South Florida member

[chipwitch]

Hi everyone,

I'm a home machinist who has an interest in casting, but lack the time and money at the moment as I'm still furnishing my home shop and learning machining. Are there any home foundries in South Florida? I've been asking around on other forums and not finding many connections in my area.

I'm also interested in finding out how much someone might charge to do a one or two-off casting of a small steel casting (3"X3"x1.5") for a prototype I'm making? If I'm asking something out of line, please accept my apologies.

Thanks,

Sherri

[hybidder]

Chipwitch,

I'm not familiar with any South Florida foundries for cast iron or aluminum let alone steel forgings. It seems to be a dying art, at least here in the states. From the size you mention and since it's steel (alloy#?) your best shot might be having the parts fully machined form a solid block.

Good luck,

HB

(please don't turn me into a frog)

[chipwitch]

Originally Posted by hybidder (please don't turn me into a frog)

I won't... if you're good ;-)

I pretty sure there are no commercial foundries down here. I'm specifically looking for *home shop* foundries. Someone who would love to show off their baby. From all the reading I've done the last few months, there are a lot of people who do sand casting at home. Right now, I'm only doing prototypes and don't think any commercial outfits would have an interest in my business.

This is my first attempt at making contact with local metal melters. So far, I've had little luck with finding home machinists in my area... I doubt it'll be any easier to find someone with a home foundry, but I thought I'd try. As an aside, is there anyone here interested in doing a couple 2 pound pours for me? Cast iron or mild steel would be fine.

Sherri

[Matt29c]

Casting anything other then low melting point alloys(ie. Lead Alloys, Copper Alloys, Aluminum Alloys, Silver and Gold to some degree) takes alot of fuel and takes alot of money, When I say alot I mean mid-upper hundreds 5-900$ from scratch, I live in the Fla. Keys and I ment Aluminum all the time specially after hurricanes when people get rid of their destroyed aluminum gutters,porch covers, hand rails, etc. I've done steel melting but it cost me a lot for only a little amount of over all product. Also the steel alloy is a problem, if its an allow with a high nickle content it will be near impossible to melt at home due to the fact that you'll need an arc furnace and a vaccume to get a decent melt going. More information is needed also, if you could give the Alloy # or the percentages of metal you want to melt. I might be able to help, or even google it and you'll probably find something decent.