Lost Foam Casting

[Mr.Chips]

Innovation, and sharing, that's whats this forum is all about. Seeing something that was trash to one person, taking it and turning it into something useful then sharing it with others. Others see what can be done and how to do it, and off they go, designing, building, redesiging, rebuilding. Driven by that spark of creativity.

Merry Cristmas to you all and a Happy New Year.
Hager

[TAB]

I have been looking at the links posted here and I am interested in the design of the furnaces (i.e. the R2 design). I know it is propane powered but what is the grey wall material? It looks like cement, but I am more inclined to belive it is something else. Also the burner design apperars to be a tube with air or gas holes.

I am familiar with the process of invesment casting and such, but I was wondering how one would get into home froundary work as a hobby and what good sources there are for people to learn how to do this safely at home?

Any information will help.

[Hobbiest]

Type home foundry into google and then read until your hearts content! Ron Reil has a good and simple burner design, its the one that I am using. The grey stuff is refractory cement. A high temp cement mix. Check out www.backyardmetalcasting.com, Lionel has some good stuff on there. There is a forum on there as well that is a lot like this (knowledgable, and non-kn... people who share ideas for free!). My whole furnace setup including propane tank and burner, and molding sand cost about $50.
Oh...there really isn't any way to be absolutely safe about metalcasting, just be cautious and use common sense. Check out that forum. They'll take care of you!