@rlisbona 2 questions:
I’m reaching out to my metals professor Jack Gron to see if he has any advice for us, as he had a mobile resin sandcasting rig that he could take to elementary schools and demo (that was a coke burn… I don’t think we can get away with that).
@apparently_weird Do you want to reach out to Shaffer for a tour date and I’ll reach out to the other two?
What days/times and how many would be going?
We have an old sink we were planning on using to ram green sand into molds and store the sand. Need to make a cart for that, designed to store the wooden mold frames, and make the frames.
There is an old kiln near the dock by blacksmithing, we need to make a cart and burner for it and figure what kind of blower we need. I havent looked at crucibles to see what sizes would fit yet.
We have a casting tray mostly finished in the metal shop to cast in. I started looking at casters for all the rolling stuff but I think we need sealed swivels and wheel bearings to keep the sand out and the caster shop didn’t stock those.
Im definately not an expert on sand casting. I’ve seen it but not cast my own stuff yet. I have cast lead free pewter a few times when my daughters were kids, we carved wax, pressed that into clay, dried the clay mold near a campfire, then used a small ladle to melt the pewter in the campfire.
I would like to get a better idea of all the tools and supplies we will need so when we build the carts for the sand sink and crucible furnace we design in storage and minimize floor space. Like what could we store above the sand sink, is the kiln cart just the size of the kiln or a little longer so we can store extra sand, ingots, and stack the casting tray on top when not in use. Is propane tank on the cart or moved seperately. Also need to figure out where we are going to store the carts so we know the overall size constraints. So many details to work out before we start building anything.
Before the pandemic, Terry was doing some sand casting in the jewelry area, bronze and pewter, as i recall. I don’t know if the frames and clay were his or part of jewelry stuff. The frames were in the vicinity of 9 x 12 inches, maybe 3 inches deep. The sort of kit commonly available for jewelry work. Think he was using propane or MAPP gas torch for melting the metal. There is a (dirty) small crucible in jewelry for melting small amounts of metal.
How large of projects are being contemplated for this endeavor?
Hand held crucible with long handle.
The Denton Drive location mentioned is fairly close to the space, south of Royal lane. Actually very close to my house. Also near the UPS facility.