First cast

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Paul in OKC

Paul in OKC

Member
Joined
Jul 26, 2004
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3,107
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Oklahoma City, OK, USA.
Well, after trying this almost 20 years ago without much success, and the fact that no one else was doing it. I gave up. Several times I have bought the Castin Craft stuff, only to let it sit 'cause I never got around to it, or just too over thinking to try something new. Even have had this mold in a drawer for years. Finally said heck with it. I am a machinist by trade and always have looked at the chips, or 'swarf' as some call it with an eye of, "I really ought to be able to do something with those. So, back to Michael's with coupon and the first effort. Will turn soon! Used slim line tubes for this one. The chip was actually a long stringer with just the right ID for a tight fit on the tube. Did some small chips in the ends and in what was left in the cup. Boy, my head is spinning with ideas.
 

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Swarfs away!

I never saw swarf curl like that one before. Probably because the company I worked for only had CNC milling machines or perhaps it was the metals used. Being at the inspecting end of things I wasn't watching the condition of the swarf as it came off the machine except for picking it out of the soles of my boots. Does help with traction on ice though. I see a future for swarf sellers marketing all kinds of chips and curls to blank sellers. I look forward to see where you take this.
 
These come off the lathe. Fun part is being able to semi-control the tightness of the curl and whether it is a 'stringer' as this one, or individual chips by controlling the feed rate, and somewhat the color by using coolant or not. Material is mostly pre-heat treated 4340.
 

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Several of the parts we made were from 4340M forged steel. The chips were about 1/2" long or bigger and hot! From light brown to gunmetal blue when they cooled. The operators kept the top button on their shop coats buttoned up and sometimes taped shut to keep the swarf from going down their neck and burning themselves. Some of those forgings were 180 pounds and when finished were less than 20 pounds. Lots of chips to shovel up. Glad that wasn't part of my job. :) One of the titanium parts was 3000 pound forging when it came into the plant and was under 200 pounds when finished. All the excess weight was milled into chips.
 
Do post the result. I was under The impression that poly resin would likely pull away from embedded metal when turning....
 
Paul in OKC said:
Not bad. A couple of air pockets. Chalk it up to the learning curve. Couldn't find one slim line kit in my stash, so will have to pick one up this weekend.
Click to expand...

I like the effect of the blue metal and I'm sure there is a place for these type of blanks among the casting world.

As for the resin used, I would be more trusting of the clear Alumilite than Poly, Epoxy resin would be a great option if it was crystal clear but it is not (not the one I use)

Great work...!

Cheers
George
 
Results look great Paul. Did you degrease the chips before attaching to the tubes?
Im also impressed that the colouring remained after casting.....I'm gonna use that:biggrin: I didn't think they would, somehow.
 
That might work well with the Liquid Diamond resin. All of the reviews that I read and saw on youtube stressed how well it worked with tube in casting.
 
skiprat said:
Results look great Paul. Did you degrease the chips before attaching to the tubes?
Im also impressed that the colouring remained after casting.....I'm gonna use that:biggrin: I didn't think they would, somehow.
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I did not degrease the chips first. I have some chips that I did rinse off and set out to dry. They rusted. Some were run without coolant on them, the others I am gonna scientifically say the heat burned it off :) (sounds good, right?)
As for the color, I wouldn't expect it to change. It would take a bit of heat for that, and they would generally turn darker blue, I would think.
I have some that came off without any bluing and am going to take the torch to them, lightly, and play with some effects. Hoping to do another this weekend.

Geoge and Ed, I do intend to move up in what I use for casting, this was just an easy way to get my feet wet. This stuff turned well. When I did this 20 years ago, What I ended up with was very brittle, probably do to my thinking of if a little hardener is good, more was better. Stayed on the lighter side with this. For just pouring into a mold and letting it sit, no vacuum or pressure, I like the result. Looking into getting ready making a chamber to do those things with in the future. Like I need more stuff in my garage!
 
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