Testing the New Location

1st Pour in the New Foundry...

working out how, and where...

This is where I left off the last update, welding-up 3 (three) melting pots for the oil-fired furnace.

The white pots can hold approx 1.5 Litres or quarts, while the red pot can hold 2.5 Litres.

The welds all hold water...

Since I had the pots welded I figured I'd try to knock-off a couple of castings that have been hanging about since the spring.

This is a great spot to work... Stereo, easy access to all my materials and tools. The setup takes a fraction of the time as did the finishing-up with everything.

This is a small stack of Alum Rims that I will have to bust-up and melt down for stock.

This casting is again being fed with several 3/8th" straws (on the left). The single straw on the right is a vent for the excess styrene and plastic vapour to exhaust the pattern.

Even with the vent there is still considerable deformation along the edges.

There is a 3/4" flare of Alum extending all around the top edge. The flare is quite thin and easily knocked off with a hammer, as are all the feeders and vent.

The front detail (that was protected by plaster) is well defined with very few defects on the circular plaque, while the plaque on the right has a major defect.

The left hand section of the plaque appears to have shifted downward in the sand almost a full half inch. A drag as this is the fourth attempt at this particular plaque.

The next tool I'll be making before getting heavily back into casting will be a sand vibrator to compact the sand around the casting more thoroughly.

I'm very pleased with how this plaque has come out. The skull center piece is based on a tattoo "Flash-Art" design available from "Flash2Xs.com".

I thought the hammer and wrench cross-tools were the finishing touches it needed to tie the theme back to the "Physical Plant".

This skull (cast earlier in the year) was a proto-type to ensure that the pattern would render as I envisioned it.

I still see potential for Harley type castings or accessory parts for custom bikes, cars or trucks.

This is the finished plaque before it goes out the door.

The edging and recesses are all painted in a deep high-gloss blue, but the glare of the alum against the black back-ground appears to have washed out the blue to a dull gray in this picture.

So in summary the Foundry area is more than functional and I can start into the final renovation phase on theworkshop.ca.

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