| The Shop > Metal Stuff |
| Building a Furnace to Melt Aluminum |
| << < (2/5) > >> |
| MetalCaster:
I use petrobond sand, which is an oil-based sand. If I were going to make a limited number of parts, I would try some water-based sand from Budget Castings, and use good venting in your molds. To use petrobond effectively, you really need some type of muller, or some way to get good mulling action. Petrobond will dry out, and addtional oil and sometimes alchohol must be mulled into it. I am not entirely pleased with the maintenance that petrobond required, but have not tried water based sand yet. If you use water-based sand, don't get it too wet or the water inside the mold will flash and eject molten metal back out of the mold like a volcano. Be safe above all else and do your homework if you intend to cast metal. So far I have not had to use any additives to the aluminum I use. I just melt it, skim and pour as quickly as possible to minimize disolved gasses getting in the mix. |
| MetalCaster:
I use a diffeent sprue/basin/runner/gate arrangement now, shown below. |
| NeoTech:
Why the dead end runner?? *curious* |
| MetalCaster:
Any lose particles of sand, dirt, etc. anywhere in the system will get swept directly into the mold cavity, unless you have a trap, in which case the initial wave front of molten meltal will sweep out the spure/basin/runner system and trap all the particles in the trap. I always blow out the mold lightly with compressed air, but you generally always disturb a slight amount of sand when you assemble the cope and drag, and no sense having sand inclusions in your part. |
| NeoTech:
Smart, never seen anyone do that before though. =) |
| Navigation |
| Message Index |
| Next page |
| Previous page |