You guys really impress me. Please keep the posts coming.
Sand casting unobtainium parts at home.
- Thread starter 56 Fregate
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Nice work Reidar.
Def try the epoxy bonded sand as that's one less thing to go wrong. Parting lines don't need to be straight, they can be whatever will give you a good result. If you use a bit of Plasticine as a gauge to determine you have the core sitting exactly where you need it when you do a trial close of the mould. A bit like a plastiguage used to determine bearing clearances.
For the record I have nothing against 3D printing per se, it's just a personal choice. I get bye just fine without a printer.
I've nothing recent to add except I made some cast iron valve guide blanks just by pushing a suitable dowel down into a bucket of moulding sand and pour in the iron. BTW I used some Peugeot cylinder liners for the melt, just to keep a French theme.
No, no. Read my lips, it's just cast iron. 
Plasticine as a gauge is a nice tip. I have been thinking of using thin plastic in between the layers of sand instead of parting powder. Like they use inside the spring cake forms.Nice work Reidar.
Def try the epoxy bonded sand as that's one less thing to go wrong. Parting lines don't need to be straight, they can be whatever will give you a good result. If you use a bit of Plasticine as a gauge to determine you have the core sitting exactly where you need it when you do a trial close of the mould. A bit like a plastiguage used to determine bearing clearances.
For the record I have nothing against 3D printing per se, it's just a personal choice. I get bye just fine without a printer.
So you have actually advanced to iron? Aluminium is scary enough for me..
Yes I guess you could say I've entered the iron age finally but it took a huge amount of energy to get there. I ran my gas fired furnace for 1 1/2 hours to melt a cup full of iron, so not good economy. And yes it is a tad scary with the amount of radiant heat produced from the furnace walls. Handling and pouring the molten iron is not much different to aluminium once it's out of the furnace.
I've recently repaired my furnace lining again because it takes quite a beating with the extreme operating environment. I've also modified the burner to run on gas AND diesel but haven't tested it yet. Diesel should give me an additional 300 degrees C which will make all the difference. I plan to start-up with gas until I get the furnace good and hot before I introduce some diesel and see how it performs.
To be advised..
I've recently repaired my furnace lining again because it takes quite a beating with the extreme operating environment. I've also modified the burner to run on gas AND diesel but haven't tested it yet. Diesel should give me an additional 300 degrees C which will make all the difference. I plan to start-up with gas until I get the furnace good and hot before I introduce some diesel and see how it performs.
To be advised..
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My refractory lining material is sand, cement, Perlite and sodium silicate. The heat quickly destroys the cement which is why I add sodium silicate, it takes over as a binder. When melting iron the intense heat actually melts the sand and turns it to a liquid glass.
Here's a bit of a quicky. I needed a temporary spacer for some mismatched parts. A mock up was carved and sanded from some construction foam, dipped in a watery drywall plaster mix and sprue and riser glued on. Place in a bucket of sand with the very tip of the sprue still showing. The aluminium was heated to 880 degreesC and poured in. The foam melts as the alloy flows in and a part is formed, easy.
No time for heat treating or soaking making it unpleasant to machine. But we have another part at the facility.
No time for heat treating or soaking making it unpleasant to machine. But we have another part at the facility.
At NASA they say if you aren't failing you aren't learning. If that were true I would be a Rhodes scholar by now..
In the interest of making a cast naming plate for my shed in brass or bronze I first had a lash in aluminium to see where the pitfalls are, and I found them first go. The sprue and gates need to be a little larger to enable more rapid filling of the mould cavity because as you can see it didn't fill quite quick enough.
I damaged the plywood pattern so need to repair that and as I now have an almost finished casting I can weigh it to work out how many brass garden taps I need for a brass name plate. Stand by..
In the interest of making a cast naming plate for my shed in brass or bronze I first had a lash in aluminium to see where the pitfalls are, and I found them first go. The sprue and gates need to be a little larger to enable more rapid filling of the mould cavity because as you can see it didn't fill quite quick enough.
I damaged the plywood pattern so need to repair that and as I now have an almost finished casting I can weigh it to work out how many brass garden taps I need for a brass name plate. Stand by..
Who could say.
The 4CV engine WAS the Billancourt engine, and I think the early factory higher performance ones were called Ventoux, after the car's first competition victory at the Mont Ventoux Hillclimb (in 1949 if I recall, so before the 1063 cars were built). Heaven knows what is correct, but common usage is to call them all Ventoux engines now.
Dauphine rocker covers have "Ventoux" impressed into the top.
Series production to follow? That looks great.
I'm taking orders and I figure if I wait until the first big New England frost I can pinch all the neighbourhood taps and no one will even know until at least 11:00am 
You could make a pair, buff the highlights and screw them to the side of an American sidevalve straiģht 8?
It was the style in the '20s/30s, and who'd know any different.
It was the style in the '20s/30s, and who'd know any different.
Do you know more than you should????You could make a pair, buff the highlights and screw them to the side of an American sidevalve straiģht 8?
It was the style in the '20s/30s, and who'd know any different.
Au contrare my learnerd friend. Most of the big American side valve engines were made as a mirror reverse of the Renault side valves, i.e. the ports on an American side valve are on the right hand side while the Renault big side valve engines were on the left. A small thing yes but you'd fool no one.You could make a pair, buff the highlights and screw them to the side of an American sidevalve straiģht 8?
It was the style in the '20s/30s, and who'd know any different.