sand casting/aluminum-projects

[Shep1970]

Well not much accomplished today, made a 2" block with a 1/2" tongue that i'll stick in the reciever hitch on the truck. Figure i'll jack up the rear to see if/when it snaps off. Then slice open the 2" block to have a peek inside (towards the end of wk though).
formed out of wood

Edit-------
Ok 1/2 ton chevy quadcab truck, just as rear wheels were going to leave the ground SNAP. Alot stronger than i would have thought. No bending first, it just let go....
2x2 sawzall cut then sanded with 120 belt sander, added stain to darken up pockmarks last pic. I'd say not bad i guess



One more edit: i need a couple new axle wrenches, i'm making it in plastic first so i can fine tune it a little. Maybe pour alum tomorrow(sunday) remember this is rough i gotta cut the far end off .
Shep

[Shep1970]

A little more pouring today, its not a real interesting piece but i think i learn something new each time. Anyway thanks for looking. And yes i could have bought an axle wrench but its the experience im going for here.


Shep
I could always turn it into a cool butter knife i guess if it fails.

[Shep1970]

Well here we go again, the wife wanted me to make a copy of the FOX trailer hitch for her. The plastic one i guess just doesn't do it for her. I have to have it done before noon so, and i had to modify the box a little, jeez she owes me bigtime...here's one pic- . I will update shortly.
gotta go set up the furnace now, ok she's gettin' hot done-just a little indent between his eyes(needed a vent/riser) there.


Shep

[Shep1970]

Todays project- kinda would like a "sand rammer" but not going to spend the $ on a new one (500-700) rebuilt ones go for around 200.00
Well if it fails i learned that yamabond "5" works great to coat clay parts, makes a nice hard shell!!!
Now to make some alum-parts the pistol grip is going to be a tough one. Now i have to carry it over to the furnace which is about 75' away (i have to change that!!)

Well here's a couple dirty pics-now to clean em' up

Well its ugly but if it works thats all that matters...$12 harbor frieght palm nailer is a small investment i guess.
edit- i had the kids play around w/it tonight and it hasn't self destructed yet.......

Think i'll try a trizinger gas cap next, i've got the core setting up but not sure if my core sand is fine enough. 3-days later-sand core failed...(need different sand)

So i figured i'd make a mold of a stock tri-zinger cap, went to make some wax patterns(copies)- the top part of the cap is way too thin the wax won't even fill that area so molten alum wont either. Other than that the part came out great. Hmmm well i'm going to put that aside for now. Well maybe one more try.


Shep
Edit----
Hopefully pouring today 10/14 but rain delay "at the moment" not the cap though.....

[Shep1970]

Here's todays pouring for those interested- just out of sand--
86/87 200x heat shield
--edit--
Here's as far as (i'm) going with it (had it mounted- good fit) my son claimed it for his bike, but he wants to take it to school and use the shop buffing wheel to shine it up more.
I'll take it off his bike in the future to make more if needed or wanted, just have to run it for a bit so theres no issues.
I'm pretty sure the header temp is 300-500 (guess?) if it reached melting point (1350ish) i've got other issues!!!
I looked around, theres a few older motorcycles that use a cast alum heat shield. This one is about 4mm thick so it is strong.
Shep

[Mr. Sandman]

Very cool. Back in the late 70's and early 80's in my high school metal shop class, I sand cast a pair of aluminum DeHandler shorty brake and clutch levers for my IT175 using Red Rider's plastic levers for the mold. From what I recall they came out pretty nice and worked great. I also have a brass Moto-X Fox belt buckle somewhere at home that I cast from a friend's real Fox buckle. Good times, "back in the day".

[Shep1970]

Very cool. Back in the late 70's and early 80's in my high school metal shop class, I sand cast a pair of aluminum DeHandler shorty brake and clutch levers for my IT175 using Red Rider's plastic levers for the mold. From what I recall they came out pretty nice and worked great. I also have a brass Moto-X Fox belt buckle somewhere at home that I cast from a friend's real Fox buckle. Good times, "back in the day".

I'm really liking this hobby. Went to my son's school open house last week, hung out with his metal shop teacher most of the time/he found out through (AJ) that i was doing this and he had lots of questions about it and wanted to maybe start doing it at home "the school would not allow a furnace in the shop" He has found some small foundry stuff around the shop so someone has done it there in the past.
Find myself looking around the house for things to make just for the hell of it, and to learn more. I have to get back to my original projects though.
I have to cast my kids hands this sunday/should be interesting...

I actually have some red brass on order so i can try it out, i figure whats another 400 degrees.......(over alum)

The only issue i'm having is i still have my 80's hair (not short) every once in a while i can smell hair burning, i guess its time for a haircut. My forhead has gotten bigger though over the yrs.

Shep

[tripledog]

^^^ Shep, don't feel too bad. My forehead has gotten so big that it is now a fivehead.

[Scootertrash]

Cool! I haven't done any sand casting since high school. Back in the day they would actually teach you how to work with your hands.

[Shep1970]

We ended up taking our son out of public school "he hated school, c student if he was lucky, same public school said he was a "slow learner" was in a special program they said that he needed. So we had our own specialist test him, the woman said that school was just using him for a # for state aide "they get extra funding from state for so many kids"
Well very soon after we pulled him out.
Now at a tech school- he's an honor roll student "top of his class" loves school now!!!
Ok a little off topic but just wanted to point out that this new school teaches you to use your hands and actually learn more than what the state/gov "says to learn"
Ok enough rambling- just a very proud dad here.

Other son wants to be indiana jones or chef ramsey and will be going go a tech school as well....
Have a great wk-end

Shep

[Shep1970]

Had a nieces 1yr old birthday party this afternoon but my son and i still somehow managed to do one pour.
Just finished in the dark not too fun. The hard part was him trying to keep his hand still for a half hour, well heres the
Result its really cool, he's in the garage putting a file to the parting line scrap. Finished

Thanks for looking-

Shep

[Shep1970]

Here's my last casting for a couple wks, i didn't pour it hot enough you can see where the alum started thickening. I have to learn to slow down (have patience). But you get the idea, my phone keeps telling me its full, hope no-one cares i post my fails here. It stinks working on it for 2hrs w/this result

86/87 200x keypad "well almost"

Shep

[tripledog]

Not failures, just learning as you go.

[atc300r]

I also remember doing casting and machine work in shop and ag class in school.The Junior High I started working at in the late 80s had a full metal,wood and leather shops with old lathes and a bunch of cool stuff. Now they do everything on computer.

Cool! I haven't done any sand casting since high school. Back in the day they would actually teach you how to work with your hands.

[El Camexican]

I'd really like to see a Tri-Z clutch cover tried. Machining the water pump areas would be the most difficult part. Hell, If you could cast a "back half" of the Z cover and then weld the complex part of the OEM case to it in a little hold down fixture, that would probably work suprisingly well. Band saw OEM cases right infront of where the clutch housing area is, and weld it back to a reinforced area in the back. The fronts never break, its always the back around the kicker shafts. I'd be down to try that.

I showed one of our casting suppliers a photo of a clutch cover and asked him for a quote last week.

He said it would need to be injection cast and he could do the due for about $8,000 but that it wouldn't be worth running less than 10,000 pieces at a time.

I didn't bother to ask what each part machined would cost, but I would guess they would be well under $50 bucks. So if anyone wants to invest $60,000 into Tri Z clutch covers let me know and I'll be happy to set you up. Myself, I think I'd try to carve one out of wood before investing in 10,000 pieces.