01-16-2017, 01:11 PM
I'm quite well known around our village & at work so folk often bring me stuff for free
[I think they feel sorry for me as a humble school technician& they're all doctors/solicitors or engineers] anyway I make quite a few plaques & anything goes for those ie greenhouses,sun chairs, extruded window sections etc but if I make something good like parts for a model engine I use stuff thats been cast before,pistons crankcases car wheels etc, some say you can't cast extruded but I've never had a problem, it does seem to shrink quite a bit more though, My furnace is coke fired,I read on various forums that" beginners" start on charcoal or coke then "advance" to propane, well I guess I'm still classed as a beginner, I make alloy ingots but never brass or bronze as you can boil out the zink if you keep melting brass & Iron neither. I do have a small furnace that I made & it's fired with a Flamefast brazing hearth burner & good it is too but I'll stick with the coke furnace for my main casting,as we allways have 2-3 tons in for the raburn stove, I built my first furnace around 1970 with my dad when there was no internet to make you an expert, having said that I've learned a few things myself off the net.
[I think they feel sorry for me as a humble school technician& they're all doctors/solicitors or engineers] anyway I make quite a few plaques & anything goes for those ie greenhouses,sun chairs, extruded window sections etc but if I make something good like parts for a model engine I use stuff thats been cast before,pistons crankcases car wheels etc, some say you can't cast extruded but I've never had a problem, it does seem to shrink quite a bit more though, My furnace is coke fired,I read on various forums that" beginners" start on charcoal or coke then "advance" to propane, well I guess I'm still classed as a beginner, I make alloy ingots but never brass or bronze as you can boil out the zink if you keep melting brass & Iron neither. I do have a small furnace that I made & it's fired with a Flamefast brazing hearth burner & good it is too but I'll stick with the coke furnace for my main casting,as we allways have 2-3 tons in for the raburn stove, I built my first furnace around 1970 with my dad when there was no internet to make you an expert, having said that I've learned a few things myself off the net.
the artfull-codger, proud to be a member of MetalworkingFun Forum since Feb 2013.