• Scam Alert. Members are reminded to NOT send money to buy anything. Don't buy things remote and have it shipped - go get it yourself, pay in person, and take your equipment with you. Scammers have burned people on this forum. Urgency, secrecy, excuses, selling for friend, newish members, FUD, are RED FLAGS. A video conference call is not adequate assurance. Face to face interactions are required. Please report suspicions to the forum admins. Stay Safe - anyone can get scammed.
  • Several Regions have held meetups already, but others are being planned or are evaluating the interest. The Ontario GTA West area meetup is planned for Saturday April 26th at Greasemonkeys shop in Aylmer Ontario. If you are interested and haven’t signed up yet, click here! Arbutus has also explored interest in a Fraser Valley meetup but it seems members either missed his thread or had other plans. Let him know if you are interested in a meetup later in the year by posting here! Slowpoke is trying to pull together an Ottawa area meetup later this summer. No date has been selected yet, so let him know if you are interested here! We are not aware of any other meetups being planned this year. If you are interested in doing something in your area, let everyone know and make it happen! Meetups are a great way to make new machining friends and get hands on help in your area. Don’t be shy, sign up and come, or plan your own meetup!

The Only Local (Toronto Region) Non Ferrous Foundry which will Accommodate us Crazies

carrdo

Well-Known Member
Hi All,

Skara Non Ferrous Foundry located at 930 Kamato Road in Mississauga has been the only place which has helped me so many times over the decades with my many, small, piddly nuisance requests, the latest being I wanted 5 additional silicone bronze locomotive brake cylinder castings produced from the simple pattern which I made (see photo). They also cast aluminum and manganese bronze (but not 660 bronze). Silicone bronze can be machined in a home shop, aluminum bronze is quite difficult to machine in a home shop and manganese bronze is next to impossible to machine.

I always say that I am willing to wait as they will want to include your (wood in this case) pattern with others so they can have a full matchplate to keep costs reasonable.

All of the other non ferrous foundries here in Southern Ontario just aren't interested (they had to get big or went bust), one local foundry decades ago told me they had an 8k minimum order.

So support them whenever you can as they are all we have now. I am amazed that they are still with us.
 

Attachments

  • 1235 Pattern Raw Casting and Machined Brake Cylinder.jpg
    1235 Pattern Raw Casting and Machined Brake Cylinder.jpg
    200.1 KB · Views: 20
Last edited:
We use them at work, sometimes. I haven't been there recently, not since 2019. I went to pick up some parts, and Elizabeth was a little suspicious, so she left the geriatric German Shepherd to keep an eye on me while she checked on the castings. There was a slightly smaller than life sized cast aluminum chimpanzee sitting on top of a pile of castings in the middle of the office. Parts that were never picked up? The walls still had Skara calendars with topless women. I'm glad they're still kicking. :)
 
Back
Top