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hi all,
as promised here are new results and pix.
the part i made out of wood is a model of casting rammer i need anyway.
i've done a bit more research and concluded my sand was not mulled right and my metal temp was to high.
with those problems addressed i rammed up a quick mold and just blasted out a test today.
unfortunately i short poured the casting otherwise it would have been complete.
as a result the end and the extra metal that should have been at the end of the stubby sprue to keep the part filled as the metal cooled didn't fill .
that left me with a short end and a indent on the heavy end.
luckily i can use this one the way it came out.
ran it thru my wood lath real quick to smooth the handle bit.
casting is dense and heavy so pourosity is also been struck from my list.
dave

2nd pix

as finished as it's gonna be it's a tool after all

Far out! Dave's gonna make a cast chair! Pretty cool, though. Good luck. TJ

noooo,
though it does look kinda chair like and i do need a new spindle on my sweeties chair hmmmmm???

actually that's a rammer to pack the sand in the molds.
i needed one so i made it.
as the wood is soft i cast a durable one out of aluminum.
since i'm a low buck operation i've made all the tools myself.
mold frames bench sand blast furnace ect. ect.
when i did jewelery model making there wasn't a tool i owned that looked like it did when i bought it.
i made many of them myself since they were things passed to me from others and not commonly known or profitable to make..

kinda like thetraveling bell casters in the past.
they were only needed for the one bell so they were forever on the move.
they'd show up in town with a apprentice, a shovel , and a bag of tools.
and KNOWLEDGE , most from sand crabs they'd worked with.

for many centuries the mechanics of what trade you did were kept secret except to an apprentice.
the guilds were forever preventing the spread of knowledge to protect their living.
even when i was a boy my father used to tell me to watch what they're doing so you can steal their trade.

onsite they'd build a turrey out of local stuff, they'd find a good sand source with decent clay content and they'd be ready to go.
the mold was a hole dug in the ground and lined with sand.
the model would be wooden made onsite.
the heat came from charcoal or coke if available.
and the bells they made are amazing.
to copy one today costs tens of thousands and requires a specialized foundry.

sometimes when i think of how simple and great we were in the past i get really sad.
we've moved so far away from that time today.
then you needed knowledge ,common sense, some sweat time and somewhere to work.
now we think only giant factories or computers can do it.
dave

Dave
your work is going to be first rate , the work that you are doing improves by leaps and bounds .
I took a class in high school that covered sand casting and it is not as easy as one would think.
The good thing about the class was that we melted down 4 stroke tater digger blocks to cast the meat beaters that we made to give our mothers .
Please dont forget about our talk about the P.P. starter cups .
Brian

whohoho
i need a new meat beater as mine is wood.
bahahaha that is my next lettle project.

seriously,
thank you for your kind words.
i haven't forgotten your pulleys at all .
have three different approaches both thought out and on paper.
will probably be making a match plate so i can cast multiples.
almost done with match plate vibrator model.
need that to make match plate molds.
still need to build the core box for it.
was planning on doing that this weekend but the boss lady is feeling her oats and wants to DO SOMETHING!!
it's a holiday weekend? what is that???
i'm mostly on call with the union and self employed.
there's no such thing as a holiday weekend in my world.
but, i guess i'll have to spend family time instead of playing in my sandpile.
dave

Brian, what's that about meat beating? Used to get in trouble for that...
Dave, great work! Between you and Jack Canaday, you're keeping some of America's old time crafts and trades alive. It's a few craftsman and men with pride that may be all that keeps US from becoming a third-world country.

David:
Your last entry took me back some long years ago. In spring of 63 as I was getting done with Jr College I convinced a simi retired tool maker to give me a chance at apprentinceship. On monday when I arived he said "That is your workbench" . I went to it and found a 1/2 X 2 x 2&1/16 piece of cold roll , a mill bastard file and a small square. With note "Make 2 x 2 and square. Took me until noon but it looked good. After lunch he handed me a 1/2" end mill and indicator. took me to a little sheldon mill. loosened vice and said
"Make it 1 3/4 X 1 7/8 X 7/16" then walked away. I was all afternoon indicating vice, and learning mill work. Tuesday morning he showed me how the surface grinder turned on, gave me an angle plate, 2 small c-clamps, 0-1 and 1-2 mikes and says"Take .005 from eace surface. Again was almost lunch time when i was finished. That afternoon we go to a 9" southbend lathe, iget a 4-jaw chuck and instructions "Put a 1" hole in the center" I had run a lathe some so this got done well before quiting time. He called me over to his bench and asked me about my desires in life. When I told him about Karting and my desire make my way through racing, it about ended our relationship. But he settled down and on wed morning as I came into the shop, he flipped a 1/2" flat washer to me and said "To your bench" There I found a 6 X 6 Danly die set, some O-1 tool steel, 4 die springs, a book "Tool & Die Design and Building" it was opened to the chapter on Compound Dies. On friday afternoon about 4:00 using a 2 ton arbor press I was manufacturing 1/2" Flat Washers. All he said was "Think you will be alright" That was the most glorous I had ever felt.
Today I do not see this happening, for years I looked but never found anyone really wanting to learn. You cannot get them to stop texting long enough. And yes since I got home a couple of years in South East ASia in 71 I have raised a family doing what I wanted. Racing and building cars and engines. I am one of the Lucky Ones.

Great stories, you guys! It always amazed me when the entities in charge of places where I worked would hire a college educated engineer or designer who had zero practical knowledge of how a mechanism functions. I got lucky and grew up in a mechanic's shop, and Pop maybe never explained to me why he did the things he did, but he never stopped me from watching or asking intelligent questions. TJ