# foundry is ready to go to work



## Brian H (Apr 15, 2020)

So my foundry and burner build are complete! I heated it up slowly today to cure the coating on the kaowool. it took about 20 minutes to have a nice orange glow. I want to get an infrared thermometer to see what the internal temp really is. 
I'm planning to begin to make some ingots to "flatten" the learning curve a bit. 
I have a few patterns ready to go and need to make the greensand and a couple of flasks.


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## Everett (Apr 15, 2020)

That is awesome!  Casting is an adventure I am hoping to embark on too, once some time becomes available.  Please post progress, I like learning from others' work!


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## YYCHM (Apr 15, 2020)

What size propane tank did you start with?  Looks bigger that a 20# to me.

Gas fired is it?

Craig


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## Brian H (Apr 15, 2020)

YYCHobbyMachinist said:


> What size propane tank did you start with?  Looks bigger that a 20# to me.
> 
> Gas fired is it?
> 
> Craig



Yes it is a 20# tank that was out of date and couldn't be re-certified. I am using propane. I built the same style burners I used in my forge. I will need to do some testing to try to regulate the heat and maintain a constant temperature when I'm smelting. If I understand correctly, brass is a bit fussy with the temp you use so you don't burn off the zinc. We will see. 
I am going to start by just refining to ingots first. This is supposed to help with any impurities when you actually do a casting.


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## Brian H (Apr 15, 2020)

Everett said:


> That is awesome!  Casting is an adventure I am hoping to embark on too, once some time becomes available.  Please post progress, I like learning from others' work!



I will do that Everett.


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## YYCHM (Apr 15, 2020)

Let's see a pic of your forge.






I used a 20# propane tank to make my out-door lead melting pot.  Works great, holds lots of lead.


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## Brian H (Apr 15, 2020)

YYCHobbyMachinist said:


> Let's see a pic of your forge.
> 
> View attachment 8666
> 
> I used a 20# propane tank to make my out-door lead melting pot.  Works great, holds lots of lead.


What are you casting with lead? Freedom seeds?


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## YYCHM (Apr 15, 2020)

Brian H said:


> What are you casting with lead? Freedom seeds?








Yup


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## Brian H (Apr 15, 2020)

YYCHobbyMachinist said:


> View attachment 8667
> 
> Yup


 What calibers? I am too lazy to cast. I was just buying them in bulk. 45ACp, .44 mag, and 9mm


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## YYCHM (Apr 15, 2020)

Brian H said:


> What calibers? I am too lazy to cast. I was just buying them in bulk. 45ACp, .44 mag, and 9mm



50BP, 45ACP, 44 mag/spl, 9mm, and 38 mag/spl.

You're buying bulk boolits or bulk ammo?


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## Brian H (Apr 15, 2020)

YYCHobbyMachinist said:


> 50BP, 45ACP, 44 mag/spl, 9mm, and 38 mag/spl.
> 
> You're buying bulk boolits or bulk ammo?


bulk boolits


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## YYCHM (Apr 15, 2020)

Hey, show us your forge please.







This is my coffee can forge I made for heat treating small stuff.  Haven't been very successful with that endeavour so far.


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## Bofobo (Apr 16, 2020)

YYCHobbyMachinist said:


> Hey, show us your forge please.
> 
> 
> View attachment 8668
> ...


 For sure need to have a door or fire brick /wood cover on your can. If you need some material for a foundry or forge I’ve got some extras of old propane tank pieces around. I will be constructing my 5th forge this summer, taking everything I have tried successfully that did not work incredibly and throwing it out the window for this revision. So my super c is likely going to be listed to help finance this endeavour. Because Fire brick is not cheap. 


I like the compact wheel cart, mine is the lawn mower, I’ve posted it before, very slick. I have some high heat paint recently gifted I should clean up mine with.


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## Johnwa (Apr 16, 2020)

YYCHobbyMachinist said:


> Hey, show us your forge please.
> 
> This is my coffee can forge I made for heat treating small stuff.  Haven't been very successful with that endeavour so far.



what are you using for refractory in your forge?


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## Johnwa (Apr 16, 2020)

Brian H said:


> What calibers? I am too lazy to cast. I was just buying them in bulk. 45ACp, .44 mag, and 9mm





Brian H said:


> What are you casting with lead? Freedom seeds?



Here‘s a picture of mine. 16 to the pound,


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## Brian H (Apr 16, 2020)

Johnwa said:


> what are you using for refractory in your forge?



I have 3" of kaowool top and bottom and 1 1/2" on the sides coated with hi-temp furnace cement. I considered a second layer on the sides, but it would make it too small to fit a crucible and tongs easily


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## YYCHM (Apr 16, 2020)

Johnwa said:


> what are you using for refractory in your forge?



Plaster Of Paris.


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## YYCHM (Apr 16, 2020)

Johnwa said:


> Here‘s a picture of mine. 16 to the pound,



16 per pound eh....  That's a big hummer, 500 grain.  Looks skirted?  Mini Ball?  What caliber.


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## Brian H (Apr 16, 2020)

YYCHobbyMachinist said:


> Hey, show us your forge please.
> 
> 
> View attachment 8668
> ...



I started with a coffee can forge and had alot of trouble getting my knife blanks up to heat treat temp so I built this one. It doesn't have any trouble at all. It's got a serious hunger for the propane though. (20# will last about 30 min at full throttle)


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## Bofobo (Apr 16, 2020)

Brian H said:


> I started with a coffee can forge and had alot of trouble getting my knife blanks up to heat treat temp so I built this one. It doesn't have any trouble at all. It's got a serious hunger for the propane though. (20# will last about 30 min at full throttle)


I want to turn your forge on its side or upside down, or something along those lines for my new design, fire burns up, you need excess pressure to fight that natural effect 
Efficiency is savings


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## Johnwa (Apr 16, 2020)

YYCHobbyMachinist said:


> 16 per pound eh....  That's a big hummer, 500 grain.  Looks skirted?  Mini Ball?  What caliber.


It’s 58.  I have a muzzle loader and some 577 Sniders that it works in.


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## Johnwa (Apr 16, 2020)

There’s a book ”Gas Burners For Forges, Furnaces & Kilns by Michael Porter” that has an excellent burner design and forge design.  Mike was a member of one of the Yahoo casting groups that I belonged to.  He was big into burner design, to the extreme.  Apparently they run hot enough to give off UV so eye protection was advised. There are PDF copies of his book out there.  I don’t know what his publisher thought but Mike wasn’t concerned.  He just wanted to share his work.


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## Tom O (Apr 16, 2020)

Brian H said:


> Yes it is a 20# tank that was out of date and couldn't be re-certified. I am using propane. I built the same style burners I used in my forge. I will need to do some testing to try to regulate the heat and maintain a constant temperature when I'm smelting. If I understand correctly, brass is a bit fussy with the temp you use so you don't burn off the zinc. We will see.
> I am going to start by just refining to ingots first. This is supposed to help with any impurities when you actually do a casting.



The kaowool heats up faster than the plaster ones I was looking at the temperatures in the next week thinking it was time to melt some ingots! Use a brick or pottery shelf for the crucible when you pull it out. When you want to pick up sand try Burnco and get Golden Sand it leaves a good finish because it is a sand for grout so is fine like a facing sand.


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## Bofobo (Apr 17, 2020)

I went with potter shelf and no cement on my wool, no drainage, if I have a melt down I get a nice plate of aluminum out without much damage, I use steel nuts to elevate my crucible so they do not get stuck in the aluminum unless they cool off,


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## Tom O (Apr 18, 2020)

There is no drain in mine either so if it leaks I’ll have a excuse to mate the lid to the body better, it is also using a blower instead of the stand-alone types for more heat.


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## Marc Moreau (Apr 18, 2020)

YYCHobbyMachinist said:


> Let's see a pic of your forge.
> 
> View attachment 8666
> 
> I used a 20# propane tank to make my out-door lead melting pot.  Works great, holds lots of lead.


Be careful about the smoke  very toxic. I like to work with lead easy to meld I make big hammer for removing magnesium wheel stuck on vehicule. With lead you don't damage the rim .


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## Tom O (Apr 18, 2020)

I had a wheel stuck on my F150 I just couldn’t get that bastard off in the parking lot luckily I was able to pump it up and drive home ( @ 2:00 AM ). They had to take a sledge to the tire ( while inflated ) to get it to release so how the hell do you get it off deflated? 
What I have done with other vehicles with a quick leak is carry some screws to screw into the hole plugging it that way in a emergence or 20 deg below.


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## Johnwa (Apr 18, 2020)

I had to use a scissors jack between the frame and the wheel to get one off.


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## YYCHM (Apr 18, 2020)

Johnwa said:


> I had to use a scissors jack between the frame and the wheel to get one off.



Seriously?????  Does this have something to do with alloy rims?  I've never had to pull a tire off of my F150.  Knock on wood.


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## Johnwa (Apr 18, 2020)

Yup, alloy rims.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## Hruul (Apr 22, 2020)

The aluminum corrodes over time and they start to stick on the hub.  Same with putting them on if they are corroded.  They will not go on straight, the lug nuts will all tighten up and then after driving for a bit the lug nuts will come loose from the rim not sitting straight when it was put on.  Had a problem with that on my wife's old car.


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## historicalarms (Apr 22, 2020)

Tom O said:


> I had a wheel stuck on my F150 I just couldn’t get that bastard off in the parking lot luckily I was able to pump it up and drive home ( @ 2:00 AM ). They had to take a sledge to the tire ( while inflated ) to get it to release so how the hell do you get it off deflated?
> What I have done with other vehicles with a quick leak is carry some screws to screw into the hole plugging it that way in a emergence or 20 deg below.



  I do know of a few fuel stops that had a metal clad building that "donated" a metal screw or two to the cause of "continuing down the road" without further interruption. Some of those screws with a dab of rubber glue on the treads traveled thousands of miles, the head would wear off but the shank would continue to seal the leak. 

   And yes, those shiny polished alum. "Bud" wheels on semi's do get alum-oxided to a hub, so much so that a severe beating with a 16 lb. "FBH" is required.


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