20 Minutes Per Finished Part Using Matchplate Molding

I made a new cast matchplate pattern for making sprue covers. These are the first test castings made using that pattern. When they're this fast and easy to make, it's almost worth actually doing. But you could definitely just use a piece of sheet metal to keep the ants and spiders out of your molds.
Note the use of K-Bond sand for facing. K-bond is an oil bonded sand like Petrobond, but I made it myself using VG-Plus organoclay and AFS 130 GFN synthetic olivine sand. The ingredients can be hard to find.
#handmade #foundry #patternmaking #matchplate #canada #metalcasting #sandcasting #petrobond #kbond #diy #customcastings

[@valsforge4318]

Very nice!

[@tobhomott]

Thanks! The cast aluminum matchplate pattern I used to make these sprue covers two per mold with built-in gating is a real time saver since I'll need to make some more of these every so often (I hope).

[@Preso58]

They look great. I too was wondering what they were for. Had to hunt through the comments to find out😂.

[@tobhomott]

Thanks Mark. I probably should have mentioned what the parts are for...

[@HeinrichsMade]

Good enough is good enough he says 🔥🔥🔥 awesome!

[@tobhomott]

Thanks. They don't have to look pretty to work, but it doesn't hurt! 😉

[@stevesrt8]

Mint buddy. Cheers

[@tobhomott]

Thanks man. These just about ram up fast enough to use as ingot molds, soon I'll have more sprue covers than I know what to do with

[@swdweeb]

They look great! What's it like pouring metal? It's been so long I've forgotten.

[@tobhomott]

Thank you my friend. Metal casting is fun, you ought to try it! 😂😉
Very happy with the first molds off the new cast matchplate, and the homemade K-bond (diy oil bonded sand) that I used for facing is working great too.

[@windyhillfoundry5940]

Very clever Jeff 👍. I assume you started the fire that smoked some of us up in the states🤔

[@tobhomott]

SHHHH!!! 😁
Nah, it wasn't me, Clarke. I wish they'd take down this burn ban though, I'm getting overcome by fallen sticks and branches and brush here

[@carlericvonkleistiii2188]

Good job!
I want to make a matchplate for tomahawk heads. It would be nice to be able to mass produce them.

[@tobhomott]

👍 Me too, before I wind up breaking my pipe-hawk pattern... 😁 I think if I do it this way (ie. cast the matchplate) and also cast copies of my plaster coreboxes, they'll shrink the same and the cores will still fit. Sure I could just mount the pattern I have to a wooden matchplate, but I'm also worried about the coreboxes deteriorating. Plus you can bake cores inside metal coreboxes... Plaster coreboxes... Well, maybe you could get away with that once.

[@sandrammer]

looking good. What are they used for?

[@tobhomott]

Thanks! They're meant to keep the ants and spiders from crawling down my sprues. I realize a simple piece of sheet metal would work just as well, but I was looking for an excuse to make patterns and molds and cast metal. 😉 As much as this new cast aluminum matchplate pattern lets me make these parts way faster than using loose patterns and hand cut gating, I bet back in the day you guys would have made those 3 molds a lot faster still. And probably more parts per mold in bigger flasks to boot. I also wanted to test the new K-bond sand I made. K-Bond sand is the "smokeless" oil bonded sand recipe they came up with in Kent State's foundry classes to make OSHA happy if you didn't know. Works just like the real thing but it's not red. My foundry supplier unfortunately won't sell petrobond powder - they make too much money selling new petrobond I guess. Tracking down a suitable chemically modified organophilic (oil-loving) clay binder wasn't easy either; the oil men out in Calgary who use the same stuff somehow in their extraction process sent me a 2 pound sample for free, but will only sell it to me if I order whole pallet... So until I can get more organoclay by the bag and can make more, I'm just using my small batch for facing sand. Mixed with 130GFN synthetic olivine.