Lost Foam Casting an Automotive Timing Cover
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 3 ก.พ. 2022
- This describes the process for lost foam casting a custom automotive timing cover for the induction system in described in the 4-part series on my channel.
- แนวปฏิบัติและการใช้ชีวิต
Kelly sorry about your injury glad you're back at it. I for one would love to see the CNC run and the dip coat even if it's just sped up with some music playing the emergence of the part from the foam is captivating
If you want to see all the casting process steps, look at the "Saucer Cup & Spoon" series on my channel. It doesn't have CNC machining and I only used vacuum because it was so thin. Best, Kelly
Thanks Kelly
I’ve used your techniques to cast parts for my own car. Rocker covers, inlet manifolds and other items. The results from the lost foam is amazing as you said.
Hi Kelly, wow! what a superb casting... you are not only a highly skilled foundaryman, but an artist, AND a superb teacher! I've watched every one of your videos and joined the Home Foundary Forum. Thanks for sharing your skills - you have inspired me to try lost foam casting for myself... my mind is now reeling with possibilities and potentials. Very well done Sir! Greetings from Southport, UK (it's not in the south and it's not a port - go figure! 25 miles north of Liverpool) Cheers, Kevin.
You are someone to admire. You take a hobby and turn it into a goldmine. The rest of us have a money pit.
Found your channel this weekend. You are far more knowledgeable than most University Professors - and a better teacher, too. Thank you for sharing your skill and knowledge with us - and I look forward to seeing what I can do with what you taught me!
Thanks for the kind words and glad you found it helpful. Best, Kelly
Sorry to hear about your injury. We've missed you !
Sir, your skills are astonishing!! Thanks for showing the world how this is possible 🍻
Also sorry to hear about the hoof... hope everything works out for the best in regards to that issue
Thanks David. I'm back on my feet albiet with a little hitch in my giddy up. Best, Kelly
Wow!!! I stayed up much too late last night watching your videos. It answered so many questions that I've had about how to cast aluminum parts. I've got so many ideas going on in my head. 😂
Looked like you were already doing lost foam casting in your sleep.
I'm never going to forget foaming my own nightmares out of dreams.
Same with the pour and the demolding that's what we love! :D
Good to see you on your feet and keeping busy when you were off your feet.🤜🏼🤛🏼🇦🇺🍀😎
Here’s to a speedy recovery! Thanks for the info you provide.
This is a really impressive casting. When I first heard about lost foam it sounded like black magic, and to be honest it still does. Excellent wizard skills making this part!
Absolutely fantastic Kelly. Brilliant work, and great engineering.
I love the content but I’d like to echo what others have said and would like to see the whole process, including cnc work, coating and casting. I know you find it boring but a lot of people find it interesting. I think it’s because it shows the entire story of the part, if that makes sense?
some beautiful casting
You did a great job there sir, thank you very much. I am learning a lot from you, may God bless you
I wish you a good recovery.
You win the internet today 🤜🏼🤛🏼🇦🇺🍀😎
I am stunned how you get such quality from foam casing. My attempts always resemble a volcano!
I really wanted to see the pour. Most “Home Gamers” have a bunch of flaws in their castings. Yours turned out immaculate.
Lot's of opportunities to view the pours in my other videos. In recent times they're pretty uneventful....no flame, no smoke just foam turning into metal. Best, Kelly
Mr Kelly ! It is sad see your injury .good video and it is excellent you making simple spruce .tkanks for making a such a video .
Great work ! I am sorry you hurt yourself but we are so glad to have a new video!
Beautiful casting ! Absolutely legendary !
I love it when a plan comes together.
Beautiful work ! Absolutely Fascinating !
As always you are amazing sir. Fantastic work !! Love watching your videos. The information you share is invaluable. Thanks.
Awesome looking casting well done!
New subscriber from Somalia
Wow that turned out amazing.
I just found this video without having seen any of your others. You do what you need to do with video production but I was really hopping for all the steps explanations and reasoning, and if something makes sence one time but something else makes sence another.
You just need to watch the other videos on my channel. It's unrealistic to expect every step and bit of rationale to be repeated in every video......they'd be very long and viewers would not appreciate that level repetiton. That's why we have channels. Best, Kelly
Holy Cow thats impressive
Of you have health you have hope. If you have hope you have everything. Take care of yourself 👍
Amazing work
Amazing ….. super glad your healing well. Take care……. 👍👍😎👍👍
Impressive, thanks for sharing 👍
That was all class!
Tremendous talent.
Bummer about the leg, good though, that its well on the mend. Very frustrating not being able to do much - I have been like this for nearly 3 years, drives me nuts!
A master class as always. I doubt that anyone else doing lost foam can come within a thousand miles of you... Martin
Thank you Martin. Very kind of you to say. Nice to hear from you. Best, Kelly
wow. you are good. respect!
Would enjoy a video on the cnc of foam. You are achieving a remarkable finish on the foam. So even just an overlay of tool selection and speeds and feeds would be educational. Was thinking along the lines of your foam multistage router video earlier
impressive!
I don't have CNC router.
I'm doing a casting of old chris craft windsheild brackets. This dry sand with foam patterns is so simpler than all the mulling and ramming, and parting and etc. How about making a mold of orig part in 2 part rubber, and then pouring some kind of 2 part foam, and THEN putting foam pattern in loose sand?
I am soooo mesmerized that the loose sand doesn't collapse on it self !
Looks really good. Do you leave any extra material in the casting for finish machining?
heal fast...looks the Dr's done some casting too!
Id like to either build, or see built, either 2bbl or inline 4bbl carb based on a Holley carbs, just seems having the carb inline would distribute fuel so much better, and I love Holley carbs, maybe use a dominator for the 2bbl, and 4150 for inline four. Maybe a dominator option! A inline carb capable of 1000-1500+ CFM, a intake manifold designed to be used with them, basically runners going from port to port, across the valley to the opposite bank, with a bump. In the floor dividing the port, or possibly use dual inline fours, but a single 700-1000 CFM 4bbl should be enough, having 4 separate plenums, connected by approximately 1.5" port running the length of the carb, use either a single 50cc pump, or a pair of 30cc pumps, or possibly a pair of 50cc pumps, with a diversion valve to reduce half of the fuel to the squirters back to the bowl, when the throttle is slowly opened, use down leg annular boosters, with many tiny holes possibly using EDM possibly 100-200+
.010" to .020" somewhat resembling a band of fine mesh screen wire inside the booster, with the accelerator pump squirting into a device resembling a booster, with a more coarse screen inside, to break up the stream to prevent pooling in the intake floor, or just use a spray nozzle on the pump, spraying a fine must, with the boosters doing the same. It should be an efficient carburator, and it can use the traditional Holley bowls and metering plates, the only parts that would be difficult would be the the tiny passages for the idle circuit, likely requiring EDM or some other methods to machine tiny passages, as well as the throttle valves, I believe a large stainless throttle shaft would be useful, so it can be machined flat inside the throttle bores, possibly cutting off one side and using a dovetail to allow a flat streamline plate to fit in its place, to reinforce the shaft , to reduce chances of it breaking, use bushings and plastic labyrinth seals on the shaft at the ends, and build a bracket that uses a cable to change direction of the throttle, allowing the original throttle linkage vto work as normal. Using a small plate bolting on the intake, and a cable mount at either end of the carb, it can fit either front for ease of adjustment, or rear to hide it, or a throttle stop and idle at the traditional linkage connection! Haha, I don't know how it will look and work, but it's awesome in my mind! use a additional baffle
In the bowls to prevent fuel slosh, and possibly a EFI version, with all injection sensors built in, with the option of port mount injectors it could be the next big thing! Especially if it was affordable, especially with the LS, and dodge hemi swaps I believe will be coming! The retrofit of modern engines, with old-school looking induction is desired!
Really neat work. What foam are you using
Great stuff, nice to see how your shills have improved over time with more complex castings, some of those would be difficult in sand castings with cores and such, what software are you using to create your tool path? also I sent you some 3D models to look at if you get a chance. the surface finish is great with the lost foam.
I wish you get well soon
Great video Kelly. I meant to ask this question when looking at your manifold video series. Do you ever do post casting heat treatment? Thanks for sharing your experiences. Regards Greg from Perth, Western Australia
First off, sir you are without a doubt the best at casting that I have ever seen. I wish I could get my hands on a pair of those Autolite Inline 4's. Now for my main question what do you charge for a timing cover like that? I have a unique small block Ford cover in mind, but much simpler than that one.
You're awesome brother,could you do a quick video of an intricate part like this only using the drywall slurry to see how it differs from the 600 slurry?
U r great dear.
Wow this looks a whole new level of amazing! Do you increase your dimensions to accommodate material shrinkage? Or is the shrinkage small enough that you can just duplicate the original dimensions and still fall within tolerances?
The pattern is made 1.3% larger to compensate for shrink. Best, Kelly
Great video. How do you calculate shrink on a complex part like that???
Ouch. hope your foot is doing better. Brilliant work Sir as always.. do you model by dimension and then apply a scale for shrinkage? 6k subs. your channel is growing fast. I can understand how it is hard to keep up. Cheers
Kelly, Where is your shop located? As usual very nice work. Have a most awesome evening!
Yes another great casting. Even my wife likes it.
I think I'd take your broken leg, I'm recovering from covid been down 6 weeks and probably about 4 to be able to walk any distance. Need gain the weight I lost back too.
Get well Dave. Best, Kelly
Have you ever look at the Ron’s flying toilet fuel injection? eBay Alkie -digger I think I saw many different injections. This site is amazing and your knowledge of how things work. I us to have a predator Venturi Carb just thinking how or if it could be possible to mix with in the fuel injection? Thanx!!! I haven’t seen how you replace the foam to aluminum in casting but this is so cool. Are you using 3D printing? Are you cutting the foam free handing It? 👍👍👍👍
Hi new to the channel…. curious about what you plan to do for the oil pump? did the distributor drive the oil pump originally?
Really enjoying this channel. I've wonderd if you've ever found the need to use a pre-gate ceramic filter, OR a pour basin that lets the liquid rise over a hump before going down the sprue? (One day I'd like to pick up this as a hobby for similar purpose).
In his casting series Is a video on pour basin design and build
Just WOW,!
Pretty intricate casting there. It looks amazing. You must have been casting for a long time to get it down so perfect. What do you do if it doesn't turn out perfect? Do you have to start from scratch again? Thumbs Up!
Yes, that's life as a lost foam caster. If you have a fail, you get to remake the pattern and pour the casting again. Fortunately, these days I enjoy very high first pass success rate, and with CNC machined patterns, the time to make another pattern is usually a very small amount of time compared to the intial design and machine programming. Best, Kelly
Top parabens
Great work! I'm really surprised that the foam completely disappears and leaves no imperfections. Most other folks I've seen that do aluminum casting (with way less detail) use a vent from the lower most portion of the cast piece to top fill level. I guess the "burping" and the large well area at the fill allows for that "venting" and drawback.
Do you make the foam piece a little oversize to allow for shrinkage in the finished part? Or do the thinner walled parts with less mass just have minimal shrinkage not to worry about?
Love the vintage intake! Thanks for sharing!
In lost foam casting, the refractory coating is permeable and controls the rate that gases from the evaporating foam pattern escape, so the entire surface of the coated pattern is analogous to the vent. The pattern is made 1.3% larger for shrinkage allowance. Best, Kelly
@@kellycoffield533 Thanks!
Hello Mr Kelly. I have been seeing yours videos and they are very interesting. However, yours patterns are made by CNC or for expansion process too?
For the last several years, all of my patterns have been machined on a hobby grade CNC Router from rigid extruded polystyrene (XPS) board. Prior to that they were manually machined and/or hot wired. IMO, molding the Lost Foam patterns is impractical for one offs or small hobby quantities because of the effort required to make the mold, and poor availability and very short shelf life of pre-expanded bead stock. If it was a higher production setting molded patterns would be the preferred process. Best, Kelly
Hiw to create that foam dummy, cnc? The dummy which material xps?
Forgive me if you've covered this in another video, have you ever tried making carbs themselves? Possibly way too complicated for a home shop? I know some of the vintage weber and solex carbs we like to run are getting very expensive!
What kind of ford are you building? Shelby ? Gt40 ?
I wonder how long it will be before 3D metal printing becomes "cheap" or cheaper than this. It must take a good few man-hours to make all the foam plugs as do the casting if you were going to make 10 of something, , but it's great for one-offs. I think all these items would still be in the $1000's for 3D metal printing right now. I think many of us would like to see at least one CNC run video, I would most like to see it cut one of the logos like the joe Gibbs one, it seems to make such a clean job on something so small/detailed.
Parabens fico bom demais
Realmente é o trabalho dele é excelente.
Impressionante como consegue tantos detalhes.
E a espuma para molde não parece ser uma XPS comum, parece ser específica para fundição.
@@marceloho1984 s
Been really interested in your progress! How would I reach out to you for a project?
Kelly I hope you are feeling better. I was run over on my Harley eighteen months ago and had to learn how to walk again. I am finally walking and recovering. I have a question and possibly a huge favor. I found an old yamaha trimoto and I have been trying to restore it to get it running. The aluminum casing that is essentially a fixed swingarm broke the bolt hole tabs off that hold the axle and the bearings. I need some advice on how to repair this unit. I was thinking about Tig welding it however it may be better just to cast it. How would I go about that? I am in Pennsylvania. Thanks my friend.
Hard to say for sure without seeing it but from your description, I'd say with pretty high confidence you would be better served both functionally and financially with a properly done TIG repair, especially if you have the peices and the affected area is relatively small compared to the total mass of the part. All you need to do is locate an experineced welder experienced with cast aluminum and should be a straight forward repair. Good prep/cleaning and preheat is usually all it takes before you lay torch to it. All the best with your continued recovery. Best, Kelly
Kelly, I suppose you’re OldSchool…. but if you get a programmable fuel injection module, you can use it to handle just the ignition part ( your carbs will handle the fuel ), this way you will not need a distributor, you can use individual coils (one per cylinder) or a wasted-spark using the same style coils Ford used on the 1997 F150 4.6L V8s; using a signal from a CKP sensor reading a reluctor wheel mounted to harmonic balancer. And instead of setting the timing advance curve using vacuum and springs like the distributor, you can fine tune the advance curve using a computer. Let me know if I can help you with this kind of info, if you’re interested 😉
Amazing work. Where do you get this type of foam?
It's Owens Corning foam from Home Depot or Lowes
@@kisoia Oh I figured it was something boutique. Thanks!
@@russtuff You're welcome! Tons of info here: forums.thehomefoundry.org/index.php?forums/lost-foam-casting.14/
Hello Kelly, nice work super awesome. I would like to know if you do any casting. If so I would to communicate with you I have a few parts I would like to be made.
Hi! Kelly, I wonder how you made the Pink foam look like that? Are you using molds and then injecting or pouring foam into molds? How did you make it so smooth?
The foam patterns were cut on a CNC router and then lightly sanded with 220grit abrasive. Best, Kelly
@@kellycoffield533 I'll try to do as you said. Your answer reply helped me a lot, And I also wonder What do you use as a coating for your foam molds before casting the aluminum? Thank you!
@@pitchayach9480 Watch the video at link below for coatings. Lots of other lost foam casting info on videos at my channel. Subscribe and see. Best, Kelly
th-cam.com/video/LdgGkqvk5mc/w-d-xo.html
How do you get the position of everything right in 3d? For example the location of the oil pump, water pump, distributor, and holes.
Transfer dimensions from published prints, carefully reverse engineer existing parts, and program those dimensions in CAD/CAM model for machining. Best, Kelly
Hi Kelly, sorry about your mishap. broke mine in the same place many years ago.
What amount of shrinkage do you allow for?
Rich
He mentioned 1.3% larger mold for shrinkage in a comment
I have a question, if you were to cast a flathead V8 cylinder head, how much length would you ad for shrinkage, i head about 1/8" per foot, thanks
For aluminum: 5/32"/ft or 0.013" per inch or +1.3% or multiply the dimension by 1.013......all the same thing. Best, Kelly
Could you do a head for a 2l 4cyl engine?
Kelly, I've watched your series on the intake manifold several times. I have developed a CAD model for an 8 stack intake manifold I would like to cast. I have a CNC mill and router in my shop and would be comfortable making the foam model, but wanted to know if you offer services for casting the actual part? I would like to chat with you about this if you are interested. Thanks, Kevin
Not likely but if you want to drop me a line, there is contact info at my carburetor website www.inlinecarb.com
I dunno, looks like cast to me !😊 Hope you're OK !
How do you compensate in your patterns for metal shrinkage? I'm going to be pouring some parts soon.
exactly my question.. if I had to make an assumtion he probably oversizes or undersizes certain things when mold making and leaves enough to machine out to proper spec.. and your shrkinkage rate should be fairly easy to figure out by making a pour of your own material by making a simple mold and seeing by how much your own pour shrinks from the original mold size measurements.. im sure thicknes of the pour and a lot of other factors comes into play and thats the part id love to get his input on.
@@gregthemechanicman I make the pattern 1.3% larger (101.3%). In CAD, this is just a stroke of the scalling key. For manual things, apply the same dimmensional increase. Best, Kelly
@@kellycoffield533 What software do you use?
@@kellycoffield533 Thank you so much for the answer, I know you are inundated. That helps immensely.
Do you perform any finish machining on this yourself, or "just" do the casting?
Yes, I heat treat and machine my castings in my shop. Best, Kelly
@@kellycoffield533 Do you have any videos on how you heat treat your castings?
@@abc-bm8plIt would be a very short video. I cast with A356 and T5 at 440F for 7-9 hours. This can actually be done in a residential or toaster oven but the marriage counseling is very expensive. I use my electric foundry furnace. On occassion I T6, but rarely because it requires both solution and precipitation phases, and solution is so close to the melting temp you risk damage to the casting either through localized melting or distortion from quenching. My furnace controls temperature very accurately but the resistive heating elements radiate heat to the castings causing higher localized temps than the furnace temp. I place the castings inside a poorly insulated can to act as a radiant heat shield. But, 80%+ of the improvement in mechanical properies can be achieved with T5 so IMO, T6 is rarely worth the effort. Best, Kelly
some of us come for the details its how we learn
I wish it was possible to include all there is to know about LF casting in a single video. Most if not all of the details you seek are covered in my other videos. The Saucer Cup and Spoon series is fairly complete in that regard. If I repeated all those details in every video, they would be several hours long. Another key element of learning is being willing to invest an amount time comensurate with the level and skill and knowledge you wish to achieve.
What kind of foam is this? It just burns out during the pour?
Yes it burns out during pour, that's the essance of lost foam casting and it's advantage compared to other evaporative pattern casting like lost wax or PLA......no burn out step. It's 1.3lb/ft3 extruded polystyrene insulation board. There are videos discussing materials on my channel. subscribe/search. Best, Kelly
Well it’s got _something_ to do with casting, seeing as how you’re in a _cast_ and all.
I am curious how you’re going to drive the oil pump having moved the distributor.
You make a plug from an old distributor with shaft and gear. Best to make sure it has a good gear.......this intake needs to be removed to pull the plug. Pretty common thing to do with crank trigger ignition systems too. Best, Kelly
I kinda figured that was the solution. Fantastic work sir.
Could you die cast some type of gear? I would really like to see that!
Show
What is a source of the foam XPS in 1.3 lbs/cuft ? What glue are you using ..cold or hot ?
Search my channel for video on "pattern construction materials". All your answers are there. Best, Kelly
Thank for the reply. All 3 US manufactures are specifying XPS by compression strength in psi. Some data sheet is showing " standard density of 27-30 g/l. But I would like to purchase 20 g/l +/- . Can you give me purchasing type number and brand, please.
I use Owens Corning Foamular 150 which is 1.35 lb/ft3 (~20g/l). Sometimes I use foamular 250 which is 1.5 lb/ft3 (~24 g/l). These are pink colored XPS insulation board. Dow Corning (blue colored) make similar products. The color is just marketing and not otherwise meaningful. Nearly all the foam insulation board sold in the home improvement stores here in the USA are in this density range. Denser foam will be stronger, machine and sand better at the risk of slower evaporation and higher rates of casting defects. Best, Kelly
Thanks a lot , I appreciate your reply
Sorry to bug you with so many questions lately. I have a question about sprue size, shape, and pattern placement. I have a few decorative patterns for a heart shaped jewelry box with lettering on it. I am afraid of sand collapsing into the mold cavity as that happened on my first attempt. How long should the sprue be relative to.the pattern size? I'll be using a foam sprue and kerf cup. How wide should the sprue be. Should the pattern be face down, face up, on a diagnol slope, or vertical? If you don't mind discussing this with me, you can email me and I can send photos of the project to you. Thanks.
Diagonal slope face with detailed features up. No overhung cavities on back side if possible. I routine poured up to 10lbs with 1" diameter or square sprue. Depth at least 6" from cup to first pattern feature. If you had mold collapse on first go, unless you had a very small sprue, more likely caused by an interupted pour. Use a generous cup size and insure the sprue never becomes uncovered during the pour. Where/how the feed system is attached to the part(s) can matter too. Are you pouring multiple parts? Best, thing to do is join www.homefoundry.org rather than email. Plenty of help there. Best, Kelly
@@kellycoffield533 thanks.
I tried looking into the home foundry link, but it gave my phone a red flag for security-related problems...
(Just a heads up to you)
Would u accept orders, with CAD files attached.
Not likely at this time unless it was an intake manifold for Inline Autolite carbs on a Ford V8. Best, Kelly
Nice piece but I missed the part where the distributor is going to engage the cam gear now that you moved the distributor. Maybe I wasn't paying attention?
I comment in the video that an extension is installed on the end of the cam to drive the distributor in it's new location. The extension is only ~2". -Not my idea. Was orignally done by Ford in late 1968/early 1969. Best, Kelly
@@kellycoffield533 Thanks for the clarification.
I'm fascinated by--but largely ignorant of--this casting technique so I'll ask the obvious question. Can a lost foam part be printed?
It can be printed in PLA or other evaporative materials that require a hard shell or investment mold and burn out, but there aren't any suitable for the lost foam process that I'm aware of. Best, Kelly
Is there a way to reach you directly?
Contact info is on home page at www.inlinecarb.com
So, you got Covid in your ankle? Hope you get well soon. Anyone that still messes with Autolite inline 4-barrel carbs needs to be praised. I always thought they never got the development they should have.
Everything is fine . Dear take me to work, for an assistant, I want to master all this .Are you taking me to work for you ?