Baking Soda Cores for Aluminum Casting

[ratrace2]

You mean bad as in good right?

The great thing is that I make a good living doing what I do and I'm constantly meeting people in my field who contribute to my knowledge base. I even have some of the old timers ask my opinion about setups or how to solve problems they are having. It helps that I'm almost 30 and not fresh out of HS, but still there are times when there is an age discrimination thing from the guys who have been doing this for 30-40 years. After I show them what I'm capable of, they treat me with respect and start swapping war stories. I love the 'zone because it allows me to check out other peoples projects and ideas, and contribute when someone has a problem or question. I am far from omnipotent, but far from ignorant. I drive my own learning curve and am far harsher on myself than any shop owner or foreman ever has. Even when we butt heads, I take the time to listen to their comments or suggestions & find that they listen to my comments as well. I find that generally it works out for the best.

Sorry to DANG for hijacking his thread. Hope your casting cores do the trick for ya!

Well, while we are waiting for "pics" from dang about his casting we can talk about the end game for this cnc stuff; I mean, that's what we are here for: cnc mold making stuff--my molds just happen to be of composites and about 14' x 8' x 6'
But Dang has gotten alot of good advice, I hope his pour went well. I mean, I have never heard of salt as a core material, but I am from the composite world...where every thing is bigger, simpler and more boat or car like. Ya know what, build those heads, brand them, own them, and never look back.....

[307startup]

I have another one for you...water molds. There was a process called freezecasting where you made molds for your cores using ice. These were then coated with a gel slurry and left to set up. When you baked the cores to set them, the water melted and you had hollow core molds. In fact you could do the whole casting with one lost pattern if you were clever enough to figure out how to assemble your multi-piece mold and cast the ice so when you put it together for slurry coating they would be trapped in position. Whew...talk about a run on sentence. I think I'll try to track it down, so you can view what I described.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freeze_casting

http://www.freshpatents.com/Freezeca...0050255290.php

[ratrace2]

I have another one for you...water molds. There was a process called freezecasting where you made molds for your cores using ice. These were then coated with a gel slurry and left to set up. When you baked the cores to set them, the water melted and you had hollow core molds. In fact you could do the whole casting with one lost pattern if you were clever enough to figure out how to assemble your multi-piece mold and cast the ice so when you put it together for slurry coating they would be trapped in position. Whew...talk about a run on sentence. I think I'll try to track it down, so you can view what I described.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freeze_casting

http://www.freshpatents.com/Freezeca...0050255290.php

You could do your assembly in an "ice cream" freezer.......hahaha.
Have you been drinking??????

[307startup]

Actually you would only need a cold table...like they use at ColdStone Creamery. That way you don't have to freeze your ass off. Just your fingers. If I ever decide to do a production run of castings from my house, that's the setup I would use. All of my cores and molds would be prepped and I'd just keep my furnace fully charged. Running a one-man shop can be a bit stressful, but if you plan correctly, you can get a lot done...and you're not paying anyone else.

[ratrace2]

Actually you would only need a cold table...like they use at ColdStone Creamery. That way you don't have to freeze your ass off. Just your fingers. If I ever decide to do a production run of castings from my house, that's the setup I would use. All of my cores and molds would be prepped and I'd just keep my furnace fully charged. Running a one-man shop can be a bit stressful, but if you plan correctly, you can get a lot done...and you're not paying anyone else.

That is right "if you plan correctly, you can get alot done" that is what it is about. So, plan correctly, produce your "heads", brand your heads--fame is only one user away--and don't look back. You don't know anything about "branding" do you? Do so reading about that, you got everyting else. In the mean time, take a look a the TAURUS cnc clay modelers, that is what I'm about......

[ratrace2]

Dang, are you done yet??????????????????????????????????

[307startup]

RatRace2

Actually I have had quite the schooling on branding...Chip Foose is an incredibly enthusiastic personable individual. He has so much going on and does so much that it's really amazing he finds the time to talk with me at all. He is definitely a renaissance man. That being said, I have some other projects that come before cylinder heads. Once I have my Tormach mill up and running, I will be going full steam to produce my transaxle and finishing the castings for it.

Thanks for the tip on the Taurus clay modelers. Where on earth would I put that thing?!?!

[ratrace2]

RatRace2

Actually I have had quite the schooling on branding...Chip Foose is an incredibly enthusiastic personable individual. He has so much going on and does so much that it's really amazing he finds the time to talk with me at all. He is definitely a renaissance man. That being said, I have some other projects that come before cylinder heads. Once I have my Tormach mill up and running, I will be going full steam to produce my transaxle and finishing the castings for it.

Thanks for the tip on the Taurus clay modelers. Where on earth would I put that thing?!?!

Fine: get going. Don't worry about where you put the Taurus because it prototype is going to be in my shop, thank you.....hahahahha.
Call me if you need a new body style.............I'm from the same town in Itlay as Versace..........That makes me geneticaly predisposed to Italian Car design......

[307startup]

duplicate post

[jrrdw]

That mid 60s John Deere restore was done by a friend of mine that i've worked for on and off since i've been 15.

Ice casting, holly ice cubes! Thats outragous, who thought of that???

[dang]

Uhh,

After all the bad feedback I got about my baking soda idear, I had decided not to test anything, let alone photograph it. I suppose though, if ya'll want some foundry porn, who am I to say no.
In classical Mythbusters style I decided to try out the baking soda. It didn't work out, didn't even harden in the oven at 500 F for 2 hours.
I tried again, this time with crushed together lathe chips to act as an internal webbing of sorts, still it didn't work.
At this point, I'll classify the baking soda core myth as being totally busted. It didn't even make it into the foundry test.

Afterward, I tested my unfinished die, without any bench work done to it, using a steel core, and with none of it's inserts.
It worked as expected, except that the steel core popped right out after I opened the mold, taking a weak portion of the casting with it. After I find a suitable core material, I'll ad all of the inserts and the casting should have a lot more character to it.

If anyone can tell me where to get some aluminum oxide, for the salt core, I'd appreciate it. Thanks for all the advice everyone.

[ratrace2]

HOW ABOUT USING PLASTER AND JUST WATER JETTING IT OUT?
Is that the broken part in the upper left hand picture?

Uhh,

In classical Mythbusters style I decided to try out the baking soda. It didn't work out, didn't even harden in the oven at 500 F for 2 hours.
I tried again, this time with crushed together lathe chips to act as an internal webbing of sorts, still it didn't work.
At this point, I'll classify the baking soda core myth as being totally busted. It didn't even make it into the foundry test.

Afterward, I tested my unfinished die, without any bench work done to it, using a steel core, and with none of it's inserts.
It worked as expected, except that the steel core popped right out after I opened the mold, taking a weak portion of the casting with it. After I find a suitable core material, I'll ad all of the inserts and the casting should have a lot more character to it.

If anyone can tell me where to get some aluminum oxide, for the salt core, I'd appreciate it. Thanks for all the advice everyone.

Ya know, I was thinking that you could tig/machine something like that a heck of alot easier than molding it...