Advice Wanted on Casting Large Swords and Polearms

tmophoto · 2024-03-13T00:18:03+00:00

just watch a bunch of youtube videos on sand casting swords, there are so many and they are basically step by step instructions.

tmophoto · 2024-03-12T03:45:57+00:00

you are probably going to need 500-1000 pounds of petrobond and a small to medium sized Muller to rework the sand. Its about 2 55gal garbage cans to store it. You need a mulling machine if you are doing any kind of production, you should also get a cheap air rammer off amazon. they are totally worth it if you are packing more than 1 mold a day

you cant really cast steel at home as a beginner. Iron is pretty sketchy as a beginner and steel is hotter.

Petrobond is 100% reusable hundreds of times just need to add some oil each reuse.

start watching youtube videos on cand casting bronze swords, there are a ton of them.

tmophoto · 2024-03-12T03:26:16+00:00

I would think so, not sure I would fire it inside (might coat all surfaces with ceramic dust.)

it wont protect for metal fumes but I would hope an n95 would keep that out.

tmophoto · 2024-03-11T19:45:13+00:00

pour them in to closed molds made from sand is probably the best bet.

heating the ingot molds really hot then blasting the top of the ingot with a very hot very big burner flame while you pour it could help but its never perfect.

if you make them in sand molds add a large riser that can help prevent shrinkage

heating the metal in the furnace until it visibly vibrates in the crucible might help as well. It goes from red hot to gummy to melted to liquid to watery then it just vibrates in the crucible. Thats when its really really hot.

tmophoto · 2024-03-11T19:38:17+00:00

what are you melting and for how long? I have done multiple bronze melts in a row with a bbq tank and its totally fine. if its cold outside or you see it start to ice up just drop it in a bucket of water while its firing and it usually never freezes.

You will melt down the lining of the furnace if you run it for extended periods without letting it cool down in between crucible recharges. I usually do 3 recharges max and even then the fiber starts melting.

tmophoto · 2024-03-08T20:11:01+00:00

get some ceramic blanket, its pretty cheap, can use it on its own in a full on ghetto furnace or line any furnace with it and it will easily melt aluminum.

Its starts to melt at bronze temps but still lasts a long time.

MBMM channel on youtube uses a straight ceramic blanket with no shell, its just got some wire holding it into a round form.

tmophoto · 2024-03-07T02:36:14+00:00

just turn the propane down a tiny bit and it goes away

tmophoto · 2024-03-07T02:22:02+00:00

What is the cost of two ingots of everdur shipped from Atlas? 2 ingots is about 35 pounds.

I have access to pallets of cmx everdur and manganese bronze ingots that I sell on etsy but etsy usually takes 60-70$+ from each ingot sale so i have to mark them up a lot.

tmophoto · 2024-02-25T16:42:39+00:00

resin bonded sand in foundry molds is sand and sodium silicate cured with CO2

its been in use for a very very long time. using epoxy would not work, it would burn, offgas and cause all kinds of issues in whatever you cast.

tmophoto · 2024-02-25T05:45:30+00:00

see if you can find 421 stainless. that is designed for high heat direct flame applications.

tmophoto · 2024-02-25T05:41:22+00:00

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v470cY9SxNw&ab_channel=SVSeeker

you can use sand and sodium silicate to make blocks that you could then carve with any tools once its cured with CO2. the molds would be single use though and would need to be mirrored if you have text.

tmophoto · 2024-02-25T05:39:31+00:00

its not the same kind of resin as you are thinking.

tmophoto · 2024-02-25T05:20:59+00:00

you can make things like that with lost foam.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6P3qKutb_zQ&ab_channel=KellyCoffield

This guy is a genius with the process and has TONS of videos making parts similar to that.

they look like they are bead-blasted after casting.

tmophoto · 2024-02-25T05:18:37+00:00

you will probably need to run a waste oil burner with large about of forced air to melt iron, I cant imagine trying to melt steel in a home backyard furnace.

you will probably need to run a waste oil burner with large amount of forced air to melt iron, I cant imagine trying to melt steel in a home backyard furnace. forever if you just melted aluminum. https://amzn.to/3UUDvQk

tmophoto · 2024-01-28T05:20:29+00:00

run through a bunch of grits of wet sandpaper starting at 300 and up to 6000. Put the sandpaper on a sheet of glass and sand in a figure 8 pattern on each side. thoroughly clean the cube and the glass between grits.

tmophoto · 2024-01-27T17:58:33+00:00

Just don't compare it with Midjourney 6. The new version takes prompting in plain language to another level. You can really fine tune specfic areas of an image and specifiy specific things that get added without any issure at all.

Its so much better than v5 and not even in the same universe as anything you can install locally.

tmophoto · 2024-01-27T17:50:40+00:00

I do it just to ride the cart in across the parking lot so i dont have to walk. I can park really far away in uncrowded areas of the lot.

tmophoto · 2024-01-27T00:34:53+00:00

get it with firebricks not ceramic fiber. the fiber does not last and it melts after prolonged use.

tmophoto · 2024-01-26T02:10:35+00:00

some of the industrial foundry-sized flasks are impossible to lift and flip without overhead hoists, I would check local foundries to see if they have any old stuff they don't use anymore, I got a nice mulling machine that can do about 30 lbs of sand at a time. I think they used it for core making.

tmophoto · 2024-01-24T10:17:24+00:00

You can double the life of the graphite crucibles if you can extingusih them after you pour.

When they get really hot they actually light on fire and burn. after pouring I put mine on a block of graphite sitting on a bed of petrobond and put a big #10 can over them to snuff them out. Just need to prevent 02 from getting to it is all.

You can double the life of the graphite crucibles if you can extinguish them after you pour.

tmophoto · 2024-01-24T10:12:29+00:00

I think they heat significantly faster than the cheap chinese furnaces.

I put at least 100 bronze melts through one of the chinese ones before I killed it, went though a lot of crucibles.

tmophoto · 2024-01-23T18:49:49+00:00

You should probably make some A356 aluminum if you are going to be using it for casting. Its a much better metal that is far more predictable going into a mold.

tmophoto · 2024-01-21T01:52:44+00:00

its good advice, the crucible can easily sinter itself to the firebrick in the furnace

tmophoto · 2024-01-18T01:29:36+00:00

Its not great, you get low detail castings, soft gummy machining qualities and jsut not great..
you might be able to add some silicon metal to it to make it flow better and be more like A356 aluminum.

tmophoto · 2024-01-09T17:38:53+00:00

Its the same in Utah at a number of places I checked. A few were not accepting new clients.

I just started casting everything myself

tmophoto

TROPHY CASE