@@TheDandyMann Family business! I used to help out when they were busy or short on staff. Usually 1-4 weeks at a time. It was primitive, dark with smoke and fumes. Just like the Industrial Revolution times but I learned basic foundry technique.
I did sand casting once about 40 years ago. Amazed you can sand cast such thin fins and gaps without the molten metal disturbing the sand.. I'll have to go look at your other vids to see what magic you are working.
The refractory paint helps! It forms a hard shell. I've done some very intricate platinum and stainless castings that occur almost entirely in a refractory dip and the sand is just there for extra support and mass so you can have some control over thermals
I come from the lost wax casting process where I have worked all my life and never thought one could cast any metal in loose sand ,let alone do it and get such wonderfull results.Amazing !!!!! thank you for the experience .
Incredible methods and results. And finally, someone talking about head pressure in casting molds. Alot of guys don't understand the importance of this.
I'm a machinist, but am working with pattern makers. Seeing how others do this stuff makes a lot of this coherent when they give me instructions. Thank you and Merry Christmas
ive been smelting and casting the last year and a half, and i thought i had seen it all on youtube, but i got so many good ideas on just this one video! your set up and the results are stunning. i absolutely cant wait to watch some more!
Magnificent! So fortunate to discover your great content. The kind of man I think we'd all be proud to call a friend. Genuine, intelligent, resourceful, motivated, intrigued by the man wonders in life, an explorer, a gifted talent and a friendly, humble person all around. Maker-builder friends are the best! Keep up the great, exploratory works!!
Dangerously inspirational! I may give this method a go at some point, your results are great 👍 The surface finish on the large piece looks really good in the video. Thanks for sharing
Mr. Coffield, when it comes to this work you are a true artist. The video content and your results are a benchmark. Thank you for sharing your expertise.
Wow. Mr. Fancypants here, I've never even seen a heating solution like that. My foundry is home made from an old air compressor tank with 300 lbs of refractory cement, fired by propane. It works, but .. I have a bit of envy.
@@kellycoffield533 Yeah, I use that one for bigger melts, or for ingots. I use a **NEVER DO THIS or the Internet safety police come** ceramics kiln for small stuff. Works fine if you're not an idiot about it.
as a former worker in this field in Foundries and Forges, I helped develope, mix, sell, casting binders whith materials, and tooling. "I can see"how new printing tech would take the abilities of Casting Modeling to an Un Known Level! looked CLEAN To ME!
I've done a bit of casting here and there, jewelry mostly, with soft and hard cast lead for bullets getting some time. For intricate parts, I've used the lost wax process with plaster of Paris and greensand or clay for two part molds with durable, removeable plugs. This is the first time I've ever seen someone use dry sand, and without sprues or risers. Since the pour was a complete success, I was thinking I might try it your way. I'll likely have to indulge myself with a few new tools (poor me, lol), but this will add to my enjoyment of life. Thank you.
You should consider joining www.TheHomeFoundry.org and pwruse the lost foam sub forum. I have many informational and project threads there. Best, Kelly
This is the information I have been looking for. Thanks for sharing. If you read this I am a welder and knife maker as well as just learning how to build all sorts of stuff myself. I might be open to some labor swapping down the road if you have any interest.
This is incredibly precise! I’m just getting into casting (beginning to make my own furnace) and although I’m veering towards lost wax, I’m finding all of your videos to be fascinating and very informative. Thank you for sharing your work 👍😊
After reading the comments it's almost safe that mention that the sand wasn't just loose sand as he said he packed it after vibrating to prevent runoffs. I could easily be wrong as it's way past my bedtime but the results are just amazing and the possibilities are endless. I would consider electrofusion for lining those cylinders as Kawasaki did decades ago. Bmw cylinders had problems transferring the heat from the liner to the aluminum cylinders but worked out the problem. There are many problems and solutions to study. Pretty sure we all learned something today. Like the equipment in the video as I will need to make or buy everything needed to start experimenting. Thanks.
The mold media is dry silica sand. There is no additional binder added. Vibratory excitation is the method of packing as in other industrial processes used for compaction of granular media. The method of binding is merely interference fit and friction. -That's it. Best, Kelly
Amazing work, having been involved with green sand casting since the mid 80s, and giving it away about five years ago, this has rekindled my interest, I still have the furnace and all of the foundry gear, but not the proper stuff for foam casting. Looks like a nice Autumn/winter project coming up.
If you are already versed in handling molten metal and conventional sand casting, you will only be limited by the quality of foam pattern you can fabricate. Lot's of info on that at www.TheHomeFoundry.org Best, Kelly
( surprising to me that this video is by far the most viewed of my videos) not realy it has the word casting cylinder thats why i came over this video alot of people work on old 2 stroke engines and think of an updated cylinder/head Kelly great work by the way 🙂 you make it look so easy
Thanks for putting up this one, very interesting. This is a little information that I hope you will find helpful. In order for cooling fins to operate effectively they need to have a taper from the base to the tip and the shape of the tip and base (and the angle of taper to a lesser extent) are quite critical. There are a number of excellent research papers available online which describe the dynamics of heat risers / dams in cooling fins. In short - heat will not travel up the fin and dissipate at the tip in a flow (not dissimilar to a stream flowing ) and transfer to the air stream without the appropriate taper. The second issue is that of harmonic vibration. Everything vibrates and more especially in an internal combustion engine in operation there is considerable vibration. Parallel fins without taper will break off sooner or later. I found this out the hard way and before I became aware of the complexity of cooling fins. Keep at it, I've subscribed to your channel and look forward to more of your foam casting videos.
Hi Kelly, many thanks for your tutorials! I think those two videos you mention are most visited because they depict a summary of best practices to achieve a goal in quality , rather than focusing on a specific result. On the other hand, please mention the material of pouring cup ; I couldn't understand quite well. Good luck!
Thanks Mihai. The pouring cup is made from moldable ceramic fiber. There is a video about them on my channel. Best, Kelly ua-cam.com/video/MIydO69CNao/v-deo.html
Wow ! This is Totally Amazing! 1. That you are doing it in a Home Shop & 2. That you can do such Perfect Patterns & Casts! Great work & thanks for showing us your process!!
I wish I had a neighbor like you around. I always had an interest in casting metal and I finally found the time to start building an at home metal foundry. I'm just going to 3d print designs and use those to cast.. I like your method better though. I'm interested in making a little RC engine to learn that's why I thought fins.. It would be cool to have a small motor I made from scratch. I regained my interest because I need to make some small BLDC motor parts for a project and I have my own design I want to build and try.
For very small finely detailed stuffed you may be better of with printed patterns and investment casting. Though those materials are pricier, the molds and patterns are small so not much material or cost involved. For larger machine parts that's a different story and lost foam certainly has advantages. Best, Kelly
Восхитительно, работал на художественном литье - алюминий, латунь, работали страмбованными опоками, с моделями из под ЧПУ, из МДФ. И с выплавляемыми восковыми моделями, вы наверное льете , что то типа пенопластовых (полистироловых) моделей? Чудесно организовано, и произведено!
I didn't know that lost foam could work that well. That looks alot easier than traditional green sand impresstion or lost wax. I've done only a little casting, but hope to do alot more some day and this video has made me see that lost foam has alot more potentional than I had thought after seeing others do it in the past.
very tidy shop, this shows that the performance from top to bottom will be very good, in fact the resulting work is excellent. I am going to go through your video list to see if you have info on what alloy you would recommend for petrol powered cylinder head and heat treatment
I use A356 for most everything because it's a good all around casting alloy but can and needs post heat treatment for best strength. You might look into AlMag 35 (aluminum alloy 535) as it has good as cast strength and machining properties.
My goodness your furnace on wheels is amazing. Please tell me you have a video on it? Brilliant video, you’ve blown my mind with those fins. I have just the project I’d like to try this with. Thanks so much!
hi, I have no experience with casting but I find these videos incredibly interesting, so excuse my perhaps ridiculous question: how come the sand didn't collapse as the aluminum melted through the foam? for instance the "tube" on top seems like it would melt and the surrounding sand collapse into the hole. The only thing I can think of is that because the sand is cold any aluminum that touches it instantly solidifies, or maybe that the sand becomes rigid with the high heat, or you could just be a wizard haha. So how come it works?
When the sand is vibrated, it becomes loosely bound by the mechanical contact of the granular media. It's not bound as tightly as green clay or chemically bound sand, but more so than non-vibrated/compacted sand. As the metal evaporates and replaces the foam it creates pressure on the mold wall which also helps hold the sand in place until it solidifies. Best, Kelly
There's also a refractory slurry dip @7:00 ish that plays a pretty big part. Effectively a ceramic coating that keeps the sand from sticking to the metal and keeps the foam holding the shape even as it melt/burns off. The part isn't metal to sand, it's metal to ceramic.
@@mad1337nes Your right in this case but many people do it without the slurry. A company I bought a melting pot from specialized in making machine gun parts for the military. They used wax patterns (lost wax casting) but dipped the wax in a slurry first and when it was partly dry they dipped them in fine sand and then let the slurry fully dry. They would come back later and repeat the process to build up a heavy coating on the outside. After fully drying they went into a burn out oven to completely remove the wax and turn the slurry coating to glass. While still red hot they then poured the metal. After cooling they dipped into cold water to shock the glass casing and most of it would fall away. The parts came out perfect.
@@tenlittleindians sure, but the original question was "how do you do sand casting with no defects from sand particles?" and the answer is, and always will be, don't have sand be the final barrier. The OP guessed correctly. Myfordboy does plenty of green sand casting bare/directly to sand...and you can always see some minor imperfections (which is fine when it's getting milled to final anyways).
@@mad1337nes Myfordboy also does a lot of investment casting these days and uses his 3D printed parts instead of foam patterns. All methods mentioned work it's just a matter of how much detail you need in your final product. A company I worked for still gets their split mold petrobond sand castings from India and then finish machines them into industrial hydraulic valves. I've got a centrifugal caster in my basement for objects I investment cast. If all I needed was a sledge hammer head I'm sure the sand alone would get the job done provided it's vibration packed. Another old video here shows the vibration process. ua-cam.com/video/nxcG7MF0KIE/v-deo.html When 3D metal printers become common none of us will be casting.
I use a pnuematic turbine vibrator. There are various sizes with different levels of vibration and air usage levels. I use GT25. Search eBay for turbine vibrator and you'll have many hits. Best, Kelly
Hi Kelly; Just as a suggestion with your gang cutters. If you make tapered washers inbetween the blades/cutters you will cut an elipse. This will make the fins tapered from root to tip. Regards, Steve. :) I stumbled across your site, good product. i was thinking of 3d printing lost wax forms, but for me this is better.
Sorry, wrong information. If the abour centreline is offset to the foam centreline (not paralell), THEN, you will cut an elipse. The only problem with this is that you can only do one groove, at a time; NOT ganged up blades to do all fins at once! A mental abberation on my behalf!!!!
10:30 Its a good thing those casters have no ball bearings, they would be destroyed between the powdery sand and the vibration induced denting of the races. Also don't breathe that silica dust, keep a vacuum on when pouring it. Reminds me of the poofing that garlic powder does sometimes. To avoid that dust, commercial casting to near net shape often uses a specific ceramic slurry and coarser sand.
The casters have bearings. Still going strong after years. The sand is washed and dried 45-55 mesh. -Very coarse by foundry standards. You'd get more exposure on a walk at the beach. Best, Kelly
Very good, I'm following in your footsteps, I'm making a pair of Shirts alerted for two Chevrolet jugs 98.48 mm that I'll put in a 1/2 VW with a reinforced case.
Just an observation. It looks like you have a small (?) fortune in your furnace! Seriously, I hope you do some machining in these castings and take one from "foam-to-pattern-pour" and show us your work! Excellent video... thanks for sharing this :)
Not a fortune but some time. It has evolved over a number of years. You just need to peruse some of the more recent videos on my channel to see finished projects. Best, Kelly
Thanks for sharing so many details in this video! Can you also tell us what alloy of aluminum you are using, pour temperature, and what heat treatment you would use? Really fascinating!
Thanks Bruce. I built the furnace first and then added equipment for additional capability, ease of use, and process refinement over time. 5 years on now. I just built a gantry and hoist for larger pours that can be seen in my automotive intake manifold vid. I'm going to have to stop building equipment....running out of space! Best, Kelly
I've used plaster and wax to make jewelry castings. This is very interesting though I had no idea this was actually a thing. Model makers and prop makers should pay particular attention.
Absolutely amazing. Although cooling goes down if your fins are too close together. Unless you use active forced air cooling. You can download the charts on it. It's the same way with heat sinks. They have to be a certain distance apart if you're not using a pressure fan. You need good air pressure if you put your fins too close together.
Hi Kelly, a very interesting video and a very impressive foundry set-up. Good to see you use PPE and a well laid out work area. About the only thing that concerned me was the dumping of the sand on your driveway. I realise that the sand would be warm to hot but it has the potential to pick up some moisture from the cold concrete and judging by the snow bank it was cold. Can I suggest that you pour out your sand in future onto a clean drip tray or similar. It will keep your sand clean and dry and free from any debris that might be on the driveway. That will save having to dry and filter your sand. Apart from that, excellent work and you have got yourself a new subscriber. Mark from Melbourne Australia
Hi Mark, for the short story, it's such low value media I've found it better to replace it than renew/recycle it. The long story, it's true, the single most important thing other than refractory for LF sand is that it moves under vibration and dryness is important to that. Their byproducts of decomposed polystyrene degrades the sand with repeated use. You can heat the sand to remove these organics but the energy cost to do so is more than the value of the sand ($20/ton in bulk for $5/5 gal bucket retail). I used my first 300lbs of sand for almost 5 years before I replaced it, and I treated it with disregard, except dryness, and the driveway contact didn't seem to be a problem as long as it was not visibly wet. Any fines or organics I may pick up arent a problem for aluminum. I only perform gross filtering through .090" perfortaed plate to remove clumps. That 5yr old sand saw a lot of use was sufficient for all but the most challenging vibratory packing and fresh ne sand does perform better. Also, since the foundry was allowed to dispose of thir sand in landfills, I assume the same for mine. Now if it was higher value media like the commercial ferrous LF operations, they have fluidizing furnaces to recondition/reclaim the high value media. Best, Kelly
you could make the ceramic refractory mix last a lot longer by using it as a thin shell coating like he did. not sure he used the ceramic variant though. 6:50
I'd like to cast a couple cylinders for a Scooter, a big bore for a 50cc that allows the use of 150 cc pistons with 57.4mm bore, the largest big bore available isid 52.4 . While it will require case modification, for oil passages ( most likely) id like to also either cast a head that uses the 150cc valves, or modify the case to have the 150 stud pattern so a 150head fits . Cast a cylinder that is shorter than the 150, because of the shorter stroke. Also make the fins longer by about 25% and try to fit another fin or two to both, the head seems to not have much cooling. Or possibly cast a head and cylinder that gets a water jacket welded over it after casting. A piston with smaller wrist pins is also required. If water cooling, cast a new cover to fit over the flywheel to hold water pump that runs on the crank. And a small reservoir tank with 1/2" water hoses, use a heater core for radiator, cast a thermostat housing and water crossover from cylinder to head. Maybe the water pump and impeller also. Use a 6mm stainless rod. With a 17mm docket like coupling to adapt the shaft to the crank by the flywheels nut. The tiny impeller being roughly 3" diameter and 1" thick or less, the engine spinning at or above 10,000 rpm, it should move enough water, since it doesn't operate below 4500. Cast the thermostat housing with a 5/16 bypass. With spring and flap to operate vas a pressure valve, if the pump pushes hard enough it. Opens to prevent cavitation.. Anther thing would be a two cylinder cylinder snd head to make the motor a two cylinder. Instead of welding two together . Use a 50mm or 52.4 mm bore. Using the125cc valves. And mill a camshaft blank from a steel shaft with key ways, and make the lobes from tool steel, and have custom lobes ground after being keyed in place. And silver soldered with a spacer sleeve to hold the bearings and sprocket. Possibly do it differently thatthe welded versions put the timing chain between cylinders and make the right side of the head a mirrored copy of the left side . To prevent interesting sparkplug installation.. sorry to ramble, have a awesome day!🎉✌️
do you think maybe cutting a pac-man shaped piece of material to set ontop of the sand opened toward the ceramic cup. to compress the sand some while vibrating
I’m super impressed with your setup. The only thing I’d caution against is handling molten metal on concrete. I know failure of the crucible is unlikely, but a big spill on the wet concrete will explode molten metal everywhere.
Great video! I have been looking for a method to make parts for my ice fishing product. I have been using steel and welding and grinding takes a lot of time. I had some aluminum parts made that were welded together.
so as you pour molten Alu, the foam would bubble out of the sand? That's a safety concern too, right ? How do you control the rate of pour I must say, the finished product look AMAZING. there are no sharp edges and very fine shape came out nicely
It doesn't quite "bubble" through. The foam melts and then evaporates into gas where it meets the advancing molten metal front. Most of the foam escapes through the permeable refractory coating as gas into the dry, unbound, sand. Some passes through as liquid, but very little. The safety concern would be breating the gaseous decomposed polystyrene. I use a respirator for larger pours but always pour outside and avoid the fumes. Most of that exposure comes when demolding, though obviously some from the pour. Best, Kelly
This is very interesting! How does the blue pattern disappear when you pour the alloy in? I do like the motorcycle cylinder, that will polish up really well. Thanks for your info.
Depending upon the parts you typically cast, IMO, it's the most versatile and practical process for hobby casting. It offers all the design freedom of other evepaortaive pattern methods with low cost reusable mold materials that require no special processing or maintenance. So basically, if you have a furnace and a foam pattern, all you need is a bucket of dry sand. The process is limited by the level of detail and quality of pattern you are able to achieve ad the labor to produce a pattern. For machine parts it's great. It typically cannot produce the detail or finishes required for jewelery and small sculptures. Best, Kelly
Excellent work! I've tried a few lost foam projects and I was never able to get that nice of a finish on the parts. Do you have a recipe for the slurry you use to coat the patterns? I have used a thin mix of plaster of Paris, which gave me great results on my lost wax castings, but I never tried it on fo patterns.
I use a commercial coating but non-setting drywall joint compound thinned with water to the desired consistency is a decent substitute for non-ferrous casting. The finish will never be better than that on the pattern. The insulation board foam finish can be improved with light sanding up to 320 grit. Best, Kelly
Hello Kelly, working on building a working single cylinder engine, poured a beautiful cylinder with the green sand method but like the idea of lost foam. On our first three attempts to try it out the aluminum didn't make it to the pattern, we had a 1" square sprue and the metal stopped at the bottom of the sprue, and yes the metal was hot enough.....stumped?
Something is drastically out of whack. Sure about the heat? For lost foam, hot enough will typically be 150-200F hotter than that required for conventional open cavity sand casting. If you have a small crucible, heat can be rapidly lost from small melts on the way to the pour, especially if you have a metallic pouring cup involved. What is your foam density? Should use something in the range of 1-1.5lbs/ft3. Most packing or insulating sheet is in this range. Hard to say with out pictures. Might need more contact area where sprue meets the pattern. Join The Home Foundry at the link in the description and lets discuss it. Best, Kelly
How about adding a vent so air and gasses from the burnt foam in the mold have a way to exit? Also, i’ve seen other videos where the lost wax is coated in a ceramic slurry before being potted in sand.
Vents don't apply in lost foam because the refractory coating is permeable and the entire surface of the mold is the vent. If you attempt to make a vent from foam, it's not a vent until the foam is evaporated and at that point, it's full of metal so it's still not a vent. Lost wax and lost foam are different processes. In lost wax you have hard fired mold media and remove the wax pattern before pouring. Lost foam uses unbound mold media and the pattern remains in place and is evaporated by molten metal. Best, Kelly
I've used sodium silicate bound cores and molds but not for lost foam casting. TThe coating applied to the pattern will replicate fine detail but the level detail and finish is dictated by the quality of finish on the pattern and there is a limit to what's possible with low density foam. Best, Kelly
Just curious if any ash from the burning foam can cause irregularities in the final casting. Pretty awesome method, that vibrating sand system. First time seeing it .
If done properly it doesn't really burn. Black smoke and flame indicates burning. In the mold, it decomposes and turns to liquid and then gas in the absence of oxygen. I know I have things near optimal when I have no flame or black smoke while pouring. When I demold, it is all white smoke/vapor that evolves from the sand. You can get defects but the most common in lost foam are called fold defects, which result from turbulence and oxidation from converging metal fronts and gas pockets in the mold. Best, Kelly
I spent a fortune on Petrobond to turn out mediocre castings. You make magic with an 8 dollar bag of sand from the Home Depot. Respect.
The foundry I worked in never had sunshine, fresh air, birds singing, clean work surfaces or snow! Beautiful castings and clever technique, well done!
Man that sounds like a drag, how did you cope with it? 😉
@@TheDandyMann Family business! I used to help out when they were busy or short on staff. Usually 1-4 weeks at a time. It was primitive, dark with smoke and fumes. Just like the Industrial Revolution times but I learned basic foundry technique.
First time I ever saw a foundry that neat and clean. The neatness is also reflected in the quality of the work.
I did sand casting once about 40 years ago. Amazed you can sand cast such thin fins and gaps without the molten metal disturbing the sand.. I'll have to go look at your other vids to see what magic you are working.
The refractory paint helps! It forms a hard shell. I've done some very intricate platinum and stainless castings that occur almost entirely in a refractory dip and the sand is just there for extra support and mass so you can have some control over thermals
@@grinchyface Ah that makes sense.
@@grinchyface What type of refractory paint, and where can I get some? 😁
It sounds really useful!
@@RC-fp1tl ua-cam.com/video/LdgGkqvk5mc/v-deo.html
I didnt believe it's just lost foam in dry sand as well. He coats the foam in something similair to ceramic shell casting
Just as they say in medicine, that is art and science. I marvel at your abilities, sir. Nice work.
I come from the lost wax casting process where I have worked all my life and never thought one could cast any metal in loose sand ,let alone do it and get such wonderfull results.Amazing !!!!! thank you for the experience .
That is the neatest little furnace I've seen yet!
Incredible methods and results. And finally, someone talking about head pressure in casting molds. Alot of guys don't understand the importance of this.
I'm a machinist, but am working with pattern makers. Seeing how others do this stuff makes a lot of this coherent when they give me instructions.
Thank you and Merry Christmas
I am so glad to be sharing this country with people like you! Thanks so much for all you do!
ive been smelting and casting the last year and a half, and i thought i had seen it all on youtube, but i got so many good ideas on just this one video! your set up and the results are stunning. i absolutely cant wait to watch some more!
I’m amazed the loose sand maintains the pattern as the foam vaporizes. Great, great video. Mad skills.
it does have a thin shell around the part to help maintain surface finish and form.
6:50 "dipped in refractory slurry" so basically a plaster coating.
Magnificent! So fortunate to discover your great content. The kind of man I think we'd all be proud to call a friend. Genuine, intelligent, resourceful, motivated, intrigued by the man wonders in life, an explorer, a gifted talent and a friendly, humble person all around. Maker-builder friends are the best! Keep up the great, exploratory works!!
Dangerously inspirational! I may give this method a go at some point, your results are great 👍 The surface finish on the large piece looks really good in the video. Thanks for sharing
Mr. Coffield, when it comes to this work you are a true artist. The video content and your results are a benchmark. Thank you for sharing your expertise.
That's very kind of you to say. Glad you enjoyed the video. Best, K
Wow. Mr. Fancypants here, I've never even seen a heating solution like that. My foundry is home made from an old air compressor tank with 300 lbs of refractory cement, fired by propane. It works, but .. I have a bit of envy.
300lbs? Wow, I bet that takes some fuel and time to come to temp on the first heat! Best, Kelly
@@kellycoffield533 Yeah, I use that one for bigger melts, or for ingots. I use a **NEVER DO THIS or the Internet safety police come** ceramics kiln for small stuff. Works fine if you're not an idiot about it.
as a former worker in this field in Foundries and Forges, I helped develope, mix, sell, casting binders whith materials, and tooling. "I can see"how new printing tech would take the abilities of Casting Modeling to an Un Known Level!
looked CLEAN To ME!
This is my favorite method of casting, less messy and easier to get right. Nice dry loose sand, done.
Those turned out beautiful, Mr. Coffield.
Well, that was an understated masterclass. Great work!
I've done a bit of casting here and there, jewelry mostly, with soft and hard cast lead for bullets getting some time. For intricate parts, I've used the lost wax process with plaster of Paris and greensand or clay for two part molds with durable, removeable plugs. This is the first time I've ever seen someone use dry sand, and without sprues or risers. Since the pour was a complete success, I was thinking I might try it your way. I'll likely have to indulge myself with a few new tools (poor me, lol), but this will add to my enjoyment of life. Thank you.
You should consider joining www.TheHomeFoundry.org and pwruse the lost foam sub forum. I have many informational and project threads there. Best, Kelly
This is the information I have been looking for. Thanks for sharing. If you read this I am a welder and knife maker as well as just learning how to build all sorts of stuff myself. I might be open to some labor swapping down the road if you have any interest.
They came out really well, excellent work !
Thank you Andreas. Best, K
WOW I was just scanning trough my channels and this came up? I have so many questions but will go back and watch some of your old posts.
If you are really interested in casting at home you should join www.TheHomeFoundry.org.
This is incredibly precise! I’m just getting into casting (beginning to make my own furnace) and although I’m veering towards lost wax, I’m finding all of your videos to be fascinating and very informative. Thank you for sharing your work 👍😊
I just discovered this channel and i instantly subscribed, amazing work. I'd love to see a "working" one cylinder engine made with that big cylinder.
After reading the comments it's almost safe that mention that the sand wasn't just loose sand as he said he packed it after vibrating to prevent runoffs. I could easily be wrong as it's way past my bedtime but the results are just amazing and the possibilities are endless. I would consider electrofusion for lining those cylinders as Kawasaki did decades ago. Bmw cylinders had problems transferring the heat from the liner to the aluminum cylinders but worked out the problem. There are many problems and solutions to study. Pretty sure we all learned something today. Like the equipment in the video as I will need to make or buy everything needed to start experimenting. Thanks.
The mold media is dry silica sand. There is no additional binder added. Vibratory excitation is the method of packing as in other industrial processes used for compaction of granular media. The method of binding is merely interference fit and friction. -That's it. Best, Kelly
The first engines to be mass produced using lost foam were Saturn blocks & cylinder heads. You could actually see the foam patterns in the castings.
You can still see them in some newer engines. Styrofoam pattern on the inside of the valve covers ect.
I was going to say the same thing. I worked for Saturn and it was cool to watch a casting being poured by a robot. :)
Amazing work, having been involved with green sand casting since the mid 80s, and giving it away about five years ago, this has rekindled my interest, I still have the furnace and all of the foundry gear, but not the proper stuff for foam casting. Looks like a nice Autumn/winter project coming up.
If you are already versed in handling molten metal and conventional sand casting, you will only be limited by the quality of foam pattern you can fabricate. Lot's of info on that at www.TheHomeFoundry.org Best, Kelly
That’s “talent”. Great work. Wish you were my neighbor. Thanks for the video
( surprising to me that this video is by far the most viewed of my videos) not realy it has the word casting cylinder thats why i came over this video alot of people work on old 2 stroke engines and think of an updated cylinder/head Kelly great work by the way 🙂 you make it look so easy
Thanks for putting up this one, very interesting. This is a little information that I hope you will find helpful. In order for cooling fins to operate effectively they need to have a taper from the base to the tip and the shape of the tip and base (and the angle of taper to a lesser extent) are quite critical. There are a number of excellent research papers available online which describe the dynamics of heat risers / dams in cooling fins. In short - heat will not travel up the fin and dissipate at the tip in a flow (not dissimilar to a stream flowing ) and transfer to the air stream without the appropriate taper. The second issue is that of harmonic vibration. Everything vibrates and more especially in an internal combustion engine in operation there is considerable vibration. Parallel fins without taper will break off sooner or later. I found this out the hard way and before I became aware of the complexity of cooling fins. Keep at it, I've subscribed to your channel and look forward to more of your foam casting videos.
Hi Kelly, many thanks for your tutorials! I think those two videos you mention are most visited because they depict a summary of best practices to achieve a goal in quality , rather than focusing on a specific result.
On the other hand, please mention the material of pouring cup ; I couldn't understand quite well. Good luck!
Thanks Mihai. The pouring cup is made from moldable ceramic fiber. There is a video about them on my channel. Best, Kelly ua-cam.com/video/MIydO69CNao/v-deo.html
@@kellycoffield533 Thanks, I owe you a lot in learning how to do things properly and with reasonable costs!
Amazing work! Brilliant, thoughtful explanations of how AND why for everything!
awesome video. please don't stop making videos and sharing your knowledge
Wow ! This is Totally Amazing! 1. That you are doing it in a Home Shop & 2. That you can do such Perfect Patterns & Casts! Great work & thanks for showing us your process!!
I'm very impressed at how well that came out.
Id love to see you build a motor for a bicycle like the old boardtrackers! I love this kind of stuff!
I wish I had a neighbor like you around. I always had an interest in casting metal and I finally found the time to start building an at home metal foundry. I'm just going to 3d print designs and use those to cast.. I like your method better though. I'm interested in making a little RC engine to learn that's why I thought fins.. It would be cool to have a small motor I made from scratch. I regained my interest because I need to make some small BLDC motor parts for a project and I have my own design I want to build and try.
For very small finely detailed stuffed you may be better of with printed patterns and investment casting. Though those materials are pricier, the molds and patterns are small so not much material or cost involved. For larger machine parts that's a different story and lost foam certainly has advantages. Best, Kelly
Восхитительно, работал на художественном литье - алюминий, латунь, работали страмбованными опоками, с моделями из под ЧПУ, из МДФ. И с выплавляемыми восковыми моделями, вы наверное льете , что то типа пенопластовых (полистироловых) моделей?
Чудесно организовано, и произведено!
That's an AMAZING result man! Excellent job--and a great video. Thanks for making it!
Glad you liked it!
Really appreciate your methodical approach. Subscribed!
Fantastic video. I’m going to have to watch many of your other videos now.
I didn't know that lost foam could work that well. That looks alot easier than traditional green sand impresstion or lost wax. I've done only a little casting, but hope to do alot more some day and this video has made me see that lost foam has alot more potentional than I had thought after seeing others do it in the past.
It's def the easiest way to cast for the DIY'er in my opinion. I made some lost foam back in the day and it "just works"
That's really awesome man! The results are amazing. Thanks for posting this.
very nice castings. best foam oi have seen to date. super clean as well
Thanks for posting. I used to work in high pressure die casting. I've only ever heard about this but never seen it.
Channel gold right here!
Subbed ☺
Awesome, thank you!
Thank you for sharing,very nice parts and great foundry tech! Congratulations!!
Super impressive casting skills,thanks for sharing!👌 cheers,from Scotland!🏴
Thank you! Cheers!
Very nice work. You take casting to another level.
I’ve never seen anyone get this nice a casting from list foam in unbound sand. Wow.
This is an inrtersting channel,i think i can learn a lot here, thank u sir,thank u for ur great work, sincerely from China
Brilliant work....thanks for putting this up..Such a nice way to go before full pattern making and split line madness..
That is amazing quality you managed to achieve.
Absolutely facinating work! Your foundry is one hell of a machine also. Subbed!
very tidy shop, this shows that the performance from top to bottom will be very good, in fact the resulting work is excellent. I am going to go through your video list to see if you have info on what alloy you would recommend for petrol powered cylinder head and heat treatment
I use A356 for most everything because it's a good all around casting alloy but can and needs post heat treatment for best strength. You might look into AlMag 35 (aluminum alloy 535) as it has good as cast strength and machining properties.
@@kellycoffield533 Would a high percentage copper alloy (like 25% 30% Cu) need heat treatment?
@@tomassosaoconnor IDK. I don't think I've ever seen an aluminum alloy with that high of Cu content. I suspect it would be very brittle.
My goodness your furnace on wheels is amazing. Please tell me you have a video on it? Brilliant video, you’ve blown my mind with those fins. I have just the project I’d like to try this with. Thanks so much!
hi, I have no experience with casting but I find these videos incredibly interesting, so excuse my perhaps ridiculous question: how come the sand didn't collapse as the aluminum melted through the foam? for instance the "tube" on top seems like it would melt and the surrounding sand collapse into the hole. The only thing I can think of is that because the sand is cold any aluminum that touches it instantly solidifies, or maybe that the sand becomes rigid with the high heat, or you could just be a wizard haha. So how come it works?
When the sand is vibrated, it becomes loosely bound by the mechanical contact of the granular media. It's not bound as tightly as green clay or chemically bound sand, but more so than non-vibrated/compacted sand. As the metal evaporates and replaces the foam it creates pressure on the mold wall which also helps hold the sand in place until it solidifies. Best, Kelly
There's also a refractory slurry dip @7:00 ish that plays a pretty big part. Effectively a ceramic coating that keeps the sand from sticking to the metal and keeps the foam holding the shape even as it melt/burns off. The part isn't metal to sand, it's metal to ceramic.
@@mad1337nes Your right in this case but many people do it without the slurry.
A company I bought a melting pot from specialized in making machine gun parts for the military. They used wax patterns (lost wax casting) but dipped the wax in a slurry first and when it was partly dry they dipped them in fine sand and then let the slurry fully dry. They would come back later and repeat the process to build up a heavy coating on the outside. After fully drying they went into a burn out oven to completely remove the wax and turn the slurry coating to glass. While still red hot they then poured the metal. After cooling they dipped into cold water to shock the glass casing and most of it would fall away. The parts came out perfect.
@@tenlittleindians sure, but the original question was "how do you do sand casting with no defects from sand particles?" and the answer is, and always will be, don't have sand be the final barrier. The OP guessed correctly.
Myfordboy does plenty of green sand casting bare/directly to sand...and you can always see some minor imperfections (which is fine when it's getting milled to final anyways).
@@mad1337nes Myfordboy also does a lot of investment casting these days and uses his 3D printed parts instead of foam patterns. All methods mentioned work it's just a matter of how much detail you need in your final product.
A company I worked for still gets their split mold petrobond sand castings from India and then finish machines them into industrial hydraulic valves. I've got a centrifugal caster in my basement for objects I investment cast. If all I needed was a sledge hammer head I'm sure the sand alone would get the job done provided it's vibration packed.
Another old video here shows the vibration process. ua-cam.com/video/nxcG7MF0KIE/v-deo.html
When 3D metal printers become common none of us will be casting.
Awesome, I had no idea you could cast with loose sand!!!
could not hear what you used to make it vibrate thank you for your time in this matter
I use a pnuematic turbine vibrator. There are various sizes with different levels of vibration and air usage levels. I use GT25. Search eBay for turbine vibrator and you'll have many hits. Best, Kelly
@@kellycoffield533 thank you so very much
@@kellycoffield533 could you use a of center weighted electric motor? Just curious.
Also, excellent video ☮️👍
@@privateprivate1865 Yes, off-center/eccentrically weighted electric motor will work. Best, Kelly
awesome - I just learned about how this lost foam process works - I got the TB engine - Trailblazer Vortec 4200
Hi Kelly; Just as a suggestion with your gang cutters. If you make tapered washers inbetween the blades/cutters you will cut an elipse. This will make the fins tapered from root to tip. Regards, Steve. :) I stumbled across your site, good product. i was thinking of 3d printing lost wax forms, but for me this is better.
Sorry, wrong information. If the abour centreline is offset to the foam centreline (not paralell), THEN, you will cut an elipse. The only problem with this is that you can only do one groove, at a time; NOT ganged up blades to do all fins at once! A mental abberation on my behalf!!!!
10:30 Its a good thing those casters have no ball bearings, they would be destroyed between the powdery sand and the vibration induced denting of the races. Also don't breathe that silica dust, keep a vacuum on when pouring it. Reminds me of the poofing that garlic powder does sometimes. To avoid that dust, commercial casting to near net shape often uses a specific ceramic slurry and coarser sand.
The casters have bearings. Still going strong after years. The sand is washed and dried 45-55 mesh. -Very coarse by foundry standards. You'd get more exposure on a walk at the beach. Best, Kelly
Very good, I'm following in your footsteps, I'm making a pair of Shirts alerted for two Chevrolet jugs 98.48 mm that I'll put in a 1/2 VW with a reinforced case.
Just an observation. It looks like you have a small (?) fortune in your furnace! Seriously, I hope you do some machining in these castings and take one from "foam-to-pattern-pour" and show us your work! Excellent video... thanks for sharing this :)
Not a fortune but some time. It has evolved over a number of years. You just need to peruse some of the more recent videos on my channel to see finished projects. Best, Kelly
Wow your work and set up are incredible! I am a craftsmen as well and you have impressive skills and your process. Very very well done.
Thanks for sharing so many details in this video! Can you also tell us what alloy of aluminum you are using, pour temperature, and what heat treatment you would use? Really fascinating!
A356 Aluminum, 1425F, T5. Best, Kelly
Excellent video! Thanks!!
what a superb work and technique, thank you for sharing !
That is bloody impressive with loose sand.
I am really impressed with your foundry setup. You did a great job on the castings. I just subscribed.
Thanks Bruce. I built the furnace first and then added equipment for additional capability, ease of use, and process refinement over time. 5 years on now. I just built a gantry and hoist for larger pours that can be seen in my automotive intake manifold vid. I'm going to have to stop building equipment....running out of space! Best,
Kelly
That is so cool. You seem to make it look so easy. Subbed.
I've used plaster and wax to make jewelry castings. This is very interesting though I had no idea this was actually a thing. Model makers and prop makers should pay particular attention.
Absolutely amazing. Although cooling goes down if your fins are too close together. Unless you use active forced air cooling.
You can download the charts on it. It's the same way with heat sinks. They have to be a certain distance apart if you're not using a pressure fan.
You need good air pressure if you put your fins too close together.
Hi Kelly, a very interesting video and a very impressive foundry set-up. Good to see you use PPE and a well laid out work area. About the only thing that concerned me was the dumping of the sand on your driveway. I realise that the sand would be warm to hot but it has the potential to pick up some moisture from the cold concrete and judging by the snow bank it was cold. Can I suggest that you pour out your sand in future onto a clean drip tray or similar. It will keep your sand clean and dry and free from any debris that might be on the driveway. That will save having to dry and filter your sand. Apart from that, excellent work and you have got yourself a new subscriber.
Mark from Melbourne Australia
Hi Mark, for the short story, it's such low value media I've found it better to replace it than renew/recycle it. The long story, it's true, the single most important thing other than refractory for LF sand is that it moves under vibration and dryness is important to that. Their byproducts of decomposed polystyrene degrades the sand with repeated use. You can heat the sand to remove these organics but the energy cost to do so is more than the value of the sand ($20/ton in bulk for $5/5 gal bucket retail). I used my first 300lbs of sand for almost 5 years before I replaced it, and I treated it with disregard, except dryness, and the driveway contact didn't seem to be a problem as long as it was not visibly wet. Any fines or organics I may pick up arent a problem for aluminum. I only perform gross filtering through .090" perfortaed plate to remove clumps. That 5yr old sand saw a lot of use was sufficient for all but the most challenging vibratory packing and fresh ne sand does perform better. Also, since the foundry was allowed to dispose of thir sand in landfills, I assume the same for mine. Now if it was higher value media like the commercial ferrous LF operations, they have fluidizing furnaces to recondition/reclaim the high value media. Best, Kelly
Wow, amazing results with out having to buy expensive refectory ceramic casting!!
I think I'm going to try this with 3D printing and pla
you could make the ceramic refractory mix last a lot longer by using it as a thin shell coating like he did. not sure he used the ceramic variant though.
6:50
I'd like to cast a couple cylinders for a Scooter, a big bore for a 50cc that allows the use of 150 cc pistons with 57.4mm bore, the largest big bore available isid 52.4 . While it will require case modification, for oil passages ( most likely) id like to also either cast a head that uses the 150cc valves, or modify the case to have the 150 stud pattern so a 150head fits . Cast a cylinder that is shorter than the 150, because of the shorter stroke. Also make the fins longer by about 25% and try to fit another fin or two to both, the head seems to not have much cooling. Or possibly cast a head and cylinder that gets a water jacket welded over it after casting. A piston with smaller wrist pins is also required. If water cooling, cast a new cover to fit over the flywheel to hold water pump that runs on the crank. And a small reservoir tank with 1/2" water hoses, use a heater core for radiator, cast a thermostat housing and water crossover from cylinder to head. Maybe the water pump and impeller also. Use a 6mm stainless rod. With a 17mm docket like coupling to adapt the shaft to the crank by the flywheels nut. The tiny impeller being roughly 3" diameter and 1" thick or less, the engine spinning at or above 10,000 rpm, it should move enough water, since it doesn't operate below 4500. Cast the thermostat housing with a 5/16 bypass. With spring and flap to operate vas a pressure valve, if the pump pushes hard enough it. Opens to prevent cavitation..
Anther thing would be a two cylinder cylinder snd head to make the motor a two cylinder. Instead of welding two together . Use a 50mm or 52.4 mm bore. Using the125cc valves. And mill a camshaft blank from a steel shaft with key ways, and make the lobes from tool steel, and have custom lobes ground after being keyed in place. And silver soldered with a spacer sleeve to hold the bearings and sprocket. Possibly do it differently thatthe welded versions put the timing chain between cylinders and make the right side of the head a mirrored copy of the left side . To prevent interesting sparkplug installation.. sorry to ramble, have a awesome day!🎉✌️
do you think maybe cutting a pac-man shaped piece of material to set ontop of the sand opened toward the ceramic cup. to compress the sand some while vibrating
Fantastic!! I would love to build a clone of a Harley flatty. Wow you are set up for some big work.
I’m super impressed with your setup. The only thing I’d caution against is handling molten metal on concrete. I know failure of the crucible is unlikely, but a big spill on the wet concrete will explode molten metal everywhere.
What do you suggest using instead of the floor?
@@Triple_J.1 Dry sand is usually used
Really impressed.
Great video! I have been looking for a method to make parts for my ice fishing product. I have been using steel and welding and grinding takes a lot of time. I had some aluminum parts made that were welded together.
Sorry about that I pushed the wrong button I didn’t finish. I think making the fan blades pictured in my profile would be the best method.
Beautiful work and I love you Furnace...
Thank you Preston. Best, K
What furnace are you using?
Hi Kelly
I was very impressed by your video!
If possible, please tell me what brand of polystyrene you use and what non-stick coating?
If you search my channel there is a video dedicated to pattern materials and another for coatings. Best, Kelly
so as you pour molten Alu, the foam would bubble out of the sand?
That's a safety concern too, right ?
How do you control the rate of pour
I must say, the finished product look AMAZING.
there are no sharp edges and very fine shape came out nicely
It doesn't quite "bubble" through. The foam melts and then evaporates into gas where it meets the advancing molten metal front. Most of the foam escapes through the permeable refractory coating as gas into the dry, unbound, sand. Some passes through as liquid, but very little. The safety concern would be breating the gaseous decomposed polystyrene. I use a respirator for larger pours but always pour outside and avoid the fumes. Most of that exposure comes when demolding, though obviously some from the pour. Best, Kelly
This is very interesting! How does the blue pattern disappear when you pour the alloy in?
I do like the motorcycle cylinder, that will polish up really well.
Thanks for your info.
It's evaporated by the heat of the molten metal and the gas escpaes into the mold as the metal replaces the volume occupied by the foam. Best, Kelly
Very great Job !
VERY GOOD!
Ten out of TEN.
Top of the class!
😊
Looks like you have really nailed this process. Apart from lost wax, I'm not sure there is any better method for a home shop.
Depending upon the parts you typically cast, IMO, it's the most versatile and practical process for hobby casting. It offers all the design freedom of other evepaortaive pattern methods with low cost reusable mold materials that require no special processing or maintenance. So basically, if you have a furnace and a foam pattern, all you need is a bucket of dry sand. The process is limited by the level of detail and quality of pattern you are able to achieve ad the labor to produce a pattern. For machine parts it's great. It typically cannot produce the detail or finishes required for jewelery and small sculptures. Best, Kelly
Mark, you should ask Kelly about the model aeroplane engine castings.
Excellent work! I've tried a few lost foam projects and I was never able to get that nice of a finish on the parts. Do you have a recipe for the slurry you use to coat the patterns? I have used a thin mix of plaster of Paris, which gave me great results on my lost wax castings, but I never tried it on fo patterns.
I use a commercial coating but non-setting drywall joint compound thinned with water to the desired consistency is a decent substitute for non-ferrous casting. The finish will never be better than that on the pattern. The insulation board foam finish can be improved with light sanding up to 320 grit. Best, Kelly
Looks great!!! perfect work!!!
Thank you very much!
Nice work, man!!
Hello Kelly, working on building a working single cylinder engine, poured a beautiful cylinder with the green sand method but like the idea of lost foam. On our first three attempts to try it out the aluminum didn't make it to the pattern, we had a 1" square sprue and the metal stopped at the bottom of the sprue, and yes the metal was hot enough.....stumped?
Something is drastically out of whack. Sure about the heat? For lost foam, hot enough will typically be 150-200F hotter than that required for conventional open cavity sand casting. If you have a small crucible, heat can be rapidly lost from small melts on the way to the pour, especially if you have a metallic pouring cup involved. What is your foam density? Should use something in the range of 1-1.5lbs/ft3. Most packing or insulating sheet is in this range. Hard to say with out pictures. Might need more contact area where sprue meets the pattern. Join The Home Foundry at the link in the description and lets discuss it. Best, Kelly
How about adding a vent so air and gasses from the burnt foam in the mold have a way to exit?
Also, i’ve seen other videos where the lost wax is coated in a ceramic slurry before being potted in sand.
Vents don't apply in lost foam because the refractory coating is permeable and the entire surface of the mold is the vent. If you attempt to make a vent from foam, it's not a vent until the foam is evaporated and at that point, it's full of metal so it's still not a vent. Lost wax and lost foam are different processes. In lost wax you have hard fired mold media and remove the wax pattern before pouring. Lost foam uses unbound mold media and the pattern remains in place and is evaporated by molten metal. Best, Kelly
Have you ever tried adding liquid glass to the sand and hardening it with C20? With the detail level you're getting I wonder if it would really help.
I've used sodium silicate bound cores and molds but not for lost foam casting. TThe coating applied to the pattern will replicate fine detail but the level detail and finish is dictated by the quality of finish on the pattern and there is a limit to what's possible with low density foam. Best, Kelly
Just curious if any ash from the burning foam can cause irregularities in the final casting. Pretty awesome method, that vibrating sand system. First time seeing it .
If done properly it doesn't really burn. Black smoke and flame indicates burning. In the mold, it decomposes and turns to liquid and then gas in the absence of oxygen. I know I have things near optimal when I have no flame or black smoke while pouring. When I demold, it is all white smoke/vapor that evolves from the sand. You can get defects but the most common in lost foam are called fold defects, which result from turbulence and oxidation from converging metal fronts and gas pockets in the mold. Best, Kelly
@@kellycoffield533 Yep. As I suspected - alien technology.Thanks, Kelly...
gorgeous castings
Be careful with those ceramic fibers. Nice work. thats a awesome looking foundry to btw.
art is it !!! do you think can we have a metallurgical picture of your casting in one video? thank you