| If you have been thinking about making a start in | | | | guarrantee there are tens of thousands of home |
| hobby foundry work in your home workshop, you | | | | made wood lathes sitting in hobby workshops the |
| may be forgiven for thinking that the tools and | | | | world over. A wood lathe will repay itself many |
| equipment are going to cost you an arm and a | | | | times over when you start to make patterns for |
| leg, this need not be. Sure, you could trot off to | | | | your hobby foundry.Your bench-ramming tool can |
| the downtown industrial tools supplier and take | | | | be quickly turned to shape on your wood lathe, in |
| home an arm full of expensive tools.But if you | | | | fact, while you're at it, make two or three of |
| take a good look at some of the tools, you'll | | | | them in different shapes & sizes, they will all |
| discover that the design principles and fabrication | | | | come in handy when ramming and moulding |
| could well be undertaken in the home workshop if | | | | patterns of differing sizes, you could get away |
| you have metal fabrication skills and a reasonable | | | | with a single tool, but you wont regret making |
| amount of basic metal working equipment.Take | | | | extra tools.After a pattern has been completely |
| for instance "crucible lifting tongs", once you | | | | rammed in a sand mould, and before the metal is |
| understand how these tools operate; you could | | | | poured, the pattern has to be removed without |
| quite easily make a set or two over a weekend. | | | | disturbing any of the surrounding sand. Draw pins |
| The basic design action operates on the "scissor | | | | and spikes are used to remove timber patterns |
| principle" but they don't cut anything, they are | | | | from sand moulds.Simple draw pins can easily be |
| designed to "clamp securely" onto the crucible to | | | | fabricated from long slender wood screws, |
| lift it out of the furnace when the metal has | | | | particleboard screws are ideal. The easiest way to |
| melted. Great caution needs to be taken while | | | | convert woodscrews into draw pins is to |
| carrying out this operation, as one slip due to | | | | braze-weld a short length of 1/4" dia mild steel |
| faulty or badly designed tongs, and you could | | | | rod onto the head of the screw...that is all you |
| have a disaster on your hands.The best way to | | | | need to do... make a set of them with different |
| design and build a set of tongs is to copy a well | | | | gauge screws as well long and short ones and |
| made set, or to follow directions set out in a | | | | you should have the field covered as far as lifting |
| textbook or ebook downloaded from the net, | | | | pins or draw spikes go... simple isn't it.Blunt |
| we'll give you some links a little further on in this | | | | hacksaw blades are usually thrown in the bin, |
| article.Some of the most frequently used basic | | | | from now on you should save them, as many |
| tools you'll need in the hobby foundry are; Bench | | | | useful little hobby foundry tools can be made |
| ramming moulders tool - Tube sprue cutter - | | | | from old saw blades, quite often small sand |
| turned wood sprues - slick & oval spoon - hand | | | | carving tools can be quickly made by grinding and |
| riddle or sand sieve - draw pins, screws & hooks | | | | shaping using a normal bench grinder.By being |
| - rapping bar and spike - gate cutter - strike off | | | | resourceful and thinking how you can use scrap |
| bar - sand carving tools (made from old hacksaw | | | | materials, you should see now that there is |
| blades). | | | | absolutely no need to spend large amounts of |
| The tools mentioned above seem to be the | | | | money to get the tools and things you need for |
| ones that will be most used in your hobby | | | | your hobby. If you are not sure about your own |
| foundry... and all of them can be home made if | | | | building & fabricating abilities then you should |
| you have metal & wood working skills, it will take | | | | always ask advice.Col Croucher.Metal craft has |
| time and effort to make the tools required but | | | | been a lifelong interest, ever since my |
| they wont cost you a red cent if you make them | | | | grandfather introduced me to the blacksmiths |
| from scrap materials, and if you are like most | | | | forge at a young age on the family farm where I |
| hobbyists you will know where to "scrounge | | | | grew up. Several decades later, I become |
| stuff".You may have to experiment with different | | | | addicted to melting and pouring molten metal into |
| ideas before you arrive at the most satisfactory | | | | sand moulds. Then began the move into publishing |
| design, but you will learn a great deal about why | | | | ebooks for the hobby foundry worker. We now |
| things have to be made in certain ways.Do you | | | | have a very large number of global customers. |
| own a wood lathe? Even a most basic machine | | | | To learn more about hobby metal casting visit: |
| will suffice in the home workshop, you could even | | | | there are free ebooks to download and a world |
| make your own if you were keen enough,I | | | | wide ezine to subscribe to. |