Casting

21/9/14
For a long time I've wanted to give casting a go. I did a lot of reading and put some stuff together then left it. It was a bit spur of the moment, but I gave it a crack this weekend with a roughly put together paint tin furnace, a milo tin crucible which made an appearance in the 1980 XT page and a long piece of water pipe. I've only experimented so far but it seems that the melting apparatus is consistent.

 This is my casting box in the making. Metal corners and some sort of timber that already has lacquer, found out the back of the shed. The size of the casting box was decided by the length off the timber available because I didn't want to run out and have to mix and match.

 Base of lower half installed. Timber was similar just without lacquer.

 I also nailed the base in, which was the only part that I nailed in on the casting box.

 Here's my paint tin furnace with the water pipe inlet installed.

 The inside. It was a bit more black after running it the first time, and it stunk. The parents didn't want to come outside when it got to temperature because it smelt. I couldn't smell it, but I felt it in my eyes and face when I got smoke in the face.

 Here's the milo tin crucible in the furnace with some molten aluminium in it. The glowing red is the remains of coke can paint or some other contaminant that made it's way in on the coke cans.

 It got dark pretty quick after lighting up.

 First casting on Saturday, turned out like a bit of a muffin.

 This is my casting box with a mould ready to go. I was smart and didn't take photos when the two halves were apart, but it was incredibly nerve racking and slow. It worked though.

 Put a better pouring lip on the crucible because the pour was hard to control with the round edge. This is the Sunday run melting a lot more aluminium.

 Here's what I recast today. A slide hammer handle. This one is cast iron, but I saw it and thought that would be good for a first off mould.

 Tried to put more of a funnel on the lip of the inlet vent but it made no difference. The bricks are to stop the halves lifting when the molten aluminium goes in.

 Lots of molten aluminium!

 Giving it some gas.

 I was using the air blow gun on the air inlet and it got the fire going hard. It took a few seconds but a lot of heat would radiate out of that furnace. I had a head torch on because the fire had died down and I couldn't see the molten metal in the darkness. The big metal rod on near the left was the poker.

 I'd let the coals die down too much here. I tried to do a pour but the metal solidified just running up the crucible.

 You can see here I was doing the first pour that failed. Safety was considered, using gauntlets, overalls and boots. I used fencing wire to make little hooks to pick up the holes in the crucible and to tip it over I had a hook to pick up the lip on the bottom of the can.

I didn't take photos of the successful pour because the photographer (mum) had gone inside but this gives you an idea of what it was like. Would've been better to get a photo of the flowing aluminium.

 Fresh out the sand. In my impatience I split the mould 30 minutes after pouring and this photo was dark but you can see the bottom half of the casting box sitting in the sand box. Sand removal was easy in the top half because it just pushed out. The bottom half however was packed in incredibly tight and required some digging. I consider this a success, because I'd made the sand from playground sand and cat litter earlier that day.

 Here's the rough cast compared to the original. The stains are from the burning of the flour that was in between the two halves of the mould.

Some sand must have spilled into the bottom of the mould.

29/9/14
So here's the start of my custom made manual adjusting cam chain tensioner for the twin cam XT's,

First I made a gasket to suit the cylinder where it mounted.

 I then made an oversize gasket and traced it on wood.

 I cut it out with a coping saw.

 Here's the gasket against the wooden template piece. This allows for shrinkage and surface imperfections.

 Measuring the depth of the tensioner hole so the water pipe template piece could be cut to suit.

 Half of the mould with flour in place.

 The mould was a bit rough after separation.

 You can see where it didn't pack in properly and separated from the piece.

 The mould together ready for pouring.

 The paint tin is a very effective furnace. After laying newspaper and kindling, a single match was able to light it. Just drop it in and wait.

 Finished piece out of the mould. I had already cut the inlet off when I thought to take photos.

 The sand must have moved because there was a lot of surface imperfections. The sand is becoming more and more temporary. Also the template I used wasn't good enough and so the piece isn't correctly aligned.

 Starting to file finish.

 Slowly filing down to size.

 After a lot of filing and checking and measurements, I worked out the the hole for the adjuster was tapered. Here is the piece sitting in the hole. I had trouble getting the contacting surface flat so hopefully the gasket will seal it.

 The inside. This is where the manual adjusting push rod will come out and push on the cam chain guide.

  Here's the side where the surface imperfections are.

Next is drilling the holes.

 Starting working on the slide hammer handle.

I cut the inlet and the exit off.
I looked at it for a while and it was an interesting thing to start with but it will be melted down when the next part is made.

Here's my drill press. It's a 'Drillmate' drill clamp. The plate double as a mount to the bench. I found dads machining vice buried in a box. The original plate was a small plastic V block for drilling pipes and such. The plate I had put aside for melting but strangely it fit this press. I didn't question it, I just put it together.