I have been using a design by the king of random on youtube, and it was fine for about 6 months of on and off use. I recently came across a new electric design I’ve seen on multiple sites. After research and talking with those that have used it, I want to make one myself. I don’t possess the tools or ability to create this foundry.
I would like to see if there is anyone with the talents necessary that can help me. I will of course buy the hardware and either work out an agreed upon compensation for time and effort, or buy enough materials to make two and donate the second one to the Makerspace.
I have already visited the Makerspace, but unfortunately no one there at the time seemed to have experience with a foundry. I have been utilizing this as a means to cast aluminum objects and art. Now I would just like a more efficient system,
I’ve built one, I think you’re going to need more than a day
Personally, I don’t think its worth the trouble when used kilns can be had cheaply, unless you have some special requirement. But it was an interesting project and I have used it a lot.
For aluminum casting, temperature control is completely unneccesary: just leave it on until it melts. If you want to judge pouring temperature, get a pyrometer or thermocouple. If you had a digital control it would just stay on all the time anyway, or worse, cycle on and off if you set a low target and take longer to get to pouring temperature.
It would also be possible to add a digital temperature control to an existing kiln if you really wanted to for some other reason.
Hi,
Is there any facilities for small iron casting at the space? While that furnace you linked at markets itself for iron casting I know iron can really beat up a furnace so probably is not allowed anyway.
Just throwing my interest out there for a yearly cupola day or something.
In my opinion no. The propane furnace the space owns is unlikely to achieve the temperatures required, and if it did is not likely to survive long at those temperatures. The space also doesn’t have the additional crucibles needed (you don’t mix metals in the crucibles to avoid contamination).
Oh, and the tongs we have (unless they have been upgraded) are way too short for safe use. When we cast some aluminum blocks for the Bridgeport classes the welding gloves I was using actually caught fire (while I was wearing them) because my hands had to be too close to the furnace to use the tongs to remove the crucible. With care they aren’t too bad at Aluminum melting temperatures, but I wouldn’t use them at Brass or especially iron melting temperatures.
I know @JohnK talked about working with black smithing to get better tongs, but don’t know if they did.
This thread was created as a request for help with making a new foundry to replace my old one. At no time have I requested or advocated utilizing the Makerspace’s kiln in this manner. The other unrelated comments and questions should be their own thread to help avoid this confusion. My objective was not to cause concern, I just need to be able to smelt aluminum again so I can move forward with my projects.
