Welcome alumni of the 2004 through 2008 Tiller's casting classes!
The Tiller's link below has all the details.
Furnace and burner links
- An interesting source for the furnace's shell is at a
Rick's
Foundry Project He used a barrel that originally contained malt
extract- obtained from a homebrew supply place.
- using perlite and furnace cement as refractory
-
http://www.John-Wasser.com/NEMES/MakeICR.html
Update: John's page seems to be gone though it is available
at
web.archive.org
- Ron Reil has all kinds of stuff on making a propane and natural
gas burners for furnaces and forges. His page has a link to a guy who sells
them.
- http://ronreil.abana.org/design1.shtml
Be sure to check out Ron's troubleshooting page. It contains a great tip on getting the aim right. I had limited
success until I used it to adjust my burner. You hook
up a water hose and adjust the burner until the water shoots
down the center of the pipe. What the page does not mention
is that you should thoroughly dry the burner afterwards or
rust might set in. DAMHIKT.
- propane burner I made
-
http://www.John-Wasser.com/NEMES/PropaneBurner.html
Update: John's page seems to be gone though it is available
at
web.archive.org
It's the Bordeaux modifications to Ron Reil's design as well as one of his
own. The result is that the set screws are entirely eliminated.
This is the page you get to by following the "The John Wasser Modification"
link from Ron's pages.
Molding Sand
- I picked up 50 lbs of
molding sand from Centaur Forge in
Burlington, Wisconsin.
Update: it looks like they no longer
carry molding sand- it isn't on their site anymore.
The bag is marked Indian Ridge Mineral Co. Antioch, IL
ARIDRY® J82MX Waterless Green Sand Binder.
Their web site is
http://www.indianridgemineral.com/
- Grandpa's molding sand recipe
- http://members.aol.com/deathstarr54/page4.html
This link no longer works. It looks like google does not
have the page cached any longer.
You can go to
web.archive.org and enter the url above to
view their copy of the page- though they don't have the images.
-
Sand mulling
(also lists a slightly different molding sand recipe than grandpa's
recipe- it contains less bentonite)
Casting and Pattern Making links
- my pattern making pages
- Pictures of what I cast at Tillers in
2002 and
2004.
I successfully recast a Stanley 71 at the 2006 class. A previous unsuccessful
attempt is shown on my recast tool page.
I've updated the page showing a picture of the successful casting!
- Slide show from a
lost wax
class I took in April 2003.
- my pattern making collection
- my anvil page -
anvil patterns etc
- my fire hydrant pattern
- My core box machine - see, I didn't bring
_everything_ to class!
- Kingshott Shrine information about a woodworking tool making book
- The tool and patterns made from the book just mentioned.
- pattern making suppliers
- tips on making thin castings and the co2 activated core material
- http://www.ptbo.igs.net/~grimshaw/techtip2.htm
- a warning about sweat dripping into molten metal
- http://www.ptbo.igs.net/~grimshaw/techtip3.htm
-
Tillers International- a place in Kalamzaoo, Michagan to take
blacksmith and foundry classes. Listen to Dick Roosenberg on
Worldview on NPR!
- Gingery
group- people who built the furnace and lathe etc from
the Gingery books.
- The Casting Cowboy
- His web site full of great information is at
http://foundry101.COM/
- The crucible
on his main page looks interesting. A keyed hole acts to lift and pour.
- The products page
lists bentonite,
casting kits, furnaces, and bags of grandpa's molding sand.
- The Learning Links page
lists an 800 number to find the benonite he uses.
- You'll be blown away by the
cup casting page.
- His old web site is at
http://www.host33.com/casting/
There used to be a link from this site to Grandpa's sand recipe.
- The castingcowboy's ebay
auction search.
There is usually a furnace auction and casting kit auction-
you could pick these up cheaper on ebay than on his site.
- Lindsay Publications - source
of casting and blacksmith books
- Midwest tool collectors association
group of hand tools enthusiasts
- Russ' favorite pattern making textbook: Exploring patternmaking
and foundry by Harvey D. Miner and John G. Miller 1966 and John
G. Miller 1966. I think it's out of print. It contains the anvil drawing shown
here.
Disclaimer- this is dangerous stuff. Do anything like this at your own risk.
Back to my home page