backyard metal casting

[dagus]

Has anybody here ever made a backyard forge?

[Maritime]

No but I've seen them on Youtube made of old fire extiguishers and they look fun.

[riot]

I may do this eventually. What I learned from lots of Youtube is that building your own equipment is not worth the time:

https://www.vevor.com/melting-furnace-c_11137/vevor-10kg-gas-metal-melting-furnace-propane-forge-kit-graphite-crucible-casting-p_010907974888?v_tag=0404fea0-9218-11ed-8f2c-2bdd84a1795a.1

Spend the time improving your molds and mold making capabilities. I was thinking 3D printing the blanks would save me lots of time. Let me know how it goes!

[dagus]

riot that's AMAZING. Being able to pick up a kit makes me way more likely to try this. Thanks, man!

[6]

What yall planning on forging .......


Ya got me nervous over here.

[ricksax]

What yall planning on forging ....

Just a minor correction. He wants to cast molten metal, and the metal heating device is still called a "forge" from ancient times.

A "forging" in modern terms, requires heating a billet of hot but solid metal and slamming it into shape with hammers or powerful high-impact machines.

So he is going to be melting and casting, but not forging.

In general, forging works out voids, flaws, and inclusions in the billet, and results in a stronger part.

[halfast]

What yall planning on forging .......


Ya got me nervous over here.

I always thought it would be cool to cast an aluminium instrument housing. I do want to try backyard casting just haven't done it yet, maybe I'll ask for that above kit for my birthday

[riot]

I was thinking of making triple clamps for the flat tracker. The proliferation of rounded organic cast (and polished) shapes, bikes and cars from the 70s and before is one of the things that defines the periods. That hand shaped feel started to fade when CAD came in, and now CNC is the way everything looks.

I really want to capture that feel.

[6]

I was thinking of making triple clamps for the flat tracker. The proliferation of rounded organic cast (and polished) shapes, bikes and cars from the 70s and before is one of the things that defines the periods. That hand shaped feel started to fade when CAD came in, and now CNC is the way everything looks.

I really want to capture that feel.

I'm excited to watch if you take a shot at it...

[wildwhl]

The fabricators here forge things often (but don't cast anything, ever). It's kind of mesmerizing to watch the heat, hammer, heat, hammer, heat and hammer endless cycle. The results are often really awesome though.

WW/R

[69Falcon]

I once had a cast aluminum supercharger bracket crack, lot of mess under the hood of my RX-7 from that. You could see the porosity of the casting. Had a replacement machined from billet, with all the sharp edges and corners smoothed do as not to incite stress cracks.

[Ziggy]

I did some aluminum sand casting 50+ years ago in a High School Industrial Arts class. Everything in the process from making the sand molds to cleaning up the cast pieces.
An interesting experience from what I remember.