Amalg, I just happened to be in the right place at the right time to pick this machine up. I have modified it quite a bit to suit what I do. It is indeed the most complicated gravity die machine that I have. Thanks for your comment..Martin.
Mike, It did not happen over night, more a matter of one step building on another for many years - its part of a lifetimes collection of knowledge experience and stuff - lots of stuff most of it very heavy... Martin
@@olfoundryman8418 That might be Martin but I hope everyone appreciates the difficulty associated with your tasks and the extent that those experiences contribute to the results you achieve. Some of the tasks that you demonstrate to we newbies show us in 30mins what may well have taken you years to get right. I for one am grateful for the knowledge you pass on...
Your videos are great! What a difference to watch someone who knows what they're doing after trying to learn from all these youtube knuckleheads of the sort who quench everything in water.
Loners, Thank you for your comment. Glad to be of help. Sadly the knuckleheads and turd polishers are everywhere and they know nothing about making castings and indeed that is not their aim anyway - they are only interested in making videos which they hope to see go viral. I just wish that they would chose an area other than foundry to spread their misinformation... Martin
Thanks for sharing I have started my own foundry for 3 months but the things went in a wrong way i had no orders so i closed my shop and started working in factory of potato chips out of my environment and my passion So i watch videos on youtube j to burn the sandiness hopefully i will be back to casting
Rahib, I think you have to start part time at the foundry - its what I did for many years - I worked the foundry on holidays and weekends. This allowed me to slowly build up a small cliental and a reputation for good work later I was able to go full time but I never made a lot of money and it was hard physical work. In some ways potato chips might be better!... Martin
Awesome videos Martin, exactly the kind of casting I'm looking to do, I've been working on cutting some dies from 3 in steel plates. After market differential covers for off road trucks is what I'm casting and though I'm still learning these videos help me a lot. Thank you for sharing.
Ray, I have used dies cut from steel - both mild steel and H13. BUT to be honest I would recommend grey cast iron bought as continuous cast bar you can get it up to at least 300 mm diameter. It machines easily to a reasonable surface (bit dirty I guess). It has about twice the thermal conductivity of steel and that makes for a higher casting rate and better casting properties, Also once "seasoned" (by first use) the graphite flakes at the surface get eaten out a little and this provides excellent keying for the die sprays. Truck diff covers are quite large and you may have to bolt pieces together to get a big enough slab, but I always think that slabbed up dies as opposed to cut from solid are better as air can escape out the bolted joints, just need to be clever about where the joints are. Gravity die is an art form 😏… Martin
@olefoundryman I thought about grey cast iron but wasn't sure, thank you for your knowledge Martin. I know it's going to be a learning experience but isn't it all.
Martin, these die castings look like they are custom parts but you are making them in some quantity. Are they aftermarket for a particular vehicle or class of vehicle? Regards, Mark Presling
Mark, They are after market for V8 engines. They are machined into a few different configurations and flow rates. My customers web site www.efihardware.com/ has the info on this. .. Martin
Donnie, 100% diesel. Years ago I tried a blend of old sump oil and kerosene way to messy to deal with most of the sump oil had lots of water and grey sludge in it - probably lead from the then wide use of leaded petrol back then 😱. The fuel cost turns out to be about 2% of the cost structure so its not really all that relevant.... Martin
Martin, as always I enjoy watching your videos usually 3 to 5 times to make sure I can absorb whatever I can. I cannot speak for anyone else but I would like very much if you made a video one day about your furnace(s) and other shop equipment, personally I found this video very interesting. Regards GRC
GRC, I have been asked for a shop tour video on a few occasions and one day with a bit of luck I will get around to it (lots of other videos to do too), however I warn you there is not really all that much to see and you might be disappointed... Martin
What an interesting video, Martin. Really looking forward to seeing this setup in action. Love the furnace too, I'm a bit jealous... but you can keep the fuel bill haha !! Cheers Andy 🍺🍺👍👍
Melt, To melt about 160 Kg and keep it hot (a days worth) uses about 55 litres of diesel at about $80.00 total, the metal is about $750.00 total so the fuel is really a minor part of the cost structure. If I was to use LPG though the fuel would be closer to about $200.00. Furnace is a bit scary - what do I do with al that metal if the crucible breaks (fortunately they usually do not "break" but just start to leak slowly) Real problem is a new crucible is north of $1000.00 - now you can have that 😊... Martin
Ask, I have several dies that fit this machine and while I have 5 other smaller machines (none hydraulic) this is my go to machine for any work needing some force to operate the die. The smaller machines generally have manual over centre clamps and slide hammer core extraction. A friend has suggested that I show some of these machines and work made in them at the end of this video series - sort of a sequel I guess so stay tuned...Martin
Cometsa, Thank you for your comment. The burner is one made here in Melbourne Australia where I live. I bought it new back in about 1968. As I recall it cost about a weeks wages at the time! But it was money well spent as it is still going strong and has kept my furnace hot for thousands of hours. I normally use this burner on my smaller furnace - it takes an A90 crucible which holds about 32 Kg of aluminium while the furnace use din this video holds about 75 Kg of aluminium. I believe that the same company still makes this burner and the following link will take you to a data sheet. majoreng.com.au/pdf/S%20Type%20Oil%20Burners.pdf Mine is the S4 model and running this bigger furnace it uses about 50 to 60 liters of fuel in a day - (its actually not a very efficient furnace as it is uninsulated and open topped.) I burn diesel fuel Hope this helps.... Martin
S Bell, The DVD idea has been floated before as has "write a book" and considering some of the books out there it would not be too hard to provide good info. However it would be a big book, take years, and I am no author and then I might die before I finish (I am old)... Martin
I sure hope you are storing your videos as is. So much can be learned just watching your successful casts even without explanations. Since you explain very well it's not an issue. I can see TH-cam having a conniption fit and going down when Google finally gets caught for data theft or claiming all video to be their intellectual property, etc, having your accumulated work vanish would be a great loss to us. Just release it in chronological order so we can see you evolve ideas and methods. Your family or a charity could sell it via DVDs or downloads. Even at $10-$20 a set to a quarter of your subscribers is not to be sneezed at.
Eddie, Yes, I still have every video saved as uploaded and I do intend to keep them. To be honest I have moved forward (a little) since starting the videos and I cringe a little at some of the earlier ones but - Eh - they are part of the story... Martin
G’day Martin, now that’s taking home foundry to the next, no, nexxxt level. Was this machinery from the closure of a local foundry? Or did you buy it on Gumtree:) Gotta wait for the next instalment, you teaser you. Stay safe on the pour, if we don’t see a follow up I’m wondering where to send the flowers, there’s some aluminium in that pot. Cheers Peter
Peter, The real fun bit was making that die - I redesigned the part and then cut the die myself but first I had to buy a CNC mill get it running and learn to use it - took a year! The machine that holds the die used to be used by a local brake parts manufacturer. I worked there as foundry metallurgist for a few years and acquired the machine then when they made it obsolete. It used to run on compressed air (terrible) but I converted it to low pressure non flammable hydraulic fluid and added the upper cylinder. Yes, next level, perhaps and as someone else remarked that it is way beyond what most hobbyists would ever get up to in their foundry but as I said in reply "once it was way beyond what I would have got up to". Its just a matter of what comes your way and what you make of it. The pot worries me a bit - what do I do with all that aluminium if the pot cracks and starts to leak? I should get a new one but at close to $1000.00 its not on - this one was full of water 😱when I was given the furnace with it in - not good to get them wet - lots of slow drying 😏… Martin
Great setup. Reminds me of when I used to cast lead for battery cell connector bars and terminals. The casting of the plates was automated. Well to a degree haha. Had some big jam ups. Didn't take long to get into trouble. 18/ min!. Thanks for sharing. Do you have to vent the chill at all
Oh we called moulds chills. They were machined out of cast iron, we had to vent them on the parting lines to get them to fill. Of course the lead sets 'chills' very quickly
Rupert, I use many "tricks" to vent the die. It helps if we can fill the die from the bottom up and thus just push the air out. I don't like little "Vs" cut from the cavity on the part because it can give nasty little spikes to file off. While I have used them I do prefer to cut down about 0.05 mm deep at the parting line about 6 mm wide all around the cavity and then connect the outside of this cut to the edge of the die at several places. Done right the metal will not flash down this thin gap but the air will get out through it. I have even just propped the parting line open with a bit of shim or even a hammer dent or two 😊Also I like to slab dies up (rather than always cut from solid) and bolt the pieces together so that air can get out through the very small bolted gap (can shim this open a little if necessary) You just need to be clever with where you place the slab joints to get maximum effect. In this die the bit forming the large flange is bolted on so the corner of the flange vents well and thus casts properly. For tricky areas a small hole drilled through the die and blocked with a slightly bent (to hold it in) pin with one or more small flats filed on it works well. But the die spray is most important - it is slightly rough and the metal flows over it in its own oxide skin on top of the roughness air gets out under the metal through the minute passages around the "roughness" of the spray - a miss fill is often cured buy a quick spray in the area concerned. But certainly as no doubt you well know getting the air out is most important and needs special attention in gravity die as compared to sand casting where the whole mould is porous. I have worked with air cooled moulds and even a few water cooled ones. Never had to apply heat other than initial heat up but have had to insulate dies to stop then loosing heat too fast.... Martin
Smallcnc, Yep, No - seriously cores can be hard to pull as the solid aluminium shrinks onto them so you need plenty of power to extract them and the bottom cylinder seems the one most often used for the core.... Martin
Hi, I still looking around Texas for 14ESS coating and for I think it the release coat Blue, from Fossil but I was wandering is on my tilt mold that I am making out of 1inch thick steel plate for the pattern is there a recipe for making a cheap coating so the aluminium doesn't stick to the mold that might be found in a hardware store until I can get the right stuff from Fossil , any help would be greatly appreciated
Brad, Yeah that spell check can be a bit of a bother. The release coat blue is from ZYP coatings not Foseco. Years ago everyone used to make up there own coatings although that was before my time (gee, it WAS a while ago then!). The coating is made from fine refractory particles , water, a binder, and some sort of suspending agent. Typically refractories might be talc, iron oxide, fine alumina, fine sand, even very fine crushed up old fire brick might do, The binder is commonly sodium silicate solution, and the suspending agent bentonite or some other clay. I have never tried to make my own (too busy making castings ) but you could try two volumes talc, two volumes iron oxide (concrete pigment) one volume 32% sodium silicate solution plus about 1/4 volume bentonite. Try to get a thick cream to paste consistency. dilute this with water about 4 water to one paste should be a bit like a thin milk, spray this on the HOT (200 deg C) die with an automotive spray gun - small touch up guns seem best - It should flash dry on hitting the die, if it sits there and just bubbles the die is too cold off . New dies never hold the spray well - it tends to flake off but when the dies is used next time it will behave better. Sand blast the die before heating it up. With just the talc and the iron oxide it will be a fine spray best suited to small castings, for larger stuff you need a rougher spray have to add some say 150 to 200 mesh stuff either alumina or silica or another refractory (try ceramic supply houses for small quantities of something suitable.) I have never tried any of this you will just have to experiment and try it out for yourself -- good luck and let us know how it all goes..... Martin
Greatly appreciated, I was thinking along the same lines with sodium silicate and fine sand but I didn't think of the bentonite clay mixing in. I see where that would help. Soon I give it a try. On a side note, you may like to know after watching the video on your aerator machine and made my own very similar to yours with a chopping area with about 7" to 8" diameter and about 10" and 5 levels of rebar and bolts for blades. Works great only wish made the feed wall higher to keep it from spitting out some of the sand, I think that is apart of the joy of doing this kind of things is the trail and error and figuring it out. And once again thank you for your advice and your videos
Paul, Yes, I did make them myself. I redesigned the part to make it look nicer, bought an older CNC mill, got it working, learnt how to use it, and cut the die - this took about a year...😏.. Martin
Craig, For this part about 60 per day but it also takes a few days to get set up and then a day de-gating and heat-treating. Other smaller parts done this way can get to nearly 500 per day. After every day the die is stripped and cleaned. The total run this time was 123 pieces.... Martin
Beauty ! i'd deffo end up with a boz-eyed 4-barrel throstle grotty instead of the perfection you make ;) Cap'n Marty to Engineering: furnace on, full cast ahead !
Chris, This is why many foundries set up in Melbourne years ago we USED to have cheap energy - sob - no more. 60 litres of diesel over 11 hours in the day so the equalivant of maybe about 1000 KM in a diesel 4*4 so a bit less than the vehicle would use. Its about 2% of the cost base. But yes big foundries use BIG amounts of power it is an energy intensive industry... Martin
chris moule, another reason to use proper casting alloys to get good results. No point wasting those valuable resources on melted down cans. Martin only uses alloys that he knows are right for the job, he is a firm believer in rubbish in rubbish out. He has never sold me a casting that was not a good one!
Chris, To complete the story I have made thousands, probably tens of thousands of castings, that SmallCnc has machined on his nice little Hercus CNC lathes. What he says is absolutely spot on - GIGO and lets not waste any more energy that we have too... Martin
Hello Martin! I must say these recent videos are even better than the earlier ones; you seem to be explaining things more thoroughly for those of us who have no idea what you're doing! I had an idea for that "overhead vertigo" feeling; it's clearly good to have the camera watching from above when you're at the bench, but I thought about This Old Tony's approach, where he's on one side of the bench, and the camera is pointed in from the other side, as if we're sitting (or standing) across. I think these shots would be similar that if the camera was rotated so the "uphill" side was toward you rather than away from you. I don't if I'm being clear, or maybe just poking my nose into where it wasn't asked to go! :) Good on ya.
Phreadrick, In truth I have struggled with camera position, never quite found one I am completely happy with. If I made any money from this (I may monetarize soon) I would get another camera (with image stabilization) and have a second view aspect that I could cut too and from in a video. Others have suggested the angle you mention and I did try it but it was not to my liking I felt that it would be best if people saw what I see rather than an upside down view of it. However I may retry particularly if I do get a second camera. No worries mate, all suggestions welcomed, even maybe some of the rude ones 😊… Martin
arnh, Complex, Hmm, you should have seen me trying to code my new (to me) CNC mil to cut this die. The mill does not use G code - it has its own strange type of code and every line of it had to be worked out and then hand typed it. Lots of trials cut in wood before the real thing 😏. One does not arrive at this sort of complexity over night, rather it is the result of many small steps each building upon the other over many, many years... Martin
Joseph, Well --- Maybe. Several problems. I won't use junk metal, its just not worth the problems it causes. Many throttle bodies out there are made from machined billet totally different alloy to that which I cast and unsuited to being cast Don't think there are enough junk old throttle bodies out there - not here in Australia anyway..... Martin
![BOWKYLION - วิงวอน (ex-change) [Official MV]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/cLdnZWDaO-w/mqdefault.jpg)
![[TH] 2024 PMGC League | Survival Stage วันที่ 1 | PUBG MOBILE Global Championship](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/FVFT-PFwU80/mqdefault.jpg)
Great to see professional work in a non- automated environment. Thank you for sharing your considerable knowledge.
Bike, Some things just need that personal touch and small scale gravity die work is very much just such a thing... Martin
Wow... What a rig! This is more complicated than any other one I've seen you work with. Love your work.
Amalg, I just happened to be in the right place at the right time to pick this machine up. I have modified it quite a bit to suit what I do. It is indeed the most complicated gravity die machine that I have. Thanks for your comment..Martin.
Your prior videos show your talents as a foundry man but this one takes you to master class. Great content Martin
Mike, It did not happen over night, more a matter of one step building on another for many years - its part of a lifetimes collection of knowledge experience and stuff - lots of stuff most of it very heavy... Martin
@@olfoundryman8418 That might be Martin but I hope everyone appreciates the difficulty associated with your tasks and the extent that those experiences contribute to the results you achieve. Some of the tasks that you demonstrate to we newbies show us in 30mins what may well have taken you years to get right. I for one am grateful for the knowledge you pass on...
Your videos are great! What a difference to watch someone who knows what they're doing after trying to learn from all these youtube knuckleheads of the sort who quench everything in water.
Loners, Thank you for your comment. Glad to be of help. Sadly the knuckleheads and turd polishers are everywhere and they know nothing about making castings and indeed that is not their aim anyway - they are only interested in making videos which they hope to see go viral. I just wish that they would chose an area other than foundry to spread their misinformation... Martin
Thanks for sharing
I have started my own foundry for 3 months but the things went in a wrong way i had no orders so i closed my shop and started working in factory of potato chips out of my environment and my passion
So i watch videos on youtube j to burn the sandiness hopefully i will be back to casting
Rahib, I think you have to start part time at the foundry - its what I did for many years - I worked the foundry on holidays and weekends. This allowed me to slowly build up a small cliental and a reputation for good work later I was able to go full time but I never made a lot of money and it was hard physical work. In some ways potato chips might be better!... Martin
You sir, are truly amazing. Thank you for your videos.
Rick, Thank you for your comment... Martin
Awesome videos Martin, exactly the kind of casting I'm looking to do, I've been working on cutting some dies from 3 in steel plates. After market differential covers for off road trucks is what I'm casting and though I'm still learning these videos help me a lot. Thank you for sharing.
Ray, I have used dies cut from steel - both mild steel and H13. BUT to be honest I would recommend grey cast iron bought as continuous cast bar you can get it up to at least 300 mm diameter. It machines easily to a reasonable surface (bit dirty I guess). It has about twice the thermal conductivity of steel and that makes for a higher casting rate and better casting properties, Also once "seasoned" (by first use) the graphite flakes at the surface get eaten out a little and this provides excellent keying for the die sprays. Truck diff covers are quite large and you may have to bolt pieces together to get a big enough slab, but I always think that slabbed up dies as opposed to cut from solid are better as air can escape out the bolted joints, just need to be clever about where the joints are. Gravity die is an art form 😏… Martin
@olefoundryman I thought about grey cast iron but wasn't sure, thank you for your knowledge Martin. I know it's going to be a learning experience but isn't it all.
Martin, these die castings look like they are custom parts but you are making them in some quantity. Are they aftermarket for a particular vehicle or class of vehicle?
Regards,
Mark Presling
Mark, They are after market for V8 engines. They are machined into a few different configurations and flow rates. My customers web site www.efihardware.com/ has the info on this. .. Martin
Good to see you back as it makes my day to see a master caster. Are you running 100% diesel or is it a bio mix of diesel and veg oil?
Donnie, 100% diesel. Years ago I tried a blend of old sump oil and kerosene way to messy to deal with most of the sump oil had lots of water and grey sludge in it - probably lead from the then wide use of leaded petrol back then 😱. The fuel cost turns out to be about 2% of the cost structure so its not really all that relevant.... Martin
Great video! hopefully 3 & 4 are not to far away!
Satchmo, Not too far, less than a week between each I figure...Martin
Martin, as always I enjoy watching your videos usually 3 to 5 times to make sure I can absorb whatever I can. I cannot speak for anyone else but I would like very much if you made a video one day about your furnace(s) and other shop equipment, personally I found this video very interesting. Regards GRC
GRC, I have been asked for a shop tour video on a few occasions and one day with a bit of luck I will get around to it (lots of other videos to do too), however I warn you there is not really all that much to see and you might be disappointed... Martin
What an interesting video, Martin. Really looking forward to seeing this setup in action. Love the furnace too, I'm a bit jealous... but you can keep the fuel bill haha !! Cheers Andy 🍺🍺👍👍
Melt, To melt about 160 Kg and keep it hot (a days worth) uses about 55 litres of diesel at about $80.00 total, the metal is about $750.00 total so the fuel is really a minor part of the cost structure. If I was to use LPG though the fuel would be closer to about $200.00. Furnace is a bit scary - what do I do with al that metal if the crucible breaks (fortunately they usually do not "break" but just start to leak slowly) Real problem is a new crucible is north of $1000.00 - now you can have that 😊... Martin
That is an impressive hydraulic setup. Is that all for just this one die, or do you have other dies you use with this?
Ask, I have several dies that fit this machine and while I have 5 other smaller machines (none hydraulic) this is my go to machine for any work needing some force to operate the die. The smaller machines generally have manual over centre clamps and slide hammer core extraction. A friend has suggested that I show some of these machines and work made in them at the end of this video series - sort of a sequel I guess so stay tuned...Martin
Wonderful and greatly explained
gafrers., My pleasure... Martin
Fascinating as usual. Thanks
lain, Glad you liked it... Martin
excelent video..!!!, could you share details of your furnace burner.? it looks quiet and eficcient, thanks in advance.
Cometsa, Thank you for your comment. The burner is one made here in Melbourne Australia where I live. I bought it new back in about 1968. As I recall it cost about a weeks wages at the time! But it was money well spent as it is still going strong and has kept my furnace hot for thousands of hours. I normally use this burner on my smaller furnace - it takes an A90 crucible which holds about 32 Kg of aluminium while the furnace use din this video holds about 75 Kg of aluminium. I believe that the same company still makes this burner and the following link will take you to a data sheet. majoreng.com.au/pdf/S%20Type%20Oil%20Burners.pdf Mine is the S4 model and running this bigger furnace it uses about 50 to 60 liters of fuel in a day - (its actually not a very efficient furnace as it is uninsulated and open topped.) I burn diesel fuel Hope this helps.... Martin
@@olfoundryman8418 Many thanks for your answer it is very good explanation and helpfully,
All the best and kind regards from México
Excellent job! You could make a series of videos and offer them for sale on DVD. I would certainly buy one!
S Bell, The DVD idea has been floated before as has "write a book" and considering some of the books out there it would not be too hard to provide good info. However it would be a big book, take years, and I am no author and then I might die before I finish (I am old)... Martin
I sure hope you are storing your videos as is. So much can be learned just watching your successful casts even without explanations. Since you explain very well it's not an issue. I can see TH-cam having a conniption fit and going down when Google finally gets caught for data theft or claiming all video to be their intellectual property, etc, having your accumulated work vanish would be a great loss to us. Just release it in chronological order so we can see you evolve ideas and methods. Your family or a charity could sell it via DVDs or downloads. Even at $10-$20 a set to a quarter of your subscribers is not to be sneezed at.
Eddie, Yes, I still have every video saved as uploaded and I do intend to keep them. To be honest I have moved forward (a little) since starting the videos and I cringe a little at some of the earlier ones but - Eh - they are part of the story... Martin
Incredible! Kinda puts those youtube ASSHATS making dorky video game swords from foam to shame! Martin is second to none when it comes to this stuff!
World, I could not agree more 😊. BUT look at their number of subs and views - sigh - life just is not fair 😥… Martin
What a tease! 5 and a half steekin minutes! But I will watch them again :) Thanks Martin. Keep your stick on the ice eh!
Mark, Got to keep you on tenterhooks 😊. Better on the ice than in the vice as AVE says... Martin
G’day Martin, now that’s taking home foundry to the next, no, nexxxt level. Was this machinery from the closure of a local foundry? Or did you buy it on Gumtree:)
Gotta wait for the next instalment, you teaser you. Stay safe on the pour, if we don’t see a follow up I’m wondering where to send the flowers, there’s some aluminium in that pot.
Cheers
Peter
Peter, The real fun bit was making that die - I redesigned the part and then cut the die myself but first I had to buy a CNC mill get it running and learn to use it - took a year! The machine that holds the die used to be used by a local brake parts manufacturer. I worked there as foundry metallurgist for a few years and acquired the machine then when they made it obsolete. It used to run on compressed air (terrible) but I converted it to low pressure non flammable hydraulic fluid and added the upper cylinder. Yes, next level, perhaps and as someone else remarked that it is way beyond what most hobbyists would ever get up to in their foundry but as I said in reply "once it was way beyond what I would have got up to". Its just a matter of what comes your way and what you make of it. The pot worries me a bit - what do I do with all that aluminium if the pot cracks and starts to leak? I should get a new one but at close to $1000.00 its not on - this one was full of water 😱when I was given the furnace with it in - not good to get them wet - lots of slow drying 😏… Martin
Great setup. Reminds me of when I used to cast lead for battery cell connector bars and terminals. The casting of the plates was automated. Well to a degree haha. Had some big jam ups. Didn't take long to get into trouble. 18/ min!. Thanks for sharing. Do you have to vent the chill at all
Rupert, Not quite sure what you mean by "the chill" can you elaborate please... Martin
Oh we called moulds chills. They were machined out of cast iron, we had to vent them on the parting lines to get them to fill. Of course the lead sets 'chills' very quickly
Thinking about it you have a vent built in already
We also had to cool the moulds as well as heat them to maintain a constant temp
Rupert, I use many "tricks" to vent the die. It helps if we can fill the die from the bottom up and thus just push the air out. I don't like little "Vs" cut from the cavity on the part because it can give nasty little spikes to file off. While I have used them I do prefer to cut down about 0.05 mm deep at the parting line about 6 mm wide all around the cavity and then connect the outside of this cut to the edge of the die at several places. Done right the metal will not flash down this thin gap but the air will get out through it. I have even just propped the parting line open with a bit of shim or even a hammer dent or two 😊Also I like to slab dies up (rather than always cut from solid) and bolt the pieces together so that air can get out through the very small bolted gap (can shim this open a little if necessary) You just need to be clever with where you place the slab joints to get maximum effect. In this die the bit forming the large flange is bolted on so the corner of the flange vents well and thus casts properly. For tricky areas a small hole drilled through the die and blocked with a slightly bent (to hold it in) pin with one or more small flats filed on it works well. But the die spray is most important - it is slightly rough and the metal flows over it in its own oxide skin on top of the roughness air gets out under the metal through the minute passages around the "roughness" of the spray - a miss fill is often cured buy a quick spray in the area concerned. But certainly as no doubt you well know getting the air out is most important and needs special attention in gravity die as compared to sand casting where the whole mould is porous.
I have worked with air cooled moulds and even a few water cooled ones. Never had to apply heat other than initial heat up but have had to insulate dies to stop then loosing heat too fast.... Martin
Wonderful!
holy carp! that is some set up to aspire to!
Chris, It took a few years - quite a few to get to this stage and I had a bit of, in the right place at the right time, luck along the way...Martin
10 inch at the bottom to help overcome gravity?
Smallcnc, Yep, No - seriously cores can be hard to pull as the solid aluminium shrinks onto them so you need plenty of power to extract them and the bottom cylinder seems the one most often used for the core.... Martin
Hi, I still looking around Texas for 14ESS coating and for I think it the release coat Blue, from Fossil but I was wandering is on my tilt mold that I am making out of 1inch thick steel plate for the pattern is there a recipe for making a cheap coating so the aluminium doesn't stick to the mold that might be found in a hardware store until I can get the right stuff from Fossil , any help would be greatly appreciated
Brad, Yeah that spell check can be a bit of a bother. The release coat blue is from ZYP coatings not Foseco. Years ago everyone used to make up there own coatings although that was before my time (gee, it WAS a while ago then!). The coating is made from fine refractory particles , water, a binder, and some sort of suspending agent. Typically refractories might be talc, iron oxide, fine alumina, fine sand, even very fine crushed up old fire brick might do, The binder is commonly sodium silicate solution, and the suspending agent bentonite or some other clay. I have never tried to make my own (too busy making castings ) but you could try two volumes talc, two volumes iron oxide (concrete pigment) one volume 32% sodium silicate solution plus about 1/4 volume bentonite. Try to get a thick cream to paste consistency. dilute this with water about 4 water to one paste should be a bit like a thin milk, spray this on the HOT (200 deg C) die with an automotive spray gun - small touch up guns seem best - It should flash dry on hitting the die, if it sits there and just bubbles the die is too cold off . New dies never hold the spray well - it tends to flake off but when the dies is used next time it will behave better. Sand blast the die before heating it up. With just the talc and the iron oxide it will be a fine spray best suited to small castings, for larger stuff you need a rougher spray have to add some say 150 to 200 mesh stuff either alumina or silica or another refractory (try ceramic supply houses for small quantities of something suitable.) I have never tried any of this you will just have to experiment and try it out for yourself -- good luck and let us know how it all goes..... Martin
Greatly appreciated, I was thinking along the same lines with sodium silicate and fine sand but I didn't think of the bentonite clay mixing in. I see where that would help.
Soon I give it a try.
On a side note, you may like to know after watching the video on your aerator machine and made my own very similar to yours with a chopping area with about 7" to 8" diameter and about 10" and 5 levels of rebar and bolts for blades. Works great only wish made the feed wall higher to keep it from spitting out some of the sand,
I think that is apart of the joy of doing this kind of things is the trail and error and figuring it out.
And once again thank you for your advice and your videos
Do you make those dies by yourself
Paul, Yes, I did make them myself. I redesigned the part to make it look nicer, bought an older CNC mill, got it working, learnt how to use it, and cut the die - this took about a year...😏.. Martin
How many do you make in a run?
Craig, For this part about 60 per day but it also takes a few days to get set up and then a day de-gating and heat-treating. Other smaller parts done this way can get to nearly 500 per day. After every day the die is stripped and cleaned. The total run this time was 123 pieces.... Martin
Wow!
tx5, Thank you... Martin
Beauty !
i'd deffo end up with a boz-eyed 4-barrel throstle grotty instead of the perfection you make ;)
Cap'n Marty to Engineering: furnace on, full cast ahead !
Aga, you better believe it - the metal MUST flow.... Martin
in eager anticipation
hrxy, Other parts will follow at a discrete distance can't give it all to you at once 😊… Martin
That's a big carbon footprint lol.
Makes you think of the massive amount of energy used in a full scale production
The more you make, the less energy used per unit produced.
Chris, This is why many foundries set up in Melbourne years ago we USED to have cheap energy - sob - no more. 60 litres of diesel over 11 hours in the day so the equalivant of maybe about 1000 KM in a diesel 4*4 so a bit less than the vehicle would use. Its about 2% of the cost base. But yes big foundries use BIG amounts of power it is an energy intensive industry... Martin
Rick, Exactly … Martin
chris moule, another reason to use proper casting alloys to get good results. No point wasting those valuable resources on melted down cans. Martin only uses alloys that he knows are right for the job, he is a firm believer in rubbish in rubbish out. He has never sold me a casting that was not a good one!
Chris, To complete the story I have made thousands, probably tens of thousands of castings, that SmallCnc has machined on his nice little Hercus CNC lathes. What he says is absolutely spot on - GIGO and lets not waste any more energy that we have too... Martin
Hello Martin! I must say these recent videos are even better than the earlier ones; you seem to be explaining things more thoroughly for those of us who have no idea what you're doing!
I had an idea for that "overhead vertigo" feeling; it's clearly good to have the camera watching from above when you're at the bench, but I thought about This Old Tony's approach, where he's on one side of the bench, and the camera is pointed in from the other side, as if we're sitting (or standing) across. I think these shots would be similar that if the camera was rotated so the "uphill" side was toward you rather than away from you. I don't if I'm being clear, or maybe just poking my nose into where it wasn't asked to go! :)
Good on ya.
Phreadrick, In truth I have struggled with camera position, never quite found one I am completely happy with. If I made any money from this (I may monetarize soon) I would get another camera (with image stabilization) and have a second view aspect that I could cut too and from in a video. Others have suggested the angle you mention and I did try it but it was not to my liking I felt that it would be best if people saw what I see rather than an upside down view of it. However I may retry particularly if I do get a second camera. No worries mate, all suggestions welcomed, even maybe some of the rude ones 😊… Martin
I hate my auto corrected for spell check my phone does it after I send out messages I know the place is called Foseco
Pretty complex....
arnh, Complex, Hmm, you should have seen me trying to code my new (to me) CNC mil to cut this die. The mill does not use G code - it has its own strange type of code and every line of it had to be worked out and then hand typed it. Lots of trials cut in wood before the real thing 😏. One does not arrive at this sort of complexity over night, rather it is the result of many small steps each building upon the other over many, many years... Martin
Much respect for your craftmanship. A masterpiece isn't made in one day...@@olfoundryman8418
arnh, Thank you... Martin
Best kind of casting aluminum for a throttle body would be from junk throttle bodies.
Joseph, Well --- Maybe. Several problems. I won't use junk metal, its just not worth the problems it causes.
Many throttle bodies out there are made from machined billet totally different alloy to that which I cast and unsuited to being cast
Don't think there are enough junk old throttle bodies out there - not here in Australia anyway..... Martin