The publishers have changed their name to "Institute of Cast Metals Engineers" and their email address is, info@icme.org.uk In Australia some libraries have copies of those magazines.
I have started my own metal casting business largely based upon what you have posted through youtube. I really do appreciate the fact that you include so much information (even if some of the Alloy books are rather difficult to find) it has helped me immensely. The only point I want to disagree with you on is slag attack. Wouldn't the crucibles deteriorate from the inside out if that was the case? I suspect that clay crucibles wear down due to the abrasive nature and heat from using waste oil. I have been coating my crucibles with a high temperature paint and this seems to slow the deterioration allowing for more uses per crucible. I still chuckle every time you point out in a video that there is no vent hole(s). I can quite well imagine your frustration with people who will not or cannot learn the proper use of ramming. May you continue posting for many years.
Thank you for watching my videos. When melting iron the slag that is produced is mostly iron oxide. This floats to the top and corrodes the top part of the crucible. Below the slag is molten iron and is not corrosive to the crucible and is always thicker than the top of the crucible. For the first 7-8 iron melts my crucible retains the shiny glaze but when slag starts to overflow and run down the side of the crucible it corrodes the glaze away and becomes thinner after many melts. I must try painting my crucible with high temperature paint.
Glad to see you back - I have tried a few times to contact you recently but had no luck and I was starting to worry that something might have gone wrong. Good to see that my fears were unwarranted. First, if I may, a note of caution - The date of publication of your reference is quite some time ago and back then a lot of the foundry “research” done was badly flawed through the use of terrible up front gating systems, so terrible in fact that downstream results could not always be relied upon. I am not saying that this applies to this particular reference for I have not seen it, but just that one needs to be careful with older material. I figure that anything pre about 2000 needs to be treated with care - not disregarded mind you - just treated carefully. The problem with vents is that many people use them for the wrong purpose at the wrong time.It is as you say that there is a lot of misunderstanding when it comes to vents! As I see it there are three types of vents although it’s a bit open to debate if the third type is actually a vent. We have vents designed just to get air out of the cavity. These are usually more or less opposite the ingate and look a lot like a duplicate of the sprue and gate. If all goes to plan during the pour metal will rise up this vent giving the comforting feeling that the cavity has (probably) filed with metal ok. It is surprising how many “DOH” moments occur when the metal does not rise up in the vent and the novice pourer (its always a novice😏 ) quickly tries to pour metal down the vent - like that will work “DOH”. As you correctly point out the necessity for the use of such vents is problematic. Many castings have feeders located at the top of the cavity and these will allow ample air escape. In any case there is not a lot of air in a cavity and it can usually escape easily through the permeability of even a “tight” sand. However, on occasion - thin, remote corners for example - provision of some extra air escape paths might be advisable (that disc would sure not have needed any!) I have used the scratch vents that you mentioned for this - my use of these is ONLY to let air out of the cavity. Once the metal reaches these thin vents and blocks them it does not matter as they have done their job (the fact that the metal has reached and blocked them proves that! 😊) Then we have the sort of vent used to allow steam etc generated within the sand to escape through the sand rather than blow back through the metal. This is more what I would regard as the traditional vent. I imagine the necessity for their use on smallish work in open sands like those used for iron would be less common. On closed sands - like my natural material made all the closer by the steady addition of a finely ground facing material, their use is at times mandatory - some castings simply cannot be produced without such vents, this is more a problem with aluminium because of the lower metalostatic pressure it produces. I use a very thin vent wire that by use has sharpened itself to a point. I push the vent into the mould almost to the point of it hitting the pattern (which MUST be in situ when venting). If the vent wire hits the pattern, it does not matter as its point is so fine that a mark on the casting does not result. As you correctly point out vents must be open at the top and bottom of the mould and to ensure that I place any vented drag on its base board with a couple of layers of flywire in between. In some of my videos it’s possible to see steam roar out of cope vents for some minutes after casting and if I forget them the steam will bubble up the metal mould interface causing the metal to tremble and likely a reject casting. Perhaps this “tremble” is what your man calls flutter? I have for example made several 8 * 10 inch finned castings, Fins about 1 inch high and apart, cast with fins down. I had to use vents about 1 inch apart pushed into the sand between each fin to stop the gases simply blowing up through the metal - 80 vents total per mould. Without these vents the casting was an oxide film gas hole ridden mess - useless. The third type of vent, if we can call it that, is used to vent heat. You can see an example of it here ua-cam.com/video/bwP4i8B2tS0/v-deo.html A series of these “heat vents” - actually cooling rods - have been pushed into the mould. They fill with metal and quickly solidify, heat then flows along them so they effectively chill the casting. This can be a useful technique for chilling isolated areas. But flatter fins are perhaps better than rods for this. We need to keep in mind that flash on a casting will act like this and may cause edge/corner chill on susceptible metals. The video link above is to a gentleman who is a very skilled moulder - I do not agree with how he does all things but he sure has a steady pair of hands. He is worth a look and this necessarily is one of his best ua-cam.com/video/-hl76Pk4aqg/v-deo.html …. Martin
Your comment was in the "held for review folder" so I did not see it until now. The reason why it was held is because of blocked words? UA-cam is out of control!!!!!!! I am in the same boat as you, I had a bad fall of my bicycle. I am getting better but it is taking a long time, cracked ribs hurt like hell. I knew you would find this article interesting. I have seen that video and he is very skilled. Look for bob vines comment and you will see a link to that article so you can read it.
@@luckygen1001 Glad to hear from you as after three weeks since my comment I really was starting to get worried - with good reason It seems! Really, riding a bike at your age -😏 its a bit like getting up a ladder - risky at best fatal at worst. At least you will get better even it uncomfortable in the meantime, my recovery is still uncertain but looks more likely since a visit to a (very expensive) neurologist. Time will tell and in the meantime the pain is as you say not much fun - old age is a crock of crap! I have managed to download and print out that article - it looks to be an interesting read - my thanks to both you and Bob Vines. I note the reference to "Bromsgrove sand" in it. Is this not the sand a certain far too well know YTer uses? If so his work should look a lot better than it does as it seems to be rather a nice sand. I will calculate out its AFS fineness number and see what I get....Martin
Lucky, The Fineness number for those sands comes out at roughly 151 for the Bromsgrove and 100 for the Congleton. I would not mind trying that Bromsgrove, although perhaps not as fine as my facing sand it should produce quite good looking work.... Martin
That was very interesting. Yes, I have seen some videos where the operator of has vented his mould like it was a pin cushion. In your real life mould example, would vertical venting around the outside circumference of the cavity, ie not through the cavity, achieve anything, that is so that it vents through the side walls of the cavity?
Most sands do not need vents.All videos I have seen no one vents the bottom of the sand mold, only the top mold is vented and yet they have no defects that could be traced to not venting on the bottom of the mold.
Thx for video. I don't think i've ever seen a video that speaks of water percentage. I think you mentioned you shoot for 4%. How do you measure that? Thx. Marty
Been casting aluminum on a waste oil furnace.. "Oil is been preheated".... tons I mean close to a 35 % of aluminium dross or whatever is that you name the wasted aluminum material in top.....any advise to prevent this from happening??
I've corresponded with Pam at the Institute of Cast Metals Engineers about this paper. She just sent me a PDF copy for free and said that it could be shared. Is this something that you'd like to set a link for downloading it in the video description below?
@@luckygen1001 Try this to make sure that it works: Please let me know if this link doesn't work. They sent me .jpgs of the paper and I created a multi-page PDF from them for convenience.
@@bobvines00 Sorry i did not see this comment until now because it was held for review. The link works but youtube will not allow me to put it in the description.
@@luckygen1001 Perhaps you, as the Content Creator, can place the file somewhere that UA-cam allows? I've downloaded files from Creators' links before, but don't recall which "sites" they used (i.e., Dropbox, or equal).
Hi, I don't suppose I could pay you to do a casting for me? I'm restoring a lathe and it's missing the tail stock gib and I'm having a lot of trouble finding suitable stock to make it from.
So been doing vents wrong, *and* doing it for the wrong reasons. I *thought* vents were to keep air from accumulating in high parts of the casting. Also, since the ~ 3mm venting rods resulted in long, spindly protrusions, so I went to smaller wires 1 - 1.5mm. No protrusions that way. Secondly, read about “scabs” ages ago. Now I know, sort of, what they are.
@@luckygen1001 Na. You're not old. You're rich in years, experience, and knowledge. I'm delighted to have the opportunity to learn from you. So much that was never covered in the jr. high school shop on metal machining and casting.
@@luckygen1001 even after going through different types of gating systems....i am getting the same wrapage deformation...if u help me to resolve this...that would be great......!
This is quite a knowledgable and concise video with a lot of very valueable information. Thank you so much for sharing! I hope to try casting some day
".. foundation for a 10 story building." hehe. Great video! Very informative.
Great info, thanks for putting into a video :)
excellent video as allways, thanks again; cheers.
Interesting video and it makes a lot of sense. Still trying to find an online archive of old magazines that contains that specific one.
The publishers have changed their name to "Institute of Cast Metals Engineers" and their email address is, info@icme.org.uk In Australia some libraries have copies of those magazines.
I have started my own metal casting business largely based upon what you have posted through youtube. I really do appreciate the fact that you include so much information (even if some of the Alloy books are rather difficult to find) it has helped me immensely. The only point I want to disagree with you on is slag attack. Wouldn't the crucibles deteriorate from the inside out if that was the case? I suspect that clay crucibles wear down due to the abrasive nature and heat from using waste oil. I have been coating my crucibles with a high temperature paint and this seems to slow the deterioration allowing for more uses per crucible.
I still chuckle every time you point out in a video that there is no vent hole(s). I can quite well imagine your frustration with people who will not or cannot learn the proper use of ramming. May you continue posting for many years.
Thank you for watching my videos. When melting iron the slag that is produced is mostly iron oxide. This floats to the top and corrodes the top part of the crucible. Below the slag is molten iron and is not corrosive to the crucible and is always thicker than the top of the crucible. For the first 7-8 iron melts my crucible retains the shiny glaze but when slag starts to overflow and run down the side of the crucible it corrodes the glaze away and becomes thinner after many melts. I must try painting my crucible with high temperature paint.
may I ask: Has anyone told you your videos are relaxing?
learned a lot here thank you
Video is more than wonderful
I have an issue with silicon bronze. I believe okay need venting but not sure how i should vent. This video helped. Thanks
If you think you need vents just put as many vents as possible in both halves of the mold and see if it fixes the problem.
Lots of useful information here. Now I realise I'm guilty of "misventing" if there is such a thing.
That article really opened my eyes on how to use vents.
Interesting points about the sand permiability. I tend to run just moist enough to hold shape, no more.
Have you ever measured the percentage of water you use for your sand?
It is calculated at 4% by mass but it was not roasted dry prior.
In AZ was kept in sealed buckets.
"Measure moisture" ? With a tool or probe?
Very interesting
How do you share the magazine article pdf? I can't see any link. Thank you for the great content.
Glad to see you back - I have tried a few times to contact you recently but had no luck and I was starting to worry that something might have gone wrong. Good to see that my fears were unwarranted.
First, if I may, a note of caution - The date of publication of your reference is quite some time ago and back then a lot of the foundry “research” done was badly flawed through the use of terrible up front gating systems, so terrible in fact that downstream results could not always be relied upon. I am not saying that this applies to this particular reference for I have not seen it, but just that one needs to be careful with older material. I figure that anything pre about 2000 needs to be treated with care - not disregarded mind you - just treated carefully.
The problem with vents is that many people use them for the wrong purpose at the wrong time.It is as you say that there is a lot of misunderstanding when it comes to vents! As I see it there are three types of vents although it’s a bit open to debate if the third type is actually a vent.
We have vents designed just to get air out of the cavity. These are usually more or less opposite the ingate and look a lot like a duplicate of the sprue and gate. If all goes to plan during the pour metal will rise up this vent giving the comforting feeling that the cavity has (probably) filed with metal ok. It is surprising how many “DOH” moments occur when the metal does not rise up in the vent and the novice pourer (its always a novice😏 ) quickly tries to pour metal down the vent - like that will work “DOH”. As you correctly point out the necessity for the use of such vents is problematic. Many castings have feeders located at the top of the cavity and these will allow ample air escape. In any case there is not a lot of air in a cavity and it can usually escape easily through the permeability of even a “tight” sand. However, on occasion - thin, remote corners for example - provision of some extra air escape paths might be advisable (that disc would sure not have needed any!) I have used the scratch vents that you mentioned for this - my use of these is ONLY to let air out of the cavity. Once the metal reaches these thin vents and blocks them it does not matter as they have done their job (the fact that the metal has reached and blocked them proves that! 😊)
Then we have the sort of vent used to allow steam etc generated within the sand to escape through the sand rather than blow back through the metal. This is more what I would regard as the traditional vent. I imagine the necessity for their use on smallish work in open sands like those used for iron would be less common. On closed sands - like my natural material made all the closer by the steady addition of a finely ground facing material, their use is at times mandatory - some castings simply cannot be produced without such vents, this is more a problem with aluminium because of the lower metalostatic pressure it produces. I use a very thin vent wire that by use has sharpened itself to a point. I push the vent into the mould almost to the point of it hitting the pattern (which MUST be in situ when venting). If the vent wire hits the pattern, it does not matter as its point is so fine that a mark on the casting does not result. As you correctly point out vents must be open at the top and bottom of the mould and to ensure that I place any vented drag on its base board with a couple of layers of flywire in between. In some of my videos it’s possible to see steam roar out of cope vents for some minutes after casting and if I forget them the steam will bubble up the metal mould interface causing the metal to tremble and likely a reject casting. Perhaps this “tremble” is what your man calls flutter?
I have for example made several 8 * 10 inch finned castings, Fins about 1 inch high and apart, cast with fins down. I had to use vents about 1 inch apart pushed into the sand between each fin to stop the gases simply blowing up through the metal - 80 vents total per mould. Without these vents the casting was an oxide film gas hole ridden mess - useless.
The third type of vent, if we can call it that, is used to vent heat. You can see an example of it here
ua-cam.com/video/bwP4i8B2tS0/v-deo.html
A series of these “heat vents” - actually cooling rods - have been pushed into the mould. They fill with metal and quickly solidify, heat then flows along them so they effectively chill the casting. This can be a useful technique for chilling isolated areas. But flatter fins are perhaps better than rods for this. We need to keep in mind that flash on a casting will act like this and may cause edge/corner chill on susceptible metals.
The video link above is to a gentleman who is a very skilled moulder - I do not agree with how he does all things but he sure has a steady pair of hands. He is worth a look and this necessarily is one of his best ua-cam.com/video/-hl76Pk4aqg/v-deo.html
…. Martin
Your comment was in the "held for review folder" so I did not see it until now. The reason why it was held is because of blocked words? UA-cam is out of control!!!!!!! I am in the same boat as you, I had a bad fall of my bicycle. I am getting better but it is taking a long time, cracked ribs hurt like hell. I knew you would find this article interesting. I have seen that video and he is very skilled. Look for bob vines comment and you will see a link to that article so you can read it.
@@luckygen1001 Glad to hear from you as after three weeks since my comment I really was starting to get worried - with good reason It seems! Really, riding a bike at your age -😏 its a bit like getting up a ladder - risky at best fatal at worst. At least you will get better even it uncomfortable in the meantime, my recovery is still uncertain but looks more likely since a visit to a (very expensive) neurologist. Time will tell and in the meantime the pain is as you say not much fun - old age is a crock of crap!
I have managed to download and print out that article - it looks to be an interesting read - my thanks to both you and Bob Vines. I note the reference to "Bromsgrove sand" in it. Is this not the sand a certain far too well know YTer uses? If so his work should look a lot better than it does as it seems to be rather a nice sand. I will calculate out its AFS fineness number and see what I get....Martin
Lucky, The Fineness number for those sands comes out at roughly 151 for the Bromsgrove and 100 for the Congleton. I would not mind trying that Bromsgrove, although perhaps not as fine as my facing sand it should produce quite good looking work.... Martin
Struggling, but learning. Thanks to you and Lucky 👍👍👍👍
That was very interesting. Yes, I have seen some videos where the operator of has vented his mould like it was a pin cushion.
In your real life mould example, would vertical venting around the outside circumference of the cavity, ie not through the cavity, achieve anything, that is so that it vents through the side walls of the cavity?
Most sands do not need vents.All videos I have seen no one vents the bottom of the sand mold, only the top mold is vented and yet they have no defects that could be traced to not venting on the bottom of the mold.
Thx for video. I don't think i've ever seen a video that speaks of water percentage. I think you mentioned you shoot for 4%. How do you measure that?
Thx.
Marty
Make sure the sand is completely dry, weigh the sand and work out what 4% is of the sand you have weighed.
Been casting aluminum on a waste oil furnace.. "Oil is been preheated".... tons I mean close to a 35 % of aluminium dross or whatever is that you name the wasted aluminum material in top.....any advise to prevent this from happening??
What are you melting?
I've corresponded with Pam at the Institute of Cast Metals Engineers about this paper. She just sent me a PDF copy for free and said that it could be shared. Is this something that you'd like to set a link for downloading it in the video description below?
That is really great that you have a PDF copy of that article and yes put the link in your reply
@@luckygen1001 Try this to make sure that it works:
Please let me know if this link doesn't work.
They sent me .jpgs of the paper and I created a multi-page PDF from them for convenience.
@@bobvines00 Sorry i did not see this comment until now because it was held for review. The link works but youtube will not allow me to put it in the description.
@@luckygen1001 Perhaps you, as the Content Creator, can place the file somewhere that UA-cam allows? I've downloaded files from Creators' links before, but don't recall which "sites" they used (i.e., Dropbox, or equal).
@@bobvines00 Bob, Thanks for this link. It worked fine and i have just downloaded it. It looks to be an interesting read..... Martin
Hi, I don't suppose I could pay you to do a casting for me? I'm restoring a lathe and it's missing the tail stock gib and I'm having a lot of trouble finding suitable stock to make it from.
So been doing vents wrong, *and* doing it for the wrong reasons. I *thought* vents were to keep air from accumulating in high parts of the casting.
Also, since the ~ 3mm venting rods resulted in long, spindly protrusions, so I went to smaller wires 1 - 1.5mm. No protrusions that way.
Secondly, read about “scabs” ages ago. Now I know, sort of, what they are.
I was born nov. 1967, long time ago..great info.
I feel old because in 1967 I was a teenager.
@@luckygen1001 Na. You're not old. You're rich in years, experience, and knowledge. I'm delighted to have the opportunity to learn from you. So much that was never covered in the jr. high school shop on metal machining and casting.
@@EdwinWiles I had machining classes but no casting where I went to school. Casting classes came about 5 years after I started working for a living.
Hello sir....i am facing lots of problems with shinkage and wrapage defects in sand casting...even after 30-40 attempts
How can I help you?
@@luckygen1001 even after going through different types of gating systems....i am getting the same wrapage deformation...if u help me to resolve this...that would be great......!
@@msarun2104 Make a video of your casting problems so I can see for myself.
1968 was a long time ago?
IT WASN'T THAT LONG AGO WHEN YOU ARE BORN IN *1961!*
Got ya beat. 1960.
@@EdwinWiles
Beat?
I win! 🤣
Not liking this getting old thing! At least I'm in decent shape.
@@EdwinWiles Haha: 1953
Hello 👋 😁👍
Do you have an email? I have questions with pictures. Thanks