The Shop > Metal Stuff
New lining for the iron furnace
vtsteam:
I finally did cast something from radiator scrap this evening, just to see if there was any difference in melt times. Definitely was -- exactly half, 30 minutes to pour, compared to an hour for disk rotor scrap for the Westinghouse Twin. Melts were the same size, 7 pounds each. Both got 11 grams of ferrosilicon. This time I just cast a rod of iron, using a pipe 10" long as a pattern to try to get some 1-1/4" stock. I just plugged the ends of the pipe with sand. The pipe was 1.335" actual dia. so some machining allowance was available.
I figured it would be a handy piece of stock to have around. It poured uneventfully, though lots of slag was skimmed off. Losses were high -- about 20%. It poured just a tad short because of that -- the sprue and riser didn't completely fill -- lost maybe a half inch of head height. It was a shallow flask - 2" each, cope and drag.
There was a little shrinkage towards the ends -- I probably didn't place riser and sprue in ideal positions, but it was just a quick judgement call. I'm very interested to see if there are any internal casting flaws, and how hard it is. I had big problems with both blow holes and slag inclusions in my early days of iron when using radiator scrap. But maybe things will be different this time around.
Here's a photo of this quick casting attempt -- just before dinner!
ps....after dinner -- the runners sawed off with a hacksaw, which generally indicates it's going to be nice gray cast iron for machining. Also the worst shrunk spot calipered to 1.28" thickness, so I can probably get 1.25" dia for almost if not the whole bar. Not that I have an immediate need for it, but both my lathes and all my QC tool holders fit on a 1.25" posts, so it's a useful size for me. Also it can be used for small engine cylinder liners and piston rings.
tom osselton:
It looks great on the outside it will be interesting to see if it’s inclusion free when you get around to it.
vtsteam:
Tom, I machined half of it down to true 1.25" to look for flaws and there weren't any. It's very nice machining iron.
tom osselton:
Excellent looking piece you’ll have to get busy stocking up on sizes now for the winter months.
vtsteam:
Thanks , Tom. I've got a whole lot of leftovers from the problem castings I had years ago both castings and sprues, etc. lots of flaws misruns, mistakes.
I'd like to see if I can recast that metal now that I'm better at it. I don't want to risk some important casting with it, but casting raw metal stock like that bar is easy and forgiving. And even if one section has a flaw, likely, you can use the rest of whatever shape you cast. Maybe some thicker rounds and some square bars and some plate.....
It would also feel good to kind of right those mistakes. Unfortunately it's going to rain the next few days, but when it clears up... :dremel: :dremel: :dremel:
Oh also, I checked the underside of the furnace lid, and it is absolutely pristine after a couple of melts. I really like the Satanite.
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