The Shop > Metal Stuff
Casting a Model Westinghouse-Type Twin Steam Engine in Iron
vtsteam:
While I'm waiting for it to cool, I broke one of the ingots on half to see what it looks like inside. Well, nothing like I've seen before...
I don't really know what I'm looking this time around for cast iron -- it's very uniform and silver, not white and not gray.
It isn't really chilled because I can file it, though it is tough. It was VERY hard to break. I had to go 4 tries with a sledge. Also it rang when it fell on concrete, In other words, it sounds like white iron, breaks like semi-steel, files like somewhat hardened steel.
Some new kind of animal....
The photo just doesn't show the shiny silvery quality...
vtsteam:
The shake out. Looks like the core did its work:
vtsteam:
Free of the sand the casting looks good:
vtsteam:
I cut off the runners -- they were in awkward locations and didn't respond well to a hacksaw blade -- chilled at the junction, so I used an abrasive cutoff wheel.
Otherwise I found that most of the casting filed well, with the exception of a couple of small chill spots. I took off most of the flash with a file, and roughed in some other areas just to see how workable it was.
I think I'll try annealing the whole casting tomorrow. No idea if this will work with this disk rotor metal, whether the general hardness is an alloy contribution, or whether like other types of cast iron, it will respond to annealing....guess we'll find out tomorrow....
Anyway, success on the third attempt at the Westinghouse Twin casting! :ddb:
tom osselton:
That is a good casting I would expect it to anneal with no problems.
Would coating the pattern with graphite smooth out the casting?
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