As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words and this site has great pictures and info regarding the casting process. In this case it's an engine block and I'd imagine the pattern was done using cnc. Even if you're not into engines it's still worth a look.
http://www.dmdaustralia.com.au/block.html
Phil

Sweet!

Thanks for passing on the link.

Chris

What type of molding material are they using?

wow that is an awsome sight..

looks like alot of work but I want to try it now!

damn like I have any free time. ;)

the molding material Looks like REN shape. IT is basicaly bondo like material. you can buy it in blocks or you can buy a pourabl type (which I am guessing is what they used)

Actually, it would be a pretty sure bet that the mold material is resin bonded sand.

Cool....what is the pricing.....sure would like to have a AH 3000.....

seen that one before, very humbling! thanks for posting it

Vipertx,
no prices on the web site for the block but the heads are au$6800.00. Rediculously expensive if you ask me, I guess if no one else makes em they can ask what the like and you either take it or leave it.

Foundryman's take:

Probably not completely cnc cut pattern, evidence of "bondo" for fillets indicates that it was assembled by hand.

The molding material is resin coated sand, there are several processes available, ie; ester cured phenolics, furans are 2 popular ones.

Yeah no doubt , very impressive..

I know the post is old but I would like to learn more about possibly achiving such a thing as this. Although it would be sweat to make a block I would like to achive making a head anyway.

Whats it going to take to do this ( make a head). I know thats a pretty broad question but where do I need to start at achiving this.


Jess

LOL, no takers on that question hu. Thats the best looking casting I have seen from a small shop & I wander what it takes to get this good of a result? I guess a good way to work out the steps would be to make a scaled head with this process & if you can get it to this level going bigger would be the next step. That would be a lot of shiny stuff to be melting.


Jess

LOL, no takers on that question hu. Thats the best looking casting I have seen from a small shop & I wander what it takes to get this good of a result?

Jess


20 years experience and some very nice equipment would be my guess.

If you wanted to work your way up to something like this you should start small, like with motorcycle heads or somesuch.

Cheers,

Wilson.

Oh yea, I wouldnt expect to pulling this off from the get go. But I would like to achive casting my own Head. Starting with a small scale of the real part is something I though about. If I can get it right on a head that is 1/5 scale then it wouldnt be as bad to take it up to the real thing. Could probably get the srinkage figured out even at scale. But working with this level of pattarns & molds would be good before I even began to atempt something like this. Even at small scale it would probably take a wail to figure out the proccess to get just right.


A few things I have been noticing is the ones that use good ingots & sand & all the other goodies that go along with it seem to have a lot better results than you see most achive. Even on simple parts. This plus the little things that make a big differance in the proccess apears to be half the battle.

Ofcourse that is the way it is with all skills, the little things that is not noticed by the average eye is what makes the diff.


Jess

Jess,

You should definitely start small & work your way up.

The good equipment is an emergent property of experience. The good guys have the good gear because they have experience to know what to buy (and how to use it).

Experience is the key, not equipment. You can cast pistons by digging the right shape of hole in the dirt of your own backyard.

If you're just starting buy 'The complete handbook of Sand Casting' by C.W. Ammen (ISBN 0-8306-1043-X ). It is the beginners casting bible. I've read it a dozen times. Read it first & then when you start to cast & mould you'll see the real wisdom in the book.

Here's how I started:

http://www.wilsonlogan.com/Sfurnace01.htm

Cheers,

Wilson.