bigger cnc I might get more ambitious. That for help get off my backside.
This is one of those videos, you tap the screen to see how much longer it runs for... And are really happy your only half way through. Awesome work and thanks for sharing your amazing knowledge. I know I’ll be watching this a few times. 🇦🇺🤜🏼🤛🏼🍀🍀🍀😎
This just popped up on my feed and I've watched all 3 parts to this manifold. Extremely impressed to say the least. On the pours I would have ended up enlisting extra assistance but it's hard to gauge the actual difficulty plus muffled conversing in those masks. From a stranger on the internet, very nice work and detail. I look forward to more quality videos.
Hi Kelly, another great video! The fine mesh glass media youre using in post seems to create a great finish but if you are ever interested in seeing what these castings look like after vapor honing I would gladly do one for you gratis!
Amazing! It really turned out nice and your ability to cast exotic parts opens doors for some very cool engine combinations. Now I want a custom 1970 Olds W-31 intake manifold with a Holley carb flange.
BIG Thumbs up. I do a bit of sand casting and machining, just found your channel, Because I am fairly good at cad design and have a 3d printer I have gone down the 3d printing, (either lost or split) method. I will try your method. Apart from your volume issues excellent content well explained, Regards and thanks from Brisbane Australia
Hi, Kelly, I just found your channel recently and I've been going though the backlog. Good stuff! I only wish you would invest in a better mic :) Cheers!
Hi Kelly, can I give you a tip that would have saved your first attempt? It is related to the filling process. You need to have the vibration turned on throughout the mold fill. The vibration creates a "fluidised layer" about 2 inches deep ... beneath that is the "compacted zone" ... once you have about 6" of sand in the pot, you need to turn in the vibration and start filling the mold. If you fill too much before turning on the vibration you will get areas of the sand that did not get fluidised and flow. The fluidised zone is about 2" deep in small pots like yours, so the fill you put in before turning on the vibration was too deep to effectifely fill in some areas. In commercial production the vibration is applied throughout the fill process. I hope that helps you.
Thanks Rob, yes indeed. There were 4 changes made for this successful attempt compared to the previous fail. The discussion starts at about the 14 minute mark, but there was better pattern positioning in the mold, I did indeed vibe as I was filling which is a big aid because I'm underpowered in respect to vibratory energy for big molds so vibing while the mold is filling compared to 450lbs of full mold helps a lot in that respect too. I also nearly tripled the vibratory energy with larger turbine vibrators, and perhaps the most significant was the use of fresh mold media. I had been (re)using my mold sand for 2-3 years with most seeing several hundred pours. It was contaminated with organics and consequently, was more difficult to excite and fluidize. By comparison, the new media was a treat. Now the shape of silica sand certainly isn't optimal for vibratory packing but it's so inexpensive, it's thehands down practical choice. Same goes for reconditioning the sand. I could bake the organics out but the energy cost to do so is more than the cost of the sand. It's 10c/lb at the retail stores and $20/ton in bulk. Thanks for the comment and watching. Best, Kelly
fantastic pour! could a sliding port/valve at the bottom of the flask help with getting the sand out? Bill at windy hill foundry has something similar at his tumbler and dumpsthe sand out easily.
What's the reason for not using a vent to allow gasses to escape? Is your sprue big enough that you don't really need one? Phenomenal work, I'm amazed and inspired.
Vents can't vent in lost foam casting. If you make the vent feature out of foam it's solid until melted and by that time there's no need for a vent because that area of th emold has already filled. I see people attach a soda straw to the pattern thinking it's a vent, but the straw is plugged with closed cell foam until the molten metal front reaches it then it fills with metal so it's no longer a vent then either. In lost foam casting, the entire surface of the mold is the vent, coated with permeable coating, and this controls the rate at which evaporated foam gases escape/vent and the corresponding rate at which the molten metal front advances. Best, Kelly
@@mikeboudreaux2964 I wish I could. I'm a member of American Foundry Society and about the closest would be "Lost Foam Casting Made simple", which it doesn't. It's 250 pages and by the time I bought it, it didn't do much for me. More than half was devoted to managing beaded materials and pattern molding process which was of little interest to me because it's impractical for low volume and home use. Wasn't much usable practical information on molding, coatings, and casting process control or even pour temps. I've gotten most of my information watching the YT videos of the (Chinese) LF equipment manufacturers and reading research papers which have even less useful info than the AFS book but an occassional nugget. If you search here on YT there is the Lost Foam Council based in EU, but again, not much there except one 4 minute vid. Besides that, it's the school of hard knocks I'm afraid. Best, Kelly
I want to do this one day. I want to make an intake manifold similar to what's on the vg30dett (nissan twin turbo 3.0 v6 1989+ 300zx) but for my Cummins V8 and go dual compound turbos one set for each bank.
I know nothing about casting, but what you have achieved looks pretty impressive to me. Congratulations! I’d be interested to know how much time you spent on designing the pattern, making the pattern, preparing it for casting, preparing the cast, and tidying it up ready for machining. Apart from that really impressive hi from Switzerland
Thanks J, I dont know. I didn't keep track and of course I did have the pleasure of making that pattern twice. I can tell you this, it took much longer to arrive at the design and dimensional layout than it did to actually fabricate the first pattern, and much less time to make the second pattern than the first 🙂Best, Kelly
@@kellycoffield533 sir i love your work and i think instead of wax to use your method may i ask plz what kind of coating is that and can i cast somethink out of ferous metal(stainless steel) with it? Thank you
@@umbeatable2770 I have a video entitled "Refractory Coatings for Lost Foam Casting Patterns" on my channels that discusses the coating. th-cam.com/video/LdgGkqvk5mc/w-d-xo.html The coating I use is for non-ferrous casting. The ferrous casting equivelants use higher refractory alumina oxide or zirconia as the fillers. Best, Kelly
What a wonderful job! One question, is there any shrinkage using this method? I want to make some engine casings ant only want to rework the seal sides and the bearing holes...
You may have explained it in an earlier video but I'm curious about how long it takes to melt the aluminum. Also wondering whether it might have been better to cast the part in its horizontal position.
Both my furnaces are 8kw resistive electric powered, basically a kiln optimized for melting. For my smaller furnace, on first heat it takes 25 minutes for 10lb of aluminum in an A10 Crucible, and about 40 minutes for 20lbs in an A-20, 5-10 minutes less on subsequent heats. In this intake video I used my larger furnace with 50lb charge in an A60 crucible and electric heat. It took almost 2hrs because the mass of the furnace and crucible without metal is ~200lbs. My larger furnace was intended to be fuel fired but I have an 8kw electric insert I use for aluminum. As far as position of the pattern, for my proces I'd say far batter off (near) vertical from the standpoint of packing and practicality. Also for lost foam, you need some depth to the mold or the metal pressure will "float" the sand, especially in denser (than aluminum) alloys, and it does provide more metal head pressure at the bottom of the mold where it is most needed, because that is farthest from the sprue and the coldest metal by the time it gets there. Best, Kelly
Yes, but rather than the foam, in this case, if that was indeed the cause it's more likely dues to the wax I used to apply fillets. There was a lot of it in this pattern since it was hand made in many pieces and then assembled. These days I CNC the patterns and there are far fewer pieces and the fillets and blends are machined into the foam. Very little of the foam becomes carbon/ash. The vast majority of foam is converted to gas which is expelled through the refractory coating into the mold and the amount o fthis gasis probably comparable to steam created in a conventional green sand mold or other binding system. Best, Kelly
You mentioned a few times that , aside from the flanges being 1/2" or 3/4" thick, that the runner walls are 1/4" thick. How do you determine that ? I know if you make the core’s x" by x" , is the optimal thickness of the refractory coating 1/4", or whatever you want the wall thickness to be? That’s the only way I could imagine it happening since the inner and outer surfaces are encapsulated in the sand. I have very little experience in sand casting, high school Vo-Tech classes in the 80’s. But I’ve always been interested in the subject for many years, and always study up on things like this, to the extreme for some subjects, even though I’ll never get a working, hands on experience in it. I’ve had a long time "love affair" with the Ford 300" straight 6, but only a few people had ever done much, if anything, about it’s poor head design. A few people, Sherman Sly comes to mind because I recently heard an interview of him on Drag Boss Garage. (I think), He welded together 3 cut sections of cast iron Boss 302 heads to make 1 long cross flow head that whooped some tails and hurt some peoples feelings. WELDING CAST IRON HEADS!!! But anyways, on something like that, how would you account for shrinkage? You mentioned 13% (0.013) for your manifold, would you have to allow more for the size (length, primarily)? Would you take the bore spacing, don’t know the number off the top of my head, but I believe it’s about 4.00". Would you work off of that, 4.00X 6 (# of cylinders) and add .0022 to each bore spacing? I’m sure there is more to it than that, but it’s the kind of crap I’m actually thinking about when my wife says "what are you thinking about? Lol I know it’s a bit off topic and long winded, but I’m curious.
1/4" wall is just a reliable thickness for sand casting because of typical heat loss to the mold. The flange thicknesses are what they are because of the structural needs of the part otherwise I'd shoot for uniform wall, but given their thickness, it makes them a convenient vehicle to feed the rest of the part. Best, Kelly
Sir.. Can you introduce a video about raw Aloy materials please. I asked you before the same question and you replied .we cant commercialy buy the material in Sri lanka as you mentioned .
Oh, I do re-use the sand over and over. I just run it through a sieve as I shovel it back into its storage container to remove any refractpory coating that fell off the casting and any sand clumped by the byproducts of decomposed polystyrene. My last batch of sand I used for over three years and ~200 castings before I replaced it. Best, Kelly
Kelly, I have been watching casting videos for years as well as doing some of my own casting including a go at lost foam. You blow everyone else efforts out of the water. I think one of the things that everyone seems to get wrong is putting the foam in casting sand. I found out, years ago, that dry sand worked a lot better but I stopped there. I think the vibration, the coatings and filling in the seams with wax are things I missed. I was heading down the road of using 3D printing to make split molds and using traditional sand casting. Now, I am in the middle of updating my hotwire rig and breaking my furnace out. One thing I did have a lot of problems with was cold shunts any advice on that front?
One quick note on my first go at lost foam casting I did find a way around the pregnant paus that happens at the beginning of the pour. I used a stir rod to check my meatal before I poured which made the rod hot. I would often used this to melt a one inch deep hole in the top of the sprue. This eliminated the pregnant pause.
Thanks Paul and totally agree on use of dry unbound vs bound sand. Nothing wrong with 3D printed patterns and bound sand, especially for higher volume, but the design freedom of evaporative pattern casting and ease of complex shapes, parting lines, and coring is fantastic. For the cold shut question, what temp are you pouring at, what is the typical wall thickness and max travel distance from a runner of feed system to the extremity of the pattern? Best, Kelly
@@kellycoffield533 To be honest those are all factors I did not pay enough attention to. What tempter are you shooting for before poring? I use a propane furnace and have been winging it for melts I think ill buy a temperature gun and see if I cant start controlling for it.
@@paulwest4780 Most of my parts are 1/4" wall and relatively high surface area/volume. I typically pour A356 at 1400F. Rule of thumb for LF is 100F-150F hotter than conventional open cavity sand casting. Best, Kelly
great job! excellent patternmaking! When i casted my intake i did not quenched it and could not read the temperature of my aluminium. and when i machined it and pressure tested it under water i found that it was so porous it couldnt make vacuum because of it. (for a v8 flathead from ´51 with two drawthrough turbo.s) so i ended up powdercoating them. Do you think that quenching would made the difference? i read in a book that adding argon in the bottom of your melted material would make it denser? let me know your thoughts, and again great work!!
I just quench to cool the casting and remove the refractory coating. The casting still requires post heat treating for improved strength and machining properties. Porosity is more a matter of your pour temp, molten metal treatment, and also part/mold design. I use a resistive electric furnace that has a very favorable atmosphere for aluminum. Best, Kelly
good job on both of you guy's as i wasn't going to cast my intake as i figured it requires to much for me to do it right. but i did have one eddelbroc 383 BBM-B that was really porous and had a lot of sand/slag in it, i did get the weld to stick but it's not perfect or pretty but i wanted fuel injector boss's and bolt one ones for sale are slim pickings ect. my new/different engine a frankinstined G2 hemi stroker id figured that welding a crossram/3 layered runner/variability runners one up or making out of fibreglass/CF is the ticket just hope that it can hold max 30 PSI of boost and a back fire 🔥does burn it and or my car
im sure you have already thought about this but could you avoid the intake bolt through the runner by using studs and nuts? either way your skills are impressive..i'm sure every classic car guy would love to be able to do what you do and cast their own parts.
Believe when I say it was the last resort but there was just no way to do since the runers cover the mounting holes. On 335 Series canted valve Ford heads there are 8 mounting holes on each side. Four of them are 3/8-16 at 22.5 degrees, and four are 5/16-18 at 45 degrees. Those mounting holes are at the 22.5 degree angle so the intake still could not be munted without removing the studs. The two central and two outer mounting holes are at 45 degrees (vertical), so the intake can lift on and off without those being removed and studs are used on those. I didnt invent the idea. There are some other exotic Ford intakes that resort to the same method. Best, Kelly
That intake on a boss will be unbelievable. I'm going to build a 427 small block Boss based on a 351W block. An intake like that with bellmouths inside a plenum will be awesome for boost. I think I'll start with a diy built 4x8 5 axis CNC Router. It will be like cheating for making the foam pieces. That's not the reason for wanting the 5 axis but just another reason to jump in. I've been sitting on the dang fence nearly 5 years. Time to get busy living.
The bolt’s through the intake runner are nonsense, it take 3 full threads to generate complete bolting force…did you miss that day in dynamics? And as an expert mold designer my opinion is you have too many sharp transitions and occlusions but then again what the hell do I know I only made parts for flying machines………..😆 nice work!
Some of the coating falls off when demolding and about 90% falls off when dipped in water. The rest can be blown off with compressed air. Calling it ceramic is a bit generous. It's more like drywall joint compound. It is still water soluable after the pour. I've been calling it refractory coating while others comment on it being ceramic, likening it to shell casting, but the intended purposes are different. In lost foam the coating just preserves the pattern surface finish and serves as a permeable barrier to control the rate at which gases escape into the mold, and you do get some modest insulating value from the mold media, whereas the ceramic in shell cating is the structural mold. Best, Kelly
@@kellycoffield533 Certainly a beautiful casting....truly amazed at how the relatively fragile and permeable coating can keep the dry sand from collapsing into the burned out foam cavity!
Hey I love your casting you do and I want to do lossy foam but I need to know more like what sand do you use what foam is best to use and what do you use to coat the patterns you make and we’re do I get it... please do a how to do basic video on TH-cam.. please 😁.... I built furnace both charcoal and gas but my skills need work and I think the lost foam method rocks I want to know more...... please help share your knowledge.....
Those videos already exist. Just subscribe to my channel and look at the following entitled videos. You may find a few more of interest as well. Best, Kelly "Pattern Materials for Lost Foam Casting" "Pattern Construction Methods for Lost Foam Casting" "Refractory Coatings for Lost Foam Casting Patterns" "Reusable Pouring Basin - Lost Foam Casting"
when the metal comes into contact with the styrofoam, does the loose sand undo the structure of the mold? that is, the fact that the sand is not compacted, does it break down and start to occupy the place that is meant to be only made of metal?
It was machined in pieces of extruded Polystyrene and then glued together/assemble. I'm not aware of any printable lost foam pattern media casting method. Other evaporative pattern material are possible but require shell or block investment method with pattern removal by burn-out prior to casting. Best, Kelly
The bottom side has sealing lands that line up with the valley rails on the block like other intakes. There's also a shelf in the bottom side of the intake to install a splash shield or plate so the underside could be used as vacuum plenum. There;s a boss on the rear of the intake to access it. Best, Kelly
It can depend on the alloy, but the 356 I use welds nicely. If you are an accomplished (TIG) welder, you wont think much of casting aluminum alloys compared to wrought alloys, especially if they have been in service with liquids beause the tend to be somewhat porous and hard to get clean. Preheating the area to be welded helps sweat a lot of that stuff out and helps a lot. Best, Kelly
Ah, the sweet taste of success. Persistence, patience, and reason wins as ever. Damn well done - Bravo... Martin PS, I would have hated to try and do that casting in greensand - Oh - the core work I would have needed 😱!
Many thanks Martin. Another of my lost foam curiosities is its (apparently higher) resistance to shrink defects. Though the flanges are 1/2" thick, the rest of the features are 1/4" wall, excepting the various mounting bosses which from a casting perspective appear as 1" diameter blobs positioned here and there around the casting. Perhaps the best example is where the long 1" diameter bosses connect the mounting flanges to the runner walls. From a casting perspective they present like six separate 1" diameter risers yet where they intersect and blend with the 1/4" thick interior runner wall surface, not a hint of shrinkage. I don't have a good explanation for this other than the combination of comparatively slow mold fill times and predominantly top to bottom feeding promotes a sort of natural directional solidification from bottom to top. -Just a theory, but whatever the cause....I'll take it! Best, Kelly
@@kellycoffield533 Ah, the enigma of isolated bosses and shrinkage! It may be that shrinkage has occurred via the skin sort of universally moving inwards. It can be calculated that only a few "thou" of inward movement is needed to get the boss completely solid. If the boss is still close to its melting point the skin will be soft enough to collapse inwards and provided it does not do it locally we wil never know. This whole process relies on good clean metal as it does not take much entrained oxide to serve as nuclei for shrinkage pores. High conductivity metals seem to favour sound bosses but remember that bosses may in fact have central porosity and as we often drill/tap bosses we may remove said porosity sight unseen. My experience with isolated bosses would indicate that solidification time plays a big part in what you can and cannot get away with. What I can get away with as a sand casting would likely show shrinkage in gravity die work where solidification times are much shorter. You are using dry sand so solidification times will be a lot longer and thus I would expect you to be able to get away with more. Also of course as you point out slow and very progressive mould fill plus top down feeding just has to help... Martin
Hey buddy, I reccomend you do not do this on concrete, for safety reasons. That said, fantastic work! I need to find someone who can sand cast prototypes from time to time. I just this week had one to do, and had to redesign it for my cnc mill because I measured my flask and realized it was too big for my little setup. Are you open to work?
We all need to assess the level of safety and preventitive measures we are are comfortable with but I can assure you for all but large spills, the risk if a steam explosion from aluminum splashs, even pounds of, is about nil. They fan out and freeze so fast you can handle them in a couple minutes. Now if I dropped a full A60, that could be a different story but in that case I'd simply vacate the area and watch from a distance. The other side of this discussion is it's not exactly safe walking on sanded concrete either. If I was pouring iron, I may reconsider. Same for the those that have commented in my other videos about pouring in street shoes. Spats would be a good addition, but I'd rather have shoes I could kicked off quickly than those laced up tight. Either way I'm comfortable with my choices. As far as casting for hire, I'm pretty stacked up with projects and 90% of people don't have a realistic expectation as far as $. Best, Kelly
@@kellycoffield533 good to know! I was told to keep it off the concrete from someone older and wiser than myself, haha. As far as realistic $$ expectations, I feel your pain, I make my living by offering design and prototyping.
Not sure if I'll video the machining. I heat treat to T5 in the same resistive electric furnace I melt in. T5 achieves the majority of the strength and machinability improvement without the risk of casting damage. Best, Kelly
See this video. th-cam.com/video/LdgGkqvk5mc/w-d-xo.htmlsi=9XkQs0RJDis6RaUI There are many other lost foam related videos if you look through my channel. Best, Kelly
Yes. It's routinely done in commercial industry. When Saturn was making cars, the blocks and heads were lost foam castings. Have alook here: th-cam.com/video/KRW_DniO68M/w-d-xo.htmlsi=kuRwW1ri1mZR2499
It's just fine washed and dried silica sand. It can be bought at retail stores. Do not buy play sand that is wet. It can be almost any silica sand as long as it is very dry. Best, Kelly
I cast primarily with A356 just because it's a great all-around casting alloy, can be heat treated, and since I had/have minimum buys of ingot, practically speaking I needed to choose a single alloy, but no magic in A356. There are plenty of suitable alloys for automotive parts. Best, Kelly
@@kellycoffield533 Thanks for your reply. One other question if you dont mind. The foam you use, is it some special foam or? Probably a silly question but im really interested in this casting method :D
@@Nifilheimur Search my channel for a video entitled "Pattern Materials for Lost Foam Casting". The foam and other pattern making materials are discussed there. Best, Kelly
Great videos but i can barely hear you. Are you using some EQ or compressor? Sound is very quiet and muffled. When I go to next video and forget about volume I'm blasted away. Still given a like tho ;)
I usually just mute and hide all whiners and complainers from the channel. It only takes one click and raises a satisfying smile when I do it. Your like is the only thing that saved you.....for now.
The refractory coating seen in the video is a commercial product called Polycap 600 made by REFCOTEC but for aluminum, non-setting drywall joint compound thinned with water to a viscosity suitable for either brushing or dipping works as well. Best, Kelly
![[LIVE] : ONE ลุมพินี 88 | คู่เอก "ป้อมเพชร vs อัสลามจอน"](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/1ZqTVVbMgbo/mqdefault.jpg)
As a 72 year old retired patternmaker, all I can say is excellent job best I've seen in a home shop.
Thanks Dave. Much appreciated. Check out my automotive timing cover. People always ask me what my favorite project is.......answer: my next one! Best, Kelly
@@kellycoffield533 I got in an argument with a backyard foundry man about lost foam. I told it's best to start wood. He said that's because I didn't know how. He made blocks. So I made 2 burner venturi one for demo and one for myself. I used a small cnc mill cut 4 pieces glued and posted pictures, he shut up then. Simple compared to what you're doing. But I now have a bigger cnc I might get more ambitious. That for help get off my backside.
@@roscoepatternworks3471 LF has it's place. Take care, K
Awesome - I imagine this must be the most complex casting anyone has made successfully at home using home made equipment.
This is one of those videos, you tap the screen to see how much longer it runs for... And are really happy your only half way through.
Awesome work and thanks for sharing your amazing knowledge.
I know I’ll be watching this a few times.
🇦🇺🤜🏼🤛🏼🍀🍀🍀😎
The most interesting TH-cam video I've seen in a very long time. Kelly, you never cease to amaze me!
This just popped up on my feed and I've watched all 3 parts to this manifold. Extremely impressed to say the least. On the pours I would have ended up enlisting extra assistance but it's hard to gauge the actual difficulty plus muffled conversing in those masks. From a stranger on the internet, very nice work and detail. I look forward to more quality videos.
Same here lol the algorithms are working haha
Amazing work, Kelly! Plain and simple---outstanding!
You are an inspiration to us all my friend
Hi Kelly, another great video! The fine mesh glass media youre using in post seems to create a great finish but if you are ever interested in seeing what these castings look like after vapor honing I would gladly do one for you gratis!
What is vapor honing?
amazing, design, details, realization... what an achievement, singleahndedly for such a complex piece!
Obviously an expert. Incredible results.
Amazing! It really turned out nice and your ability to cast exotic parts opens doors for some very cool engine combinations. Now I want a custom 1970 Olds W-31 intake manifold with a Holley carb flange.
Kelly, you've seriously inspired me. I would love to get together with you to get some direction for my endeavors.
Best way to do that is www.TheHomeFoundry.org
Congrats Kelly! Glad to see it worked out this time. I was nervous watching the burping at the end of the pour. Cheers
Outstanding attention to detail and execution. The finished quality is exemplary!
BIG Thumbs up. I do a bit of sand casting and machining, just found your channel, Because I am fairly good at cad design and have a 3d printer I have gone down the 3d printing, (either lost or split) method. I will try your method. Apart from your volume issues excellent content well explained, Regards and thanks from Brisbane Australia
I was on the edge of my seat the whole way through this video.
Definitely great editing.🤜🏼🤛🏼🇦🇺🍀🍀🍀😎🤓
Wow…persistence paid off, more than incremental improvement…. Well done.
Very impressive! The result as well as the foundry setup.
Lovin' the safety loafers! The rest of the kit is awesome too.
Amazing! What if you'd have given up after the first time?
I don't give up easily!
Fantastic one man foundry set up I'm a small gold miner and have been trying to figure a way to do bigger smelts by myself thanks your brilliant.
Really impressive work my friend. That’s just as good as it gets.
thats one hell of a home pour setup
Great work! And - Your sound is getting a little better! 👍
Just found your channel. Outstanding work sir!
You are an Artist
How much do you charge to make an intake?
Brilliant Job, keep up the great work
Those parts look amazing
Hi, Kelly, I just found your channel recently and I've been going though the backlog. Good stuff! I only wish you would invest in a better mic :) Cheers!
U sir are awesome! I would be proud to learn from you!
Just looked at your other videos... you got yourself a new subscriber🇦🇺🤜🏼🤛🏼😎🍀🍀🍀
Simply amazing. Congrats!
Hi Kelly, can I give you a tip that would have saved your first attempt? It is related to the filling process. You need to have the vibration turned on throughout the mold fill. The vibration creates a "fluidised layer" about 2 inches deep ... beneath that is the "compacted zone" ... once you have about 6" of sand in the pot, you need to turn in the vibration and start filling the mold. If you fill too much before turning on the vibration you will get areas of the sand that did not get fluidised and flow. The fluidised zone is about 2" deep in small pots like yours, so the fill you put in before turning on the vibration was too deep to effectifely fill in some areas. In commercial production the vibration is applied throughout the fill process. I hope that helps you.
Thanks Rob, yes indeed. There were 4 changes made for this successful attempt compared to the previous fail. The discussion starts at about the 14 minute mark, but there was better pattern positioning in the mold, I did indeed vibe as I was filling which is a big aid because I'm underpowered in respect to vibratory energy for big molds so vibing while the mold is filling compared to 450lbs of full mold helps a lot in that respect too. I also nearly tripled the vibratory energy with larger turbine vibrators, and perhaps the most significant was the use of fresh mold media. I had been (re)using my mold sand for 2-3 years with most seeing several hundred pours. It was contaminated with organics and consequently, was more difficult to excite and fluidize. By comparison, the new media was a treat. Now the shape of silica sand certainly isn't optimal for vibratory packing but it's so inexpensive, it's thehands down practical choice. Same goes for reconditioning the sand. I could bake the organics out but the energy cost to do so is more than the cost of the sand. It's 10c/lb at the retail stores and $20/ton in bulk. Thanks for the comment and watching. Best, Kelly
fantastic pour! could a sliding port/valve at the bottom of the flask help with getting the sand out? Bill at windy hill foundry has something similar at his tumbler and dumpsthe sand out easily.
Kelly i love your videos but can you please get an external mic so we can hear you better. This is some great stuff!
Fantastic, Congratulations!
¡¡¡Un genioooo!!!....¡¡¡Quedó Maravillosoooo!!!.
What's the reason for not using a vent to allow gasses to escape? Is your sprue big enough that you don't really need one? Phenomenal work, I'm amazed and inspired.
Vents can't vent in lost foam casting. If you make the vent feature out of foam it's solid until melted and by that time there's no need for a vent because that area of th emold has already filled. I see people attach a soda straw to the pattern thinking it's a vent, but the straw is plugged with closed cell foam until the molten metal front reaches it then it fills with metal so it's no longer a vent then either. In lost foam casting, the entire surface of the mold is the vent, coated with permeable coating, and this controls the rate at which evaporated foam gases escape/vent and the corresponding rate at which the molten metal front advances. Best, Kelly
@@kellycoffield533 Great, thanks for spelling it out simply. Makes sense. Are there any good books or references you used to learn this?
@@mikeboudreaux2964 I wish I could. I'm a member of American Foundry Society and about the closest would be "Lost Foam Casting Made simple", which it doesn't. It's 250 pages and by the time I bought it, it didn't do much for me. More than half was devoted to managing beaded materials and pattern molding process which was of little interest to me because it's impractical for low volume and home use. Wasn't much usable practical information on molding, coatings, and casting process control or even pour temps. I've gotten most of my information watching the YT videos of the (Chinese) LF equipment manufacturers and reading research papers which have even less useful info than the AFS book but an occassional nugget. If you search here on YT there is the Lost Foam Council based in EU, but again, not much there except one 4 minute vid. Besides that, it's the school of hard knocks I'm afraid. Best, Kelly
Woah yeah baby shoot for the stars.. awesome! progress is progress
I want to do this one day. I want to make an intake manifold similar to what's on the vg30dett (nissan twin turbo 3.0 v6 1989+ 300zx) but for my Cummins V8 and go dual compound turbos one set for each bank.
Awesome job Kelly! Do you account for shrinkage, are you seeing much of a dimensional difference between the pattern and the end product?
I make the pattern 1.3% larger (101.3% of desrired casting dimensions). It produces very accurate casting size. Best, Kelly
You are a wild man!! got watch the first 2 now...
Wonderful Kelly...What percent shrinkage factor are you using for you 356 alloy?
1.3% or .013"/inch
@@kellycoffield533 Thanks for the reply...I will use that also for my designs...
I know nothing about casting, but what you have achieved looks pretty impressive to me. Congratulations! I’d be interested to know how much time you spent on designing the pattern, making the pattern, preparing it for casting, preparing the cast, and tidying it up ready for machining.
Apart from that really impressive hi from Switzerland
Thanks J, I dont know. I didn't keep track and of course I did have the pleasure of making that pattern twice. I can tell you this, it took much longer to arrive at the design and dimensional layout than it did to actually fabricate the first pattern, and much less time to make the second pattern than the first 🙂Best, Kelly
@@kellycoffield533 sir i love your work and i think instead of wax to use your method may i ask plz what kind of coating is that and can i cast somethink out of ferous metal(stainless steel) with it? Thank you
@@umbeatable2770 I have a video entitled "Refractory Coatings for Lost Foam Casting Patterns" on my channels that discusses the coating.
th-cam.com/video/LdgGkqvk5mc/w-d-xo.html
The coating I use is for non-ferrous casting. The ferrous casting equivelants use higher refractory alumina oxide or zirconia as the fillers. Best, Kelly
What a wonderful job!
One question, is there any shrinkage using this method?
I want to make some engine casings ant only want to rework the seal sides and the bearing holes...
Fantastic work Kelly - will you make more of these? Thanks for the video :)
Yes, and variants. Would like to get my CAD and CNC router up to speed for future patterns, for further refinement. Best, K
Excellent result!
congrats on the 1k subscribers!
definitely been interesting watching your process through here.
You may have explained it in an earlier video but I'm curious about how long it takes to melt the aluminum. Also wondering whether it might have been better to cast the part in its horizontal position.
Both my furnaces are 8kw resistive electric powered, basically a kiln optimized for melting. For my smaller furnace, on first heat it takes 25 minutes for 10lb of aluminum in an A10 Crucible, and about 40 minutes for 20lbs in an A-20, 5-10 minutes less on subsequent heats. In this intake video I used my larger furnace with 50lb charge in an A60 crucible and electric heat. It took almost 2hrs because the mass of the furnace and crucible without metal is ~200lbs. My larger furnace was intended to be fuel fired but I have an 8kw electric insert I use for aluminum. As far as position of the pattern, for my proces I'd say far batter off (near) vertical from the standpoint of packing and practicality. Also for lost foam, you need some depth to the mold or the metal pressure will "float" the sand, especially in denser (than aluminum) alloys, and it does provide more metal head pressure at the bottom of the mold where it is most needed, because that is farthest from the sprue and the coldest metal by the time it gets there. Best, Kelly
Is it possible the little deformities are caused by the gas escaping as the form is burning away?
Yes, but rather than the foam, in this case, if that was indeed the cause it's more likely dues to the wax I used to apply fillets. There was a lot of it in this pattern since it was hand made in many pieces and then assembled. These days I CNC the patterns and there are far fewer pieces and the fillets and blends are machined into the foam. Very little of the foam becomes carbon/ash. The vast majority of foam is converted to gas which is expelled through the refractory coating into the mold and the amount o fthis gasis probably comparable to steam created in a conventional green sand mold or other binding system. Best, Kelly
You mentioned a few times that , aside from the flanges being 1/2" or 3/4" thick, that the runner walls are 1/4" thick.
How do you determine that ? I know if you make the core’s x" by x" , is the optimal thickness of the refractory coating 1/4", or whatever you want the wall thickness to be?
That’s the only way I could imagine it happening since the inner and outer surfaces are encapsulated in the sand.
I have very little experience in sand casting, high school Vo-Tech classes in the 80’s.
But I’ve always been interested in the subject for many years, and always study up on things like this, to the extreme for some subjects, even though I’ll never get a working, hands on experience in it.
I’ve had a long time "love affair" with the Ford 300" straight 6, but only a few people had ever done much, if anything, about it’s poor head design.
A few people, Sherman Sly comes to mind because I recently heard an interview of him on Drag Boss Garage. (I think), He welded together 3 cut sections of cast iron Boss 302 heads to make 1 long cross flow head that whooped some tails and hurt some peoples feelings. WELDING CAST IRON HEADS!!!
But anyways, on something like that, how would you account for shrinkage? You mentioned 13% (0.013) for your manifold, would you have to allow more for the size (length, primarily)?
Would you take the bore spacing, don’t know the number off the top of my head, but I believe it’s about 4.00". Would you work off of that, 4.00X 6 (# of cylinders) and add .0022 to each bore spacing?
I’m sure there is more to it than that, but it’s the kind of crap I’m actually thinking about when my wife says "what are you thinking about? Lol
I know it’s a bit off topic and long winded, but I’m curious.
1/4" wall is just a reliable thickness for sand casting because of typical heat loss to the mold. The flange thicknesses are what they are because of the structural needs of the part otherwise I'd shoot for uniform wall, but given their thickness, it makes them a convenient vehicle to feed the rest of the part. Best, Kelly
Are you going to doba video of heat treat
Great work!
Sir..
Can you introduce a video about raw Aloy materials please. I asked you before the same question and you replied .we cant commercialy buy the material in Sri lanka as you mentioned .
Impressive. Well done.
DO you make custom to order manifolds for anything
Instead of dumping the sand out would it be better to use a vacuum system so that it can be re-used?
Oh, I do re-use the sand over and over. I just run it through a sieve as I shovel it back into its storage container to remove any refractpory coating that fell off the casting and any sand clumped by the byproducts of decomposed polystyrene. My last batch of sand I used for over three years and ~200 castings before I replaced it. Best, Kelly
Kelly, I have been watching casting videos for years as well as doing some of my own casting including a go at lost foam. You blow everyone else efforts out of the water. I think one of the things that everyone seems to get wrong is putting the foam in casting sand. I found out, years ago, that dry sand worked a lot better but I stopped there. I think the vibration, the coatings and filling in the seams with wax are things I missed. I was heading down the road of using 3D printing to make split molds and using traditional sand casting. Now, I am in the middle of updating my hotwire rig and breaking my furnace out. One thing I did have a lot of problems with was cold shunts any advice on that front?
One quick note on my first go at lost foam casting I did find a way around the pregnant paus that happens at the beginning of the pour. I used a stir rod to check my meatal before I poured which made the rod hot. I would often used this to melt a one inch deep hole in the top of the sprue. This eliminated the pregnant pause.
Thanks Paul and totally agree on use of dry unbound vs bound sand. Nothing wrong with 3D printed patterns and bound sand, especially for higher volume, but the design freedom of evaporative pattern casting and ease of complex shapes, parting lines, and coring is fantastic. For the cold shut question, what temp are you pouring at, what is the typical wall thickness and max travel distance from a runner of feed system to the extremity of the pattern? Best, Kelly
@@kellycoffield533 To be honest those are all factors I did not pay enough attention to. What tempter are you shooting for before poring? I use a propane furnace and have been winging it for melts I think ill buy a temperature gun and see if I cant start controlling for it.
@@paulwest4780 Most of my parts are 1/4" wall and relatively high surface area/volume. I typically pour A356 at 1400F. Rule of thumb for LF is 100F-150F hotter than conventional open cavity sand casting. Best, Kelly
@@kellycoffield533 could you duplicate a aluminum cylinder head casting from a cylinder head that’s allready made?
great job! excellent patternmaking! When i casted my intake i did not quenched it and could not read the temperature of my aluminium. and when i machined it and pressure tested it under water i found that it was so porous it couldnt make vacuum because of it. (for a v8 flathead from ´51 with two drawthrough turbo.s) so i ended up powdercoating them. Do you think that quenching would made the difference? i read in a book that adding argon in the bottom of your melted material would make it denser? let me know your thoughts, and again great work!!
I just quench to cool the casting and remove the refractory coating. The casting still requires post heat treating for improved strength and machining properties. Porosity is more a matter of your pour temp, molten metal treatment, and also part/mold design. I use a resistive electric furnace that has a very favorable atmosphere for aluminum. Best, Kelly
good job on both of you guy's as i wasn't going to cast my intake as i figured it requires to much for me to do it right. but i did have one eddelbroc 383 BBM-B that was really porous and had a lot of sand/slag in it, i did get the weld to stick but it's not perfect or pretty but i wanted fuel injector boss's and bolt one ones for sale are slim pickings ect.
my new/different engine a frankinstined G2 hemi stroker id figured that welding a crossram/3 layered runner/variability runners one up or making out of fibreglass/CF is the ticket just hope that it can hold max 30 PSI of boost and a back fire 🔥does burn it and or my car
im sure you have already thought about this but could you avoid the intake bolt through the runner by using studs and nuts? either way your skills are impressive..i'm sure every classic car guy would love to be able to do what you do and cast their own parts.
Believe when I say it was the last resort but there was just no way to do since the runers cover the mounting holes. On 335 Series canted valve Ford heads there are 8 mounting holes on each side. Four of them are 3/8-16 at 22.5 degrees, and four are 5/16-18 at 45 degrees. Those mounting holes are at the 22.5 degree angle so the intake still could not be munted without removing the studs. The two central and two outer mounting holes are at 45 degrees (vertical), so the intake can lift on and off without those being removed and studs are used on those. I didnt invent the idea. There are some other exotic Ford intakes that resort to the same method. Best, Kelly
That intake on a boss will be unbelievable. I'm going to build a 427 small block Boss based on a 351W block. An intake like that with bellmouths inside a plenum will be awesome for boost. I think I'll start with a diy built 4x8 5 axis CNC Router. It will be like cheating for making the foam pieces. That's not the reason for wanting the 5 axis but just another reason to jump in. I've been sitting on the dang fence nearly 5 years. Time to get busy living.
Hello Kelly, The videos are great, I like them very much. Can a water cooled exhaust manifold be produced with this method for marine diesel engine ?
Yes
Thank you, Kelly.
The bolt’s through the intake runner are nonsense, it take 3 full threads to generate complete bolting force…did you miss that day in dynamics? And as an expert mold designer my opinion is you have too many sharp transitions and occlusions but then again what the hell do I know I only made parts for flying machines………..😆 nice work!
Held my breath on the 2nd pour...don't know if it helped.... but it was a good one! What actually happens to the ceramic that coats the foam?
Some of the coating falls off when demolding and about 90% falls off when dipped in water. The rest can be blown off with compressed air. Calling it ceramic is a bit generous. It's more like drywall joint compound. It is still water soluable after the pour. I've been calling it refractory coating while others comment on it being ceramic, likening it to shell casting, but the intended purposes are different. In lost foam the coating just preserves the pattern surface finish and serves as a permeable barrier to control the rate at which gases escape into the mold, and you do get some modest insulating value from the mold media, whereas the ceramic in shell cating is the structural mold. Best, Kelly
@@kellycoffield533 Certainly a beautiful casting....truly amazed at how the relatively fragile and permeable coating can keep the dry sand from collapsing into the burned out foam cavity!
Hey I love your casting you do and I want to do lossy foam but I need to know more like what sand do you use what foam is best to use and what do you use to coat the patterns you make and we’re do I get it... please do a how to do basic video on TH-cam.. please 😁.... I built furnace both charcoal and gas but my skills need work and I think the lost foam method rocks I want to know more...... please help share your knowledge.....
Those videos already exist. Just subscribe to my channel and look at the following entitled videos. You may find a few more of interest as well. Best, Kelly
"Pattern Materials for Lost Foam Casting"
"Pattern Construction Methods for Lost Foam Casting"
"Refractory Coatings for Lost Foam Casting Patterns"
"Reusable Pouring Basin - Lost Foam Casting"
Oh ok great 👍 thank you so much for the reply ps love your setup you created 😁👍
Impressive...
Good session...
What size is that crucible???
when the metal comes into contact with the styrofoam, does the loose sand undo the structure of the mold? that is, the fact that the sand is not compacted, does it break down and start to occupy the place that is meant to be only made of metal?
No, when vibrated, the sand it tightly packed. The pressure from the metal holds the sand in place as the foam patterns evaporates. Best, Kelly
How do the lost foam mould was made? How could begin with a 3D printer?
It was machined in pieces of extruded Polystyrene and then glued together/assemble. I'm not aware of any printable lost foam pattern media casting method. Other evaporative pattern material are possible but require shell or block investment method with pattern removal by burn-out prior to casting. Best, Kelly
Nice outcome on this one. How are you going to seal up the valley area of the engine to the outside?
The bottom side has sealing lands that line up with the valley rails on the block like other intakes. There's also a shelf in the bottom side of the intake to install a splash shield or plate so the underside could be used as vacuum plenum. There;s a boss on the rear of the intake to access it. Best, Kelly
@@kellycoffield533 got it, so it uses an intake gasket like an FE engine that is a sheet metal valley pan and gasket together
@@jamesford2942 Just flat gaskets betwen heads and intake and cork and/or silicone on the valley rails. Best, Kelly
Very impressive!
Amazing work. I hope the parts you make are VERY expensive as they certainly should be.
How’s it stand up to welding any imperfections if need be? What does it fit? Sorry haven’t watched other videos.
It can depend on the alloy, but the 356 I use welds nicely. If you are an accomplished (TIG) welder, you wont think much of casting aluminum alloys compared to wrought alloys, especially if they have been in service with liquids beause the tend to be somewhat porous and hard to get clean. Preheating the area to be welded helps sweat a lot of that stuff out and helps a lot. Best, Kelly
Just stumbled onto your channel. Pretty cool what you’re doing! But man it’s really frustrating that you keep skipping the actual work occurring!
Nice work!!
Ah, the sweet taste of success. Persistence, patience, and reason wins as ever. Damn well done - Bravo... Martin
PS, I would have hated to try and do that casting in greensand - Oh - the core work I would have needed 😱!
Many thanks Martin. Another of my lost foam curiosities is its (apparently higher) resistance to shrink defects. Though the flanges are 1/2" thick, the rest of the features are 1/4" wall, excepting the various mounting bosses which from a casting perspective appear as 1" diameter blobs positioned here and there around the casting. Perhaps the best example is where the long 1" diameter bosses connect the mounting flanges to the runner walls. From a casting perspective they present like six separate 1" diameter risers yet where they intersect and blend with the 1/4" thick interior runner wall surface, not a hint of shrinkage. I don't have a good explanation for this other than the combination of comparatively slow mold fill times and predominantly top to bottom feeding promotes a sort of natural directional solidification from bottom to top. -Just a theory, but whatever the cause....I'll take it! Best, Kelly
@@kellycoffield533 Ah, the enigma of isolated bosses and shrinkage! It may be that shrinkage has occurred via the skin sort of universally moving inwards. It can be calculated that only a few "thou" of inward movement is needed to get the boss completely solid. If the boss is still close to its melting point the skin will be soft enough to collapse inwards and provided it does not do it locally we wil never know. This whole process relies on good clean metal as it does not take much entrained oxide to serve as nuclei for shrinkage pores. High conductivity metals seem to favour sound bosses but remember that bosses may in fact have central porosity and as we often drill/tap bosses we may remove said porosity sight unseen.
My experience with isolated bosses would indicate that solidification time plays a big part in what you can and cannot get away with. What I can get away with as a sand casting would likely show shrinkage in gravity die work where solidification times are much shorter. You are using dry sand so solidification times will be a lot longer and thus I would expect you to be able to get away with more. Also of course as you point out slow and very progressive mould fill plus top down feeding just has to help... Martin
Is there a factor of shrink with casting aluminum by this method?
Never mind, I got my answer in the comments.
What is your engineering degree in?
Hey buddy, I reccomend you do not do this on concrete, for safety reasons. That said, fantastic work! I need to find someone who can sand cast prototypes from time to time. I just this week had one to do, and had to redesign it for my cnc mill because I measured my flask and realized it was too big for my little setup. Are you open to work?
We all need to assess the level of safety and preventitive measures we are are comfortable with but I can assure you for all but large spills, the risk if a steam explosion from aluminum splashs, even pounds of, is about nil. They fan out and freeze so fast you can handle them in a couple minutes. Now if I dropped a full A60, that could be a different story but in that case I'd simply vacate the area and watch from a distance. The other side of this discussion is it's not exactly safe walking on sanded concrete either. If I was pouring iron, I may reconsider. Same for the those that have commented in my other videos about pouring in street shoes. Spats would be a good addition, but I'd rather have shoes I could kicked off quickly than those laced up tight. Either way I'm comfortable with my choices. As far as casting for hire, I'm pretty stacked up with projects and 90% of people don't have a realistic expectation as far as $. Best, Kelly
@@kellycoffield533 good to know! I was told to keep it off the concrete from someone older and wiser than myself, haha. As far as realistic $$ expectations, I feel your pain, I make my living by offering design and prototyping.
Fantastic work. Are you going to show the machining? Do you do the heat-treating yourself? I appreciate all your hard work making these videos.
Not sure if I'll video the machining. I heat treat to T5 in the same resistive electric furnace I melt in. T5 achieves the majority of the strength and machinability improvement without the risk of casting damage. Best, Kelly
@@kellycoffield533 Cool. Always more to learn. Thank you for the great video series.
Preheat The Mold In Oven Before Casting ???
Why? The foam would melt and unbound mold would collapse. Best, K
What material you use for coating. Is it diy or you buy it from market
See this video. th-cam.com/video/LdgGkqvk5mc/w-d-xo.htmlsi=9XkQs0RJDis6RaUI There are many other lost foam related videos if you look through my channel. Best, Kelly
Can you cast a cylinder head with this method?
Yes. It's routinely done in commercial industry. When Saturn was making cars, the blocks and heads were lost foam castings. Have alook here: th-cam.com/video/KRW_DniO68M/w-d-xo.htmlsi=kuRwW1ri1mZR2499
What kind of sand did you use?..where can it be bought?
It's just fine washed and dried silica sand. It can be bought at retail stores. Do not buy play sand that is wet. It can be almost any silica sand as long as it is very dry. Best, Kelly
This is just awesome. gives me loads of ideas for parts for my old Harley. What alloy do you cast with? A380 series or?
I cast primarily with A356 just because it's a great all-around casting alloy, can be heat treated, and since I had/have minimum buys of ingot, practically speaking I needed to choose a single alloy, but no magic in A356. There are plenty of suitable alloys for automotive parts. Best, Kelly
@@kellycoffield533 Thanks for your reply. One other question if you dont mind. The foam you use, is it some special foam or? Probably a silly question but im really interested in this casting method :D
@@Nifilheimur Search my channel for a video entitled "Pattern Materials for Lost Foam Casting". The foam and other pattern making materials are discussed there. Best, Kelly
Are you related to thunderhead289? Sound exactly alike...
Nope.
Good job
Great videos but i can barely hear you. Are you using some EQ or compressor? Sound is very quiet and muffled. When I go to next video and forget about volume I'm blasted away.
Still given a like tho ;)
I usually just mute and hide all whiners and complainers from the channel. It only takes one click and raises a satisfying smile when I do it. Your like is the only thing that saved you.....for now.
you make the dipcoat yourself? and out of what?!
The refractory coating seen in the video is a commercial product called Polycap 600 made by REFCOTEC but for aluminum, non-setting drywall joint compound thinned with water to a viscosity suitable for either brushing or dipping works as well. Best, Kelly
@@kellycoffield533 thanks after rewatching your vids 10 more times i figured it out and also joined the forum. :)
Are you making an entire engine?
No, just the carbureted induction system. Best, Kelly
would love to make ceramic shell slurry myself, but so far no time :~D maybe better start with foam, haha
You have the process down pretty well. I'd suggest going EFI because it doesn't look like it'll run very well with carbs.
Puedo usar fomi de molde o unisel cual me recomiendas.
Utilizo tablero aislante de espuma de poliestireno comprado en tiendas de construcción y mejoras para el hogar. Best Regards, Kelly
@@kellycoffield533 orale gracias.
What dip coat do u use, or prefer?
Search my channel. There is a video devoted to coatings. Best, Kelly
Please get a microphone so we could hear you better, keep the videos coming thanks
That's just great, wow
molten metal + concrete =pop you need a shallow sandbox still just awesome
Amazing!
Neighbor outside mowing, Kelly casting aluminum. :D
Very interesting!