3 Leg Table (weekend project)

[Grunblau]

I finished a 3D model of a table design I have been developing... I am working on a prototype to cast molds for the aluminum legs.




Bits to Atoms...







Detailed look at the surface... I will eventually sand it smooth...




Finished the opposing sides of the three legs..




Overall view... Material ruled the decision to make the table 24" tall BTW the Dust Deputy is incredible (seen upper left)! I would usually have to feed hold to unclog my filter. Not the case now, after milling my upright, cable carrier and table, my filter is clear and the bucket is full!



Let me know what you think!!!



-I haven't decided what to mill the tops out of yet.

[Trucks]

Very impressive in my opinion. Nice work. What program is that rendering done in?

Andy

[ger21]

And what are you creating the g-code with?

[FandZ]

Great table design and excellent machining. I'd have to second Gerry's question of what cam program are you useing.

[Grunblau]

Originally Posted by FandZ Great table design and excellent machining. I'd have to second Gerry's question of what cam program are you useing.

Thank you very much! I used an old copy of RhinoCam from work for the toolpath, although I find FreeMill works great for most things I have cut. The rendering was done in Hypershot.

[FandZ]

Originally Posted by Grunblau Thank you very much! I used an old copy of RhinoCam from work for the toolpath, although I find FreeMill works great for most things I have cut. The rendering was done in Hypershot.

I have the worst time with freemill. It usually crashes my driver before I'm able to generate some gcode. It's probably because I'm useing vista. I'll have to give it a try on an xp install.

Anyways, I always feel lazy after seeing one of your projects. lol good job.

[degreaser]

What are you using for mold material? Do you have a foundry or will you sub that out?

[Grunblau]

Originally Posted by degreaser What are you using for mold material? Do you have a foundry or will you sub that out?

I am in the process of building my own foundry(I have all of the components). But with no place to fire it, the foundry project is on hold. I also think the eventual capacity of my crucible would be smaller than required for one leg. There is a school locally that the metals instructor said he would cast for me provided I pay for materials etc... I am planning on a plaster mold but might look into sand casting. Very interested in lost foam casting

[degreaser]

I figured sand casting. There's a good casting group on yahoo - castinghobby

I built a small foundry a few years back. It's made from a couple of rejected propane cylinders. The lid lifts by pressing down on an old Harley FXR brake pedal. I can tow it to a safe location with my ATV. The size is pretty small though. It'll handle up to about an 8lb crucible.

[Grunblau]

Originally Posted by degreaser I figured sand casting. There's a good casting group on yahoo - castinghobby I built a small foundry a few years back. It's made from a couple of rejected propane cylinders. The lid lifts by pressing down on an old Harley FXR brake pedal. I can tow it to a safe location with my ATV. The size is pretty small though. It'll handle up to about an 8lb crucible.

Very nice, beautiful object too... I'm jealous. You have any suggestions about electric vs propane? I like idea of flicking a switch no matter what the weather is like. But I have also gotten used to the idea of using propane as I enjoy a deep fried turkey now and then : ) All of the components I have purchased point toward electric, I am just questioning this decision.

[degreaser]

Originally Posted by Grunblau Very nice, beautiful object too... I'm jealous. You have any suggestions about electric vs propane? I like idea of flicking a switch no matter what the weather is like. But I have also gotten used to the idea of using propane as I enjoy a deep fried turkey now and then : ) All of the components I have purchased point toward electric, I am just questioning this decision.

There's nothing wrong with electric. I chose propane mainly due to simplicity and the requirement that the foundry be mobile so that I could move it to a fire-safe location. I have a 50' welder extension cable but that's not long enough.

The interior is lined with about 2" of kastolite refractory. I got that through Harbison Walker in Richmond, CA. budgetcasting has it as well. The burner I used is based on the zoellerforge design. It takes about 15-20 minutes to come to temperature. I got the high pressure propane regulator from flame engineering

What electric design are you considering?

There's a cool homebrew heat treatment furnace here. It's on the roundtoit list.

[Grunblau]

Originally Posted by degreaser What electric design are you considering?

Thank you very much for the links! I am currently going with a version based on a modified Gingery design. I think I bought a lot of my stuff from budget casting... I found a cheap source for firebricks although shipping took forever. Hopefully within the next year or so.. Do you have any images of things you have casted? Seems like when I search I find unlimited videos of people casting ingots, lol.