Casting Links

The 2010 casting class will be Sat-Sun. May 15-16, 2010
The Tiller's link below has details about the class though it's still showing the 2009 date!
This page has the 2010 class dates.

Disclaimer- this is dangerous stuff. Do anything like this at your own risk.

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 here 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 here 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/
• Budget Casting Supply has a page of molding sand. The prices shown include shipping.
• 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)
• Sand rammers - including information on making your own pneumatic sand rammer

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 (or 2-cycle marine engine?)
  • 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
  • http://www.budgetcastingsupply.com/ (I haven't ordered anything from them yet)
  • http://www.freemansupply.com/ I think they have a $50 minumum order- I haven't ordered from them in a while. Update: Freeman has launched a new molding division see http://www.hobbycast.net/
    I recently used their rubber molding compound and casting resin to make multiple copies of a pattern (shown here)
    Their main site has pages for Liquid Tooling, online videos and sample kit offers. They also are selling on ebay with paypal payments. Click here to see their current auctions on ebay. They sell dvds and sometimes sample kits as seller freemanmfg.
  • http://www.kindt-collins.com/ $50 minimun order
  • http://www.johnburn.co.uk in case you are on the other side of the big pond
• 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 Executive Director 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.

Back to my home page