You said a high shrink alloy. What was it? It poured very liquidy. I was going to ask. Definitely had shrinkage on the top of each one over the runner
@tobhomott12 күн бұрын
Just some scrap extruded aluminum. I don't know the exact alloy but from what I've seen that sort of stuff always shrinks a lot more than a proper casting alloy.
@tobhomott11 күн бұрын
In case you missed the explanation in the description, the reason for using the extruded aluminum scrap instead of the nice A356 he has was that he plans to anodize and dye the bark castings. This does not work well with cast aluminum. As I understand it, silicon particles on the cast aluminum surface won't accept the dye. The extrusion alloy should anodize well.
@assldjalloul347816 күн бұрын
hi sir can you tell how percentage bentonite use in your green sand? thnx
@tobhomott11 күн бұрын
Hi, we aren't using greensand here, this is Petrobond brand oil bonded sand. It is tempered with oil rather than water and uses a different binder, some type of organoclay. The homemade equivalent is called K-bond. You can look up the recipe for that but it is very difficult to source the right binder (and IMO even the right sand to get equivalent results). But I've used professional grade greensand in the past as well as homemade greensand. The professional sand contained somewhere between 4-7% bentonite(s). But if you're making your own using some sort of locally available sand and do not have a muller to mechanically coat each grain of sand in a thin layer of clay, you will probably need a bit of extra bentonite and elbow grease to make up for those shortcomings. The good news is, it doesn't have to be perfect and if mulling is incomplete ramming up molds will even gradually improve it. I would start with 10% bentonite by weight of dry ingredients and adjust from there after spending ridiculous amounts of time and effort mullling it manually. If possible, use a 50/50 mix of southern and western bentonites, aka calcium bentonite and sodium bentonite. But if you can only find one kind of bentonite or don't know which kind you have, that's ok too. Hope that helps
@HeinrichsMade28 күн бұрын
Ouch! Yeah hot aluminum isn't good on your skin...
@tobhomott27 күн бұрын
Can confirm - I've had better. For instance: room temperature aluminum. But, you don't get to have this much fun without getting a few little burns and scrapes once in a while, am I right?
@stevesrt8Ай бұрын
Quite the project! i missed the first parts. not getting notifications. have to back and check it out later. Cheers Sir. well done
@tobhomottАй бұрын
Thanks! This project has been a great experience. I had to reclick the bell on your channel a while back too, you'd think all you had to do was hit sub to keep getting notified, why is the bell even a thing?! Anyhow, hope you enjoy the rest of the show when you get a chance.
@HeinrichsMadeАй бұрын
Oops camera fell 🤣 You didn't even need to use the vise grips after all So much easier to not do things 🔥🔥💯💯
@tobhomottАй бұрын
Yup, mold weights and vise grips, who needs'em!
@r4z0r7o3Ай бұрын
What's the really dark sand, is it burnt petrobond or something else? Have y'all welded al. castings before? I heard it can be rly hard? Regardless, very impressive work 😊
@tobhomottАй бұрын
The black sand is just well-used petrobond. I haven't welded anything other than mild steel using a fluxcore welder, personally. But you can see here that David is able to TIG weld the cast aluminum somewhat, without even really cleaning it very carefully. He says it is indeed difficult, but so far so good. He'd gotten one full block successfully welded together so far, last I saw.
@HeinrichsMade2 ай бұрын
Those vise grips though 👍👍👍 Nice casts, maybe you could weld that aluminum and fix the corner. What type of aluminum did you use?
@tobhomott2 ай бұрын
Thanks, the plan is to rebuild the missing corner with TIG weld if possible, but I'm glad I'm not the one who has to do the chasing to make the weld look like rock... If necessary that whole piece could be recast, or maybe just a piece of the missing corner could be cast and welded on. We're using certified A356 ingots for all these castings.
@tinker-craft2 ай бұрын
What a beast of a mold. Nicely done 👍
@tobhomott2 ай бұрын
Thanks! Yeah we are using some really big flasks for this job. We had to get a bunch more sand shipped up here.
@r4z0r7o32 ай бұрын
😮 Congrats! So big! Is that a #10 crucible or smaller? Your vids are inspiring! I'm planning to fire up my rig this weekend. On Sunday I managed to get my new burner aaaaaallmost running well enough 😊
@tobhomott2 ай бұрын
Thanks! It's an A25 😁 I remember your furnace build on the alloyavenue forums, hope to see some action soon! Did you ever make it over to thehomefoundry.org forums after AA went dark?
@r4z0r7o32 ай бұрын
@@tobhomott 25!?!?!? Geeze! I saved a PDF of my build from AA. Ya,I've been passively lurking on thehomefoundry, maybe I should post the old thread for nostalgia sake 😁
@johnfurr87792 ай бұрын
Great video. I gave up trying to find a foundry to cast my art pieces in Ontario.. making my own is still on my to do list
@tobhomott2 ай бұрын
A small timer like me might be your only option, the big boys either have insane wait times or intentionally price small jobs like they don't want them because they don't, from what I've been told by a couple of recent clients. But whether you're just interested in finding a small foundry like mine or getting set up to actually make your own castings, I suggest you register at thehomefoundry.org forums. Hands down the best online resource with many many examples of what has and hasn't worked for others. All the free advice you could ever want too. As a member (it's free to register, but we're voluntarily member-underfunded by small annual donations) you could send me a private message about getting my help with your castings, or perhaps find another small foundry that's closer to your location or that you perhaps feel is better equipped to get your job done. What part of Ontario are you in? Maybe I can put you in touch with someone local who can help with either castings or a casting shed tour and some advice
@johnfurr87792 ай бұрын
@@tobhomott I'll have a look at the forum. I'm in east GTA
@tobhomott2 ай бұрын
@@johnfurr8779If the forum isn't your kind of deal, you can always contact me by email at [email protected] to discuss your casting projects or talk about building furnaces, finding a small foundry in your area, etc. Good luck
@johnfurr87792 ай бұрын
The fellow probably tried to include his email address or a link in the comments. Assured comment self destruction
@tobhomott2 ай бұрын
Entirely possible, glad he and I were able to get past that barrier
@r4z0r7o32 ай бұрын
Holy firebrick pile 😮. Perfect pours like that are the mark of a true master 😉
@tobhomott2 ай бұрын
Aw shucks, David's the one with a Master's degree not me. Thanks though! There's a story behind those bricks...
@tinker-craft2 ай бұрын
Good stuff!!! Gotta get me some of those fancy spats ✨
@tobhomott2 ай бұрын
Thanks! I really like mine, nice and thick but I'm not tripping over them.
@ChatterontheWire2 ай бұрын
Looking good.
@tobhomott2 ай бұрын
Thanks, more to come
@jagboy693 ай бұрын
lol... dumb shorts!! 😅
@tobhomott3 ай бұрын
Tell me you dont hate them too...
@jagboy693 ай бұрын
@@tobhomott I figured out it all comes down to the MUSIC you choose to put on your video. It doesn't matter if it's a short video about grass growing. KZfaq just sucks! Look at the couple of shorts I posted and the hits they received. People are stupid.
@jagboy693 ай бұрын
Hey dude.. THF down??
@tobhomott3 ай бұрын
Yeah, this is the 3rd month in a row this has happened I think. 1st time was a banking issue, Dave's bank thought they were saving him from scammers by not paying out the site hosting fee... Maybe the same issue repeating? Knowing banks I would not doubt it. I'm sure Dave's working on a fix. I'd be on the forum right now posting a link to Clay's brand new video about this letter press restoration if I could! 😊 Weirdly I didn't get any notification about your comment, I just happened to be checking.
@jagboy693 ай бұрын
@@tobhomott Ya see there is proof youtube shadow bans people that lean conservative!
@Preso583 ай бұрын
Nice offset pouring basin. Olfoundryman would be proud!
@tobhomott3 ай бұрын
Thanks! I hope it is enough to forgive my use of aluminum bronze. It's real C954 at least, no dirty pop cans and wire homebrew.
@castironmachines3 ай бұрын
After a few runs, it works perfectly! Thanks for your help on this project, it was a great experience
@tobhomott3 ай бұрын
Great to hear & glad I could help. Looking forward to seeing some prints! Edit - if anyone actually reads these, Clay's letter press video is now up on KZfaq at kzfaq.info/get/bejne/g6xpgNynmdDMeX0.htmlsi=e-Uhe3yIZz1cv5Af Go check it out!
@stevesrt83 ай бұрын
well done sir! nailed it
@tobhomott3 ай бұрын
Why thank you good sir. 2nd time's the charm as they say
@carlericvonkleistiii21883 ай бұрын
That is really nice work! I like the collaborative efforts you exhibit in your videos. It's nice to see people working together like this.
@tobhomott3 ай бұрын
Thanks! Working on something big along those lines with a local artist right now too. Should have something up here covering that eventually.
@johnfurr87793 ай бұрын
My old chases are all steel not cast iron because they had to withstand a lot of lateral pressure from tightening the quoins to lock in mixed type and blocks...
@tobhomott3 ай бұрын
Thanks for the info. The customer wanted a chase with a little extra "bling" factor, I think. Can tell you for sure I can't cast steel though. I believe the aluminum bronze ought to hold up fairly well in place of steel. A fellow in Ohio who's restored and sold all sizes of Kelsey presses told me they're usually cast iron, but I'd also heard "steel or possibly cast iron" from another trusted source. 👍
@askquestionstrythings3 ай бұрын
Why not fix the flask alignment? it's wood and screws, 30 minute job going slow.
@tobhomott3 ай бұрын
First flask I ever built, so I hesitate to alter it for purely nostalgic reasons. If this hadn't been a flat back, or if this oddball size flask actually came in handy more than a couple times a decade... I'd probably feel different. 😁
@askquestionstrythings3 ай бұрын
@@tobhomott I understand the hesitation, but you will eventually thank yourself for applying your new knowledge and improving your tools and processes.
@tobhomott3 ай бұрын
@@askquestionstrythings it's definitely somewhere on my long list of planned improvements. 😉
@itsjustme3565 ай бұрын
I love this idea really neat mold
@tobhomott3 ай бұрын
Thanks! It works in a pinch and saves wear and tear on your muffin pans compared to pouring directly into them, but I've learned that if you rely on it to much can be really hard on petrobond sand. If you want to try this I would suggest experimenting with greensand. Or the cement bonded sand recipe that can be found on @sandrammer 's channel. In theory that could be used to make a semi-permanent ingot mold that you wouldn't have to keep ramming up every time. I' be been meaning to try that myself.
@HeinrichsMade5 ай бұрын
Why did you put the tap for the propane behind the where the air comes in. I would think it might be better in front of it. Obviously it still works 😉
@tobhomott5 ай бұрын
I don't think it matters too much, there's only one direction for it to go. Maybe you're right
@pregno14216 ай бұрын
thanks a lot for this video, showing the mistakes helps us newbies a lot
@tobhomott6 ай бұрын
Glad you found it helpful!
@pregno14215 ай бұрын
@@tobhomott have you tried making any other aluminum bronze tools?
@tobhomott5 ай бұрын
@@pregno1421 I've got a couple of different axe patterns, there's video about my pipe tomahawk on here if you want to check it out. Pretty sure I have a playlist to make them easier to find. I also made the little peening anvil that I use in the work hardening process with the same alloy, and recently I cast an aluminum bronze pattern rapper tool. It's significantly heavier than the aluminum one I use for most jobs, for heavier/deeper patterns that need a bit more force to loosen. I think those are the only tools per se, but I've also use Al-bronze to make a few spear points, a part for an antique letter press, and one or two couple other pieces, decorative stuff.
@richardmahan41976 ай бұрын
If you decide to produce the bronze phone stands in quantity, please put me on the list of potential buyers. Thanks.
@tobhomott6 ай бұрын
Will do, thanks!
@Derfel_cadarn816 ай бұрын
I'd love one of these
@tobhomott6 ай бұрын
Thanks! If you want I'll add you to my list. If I get takers for a dozen or more (up to 3 or 4 pieces so far), I'll set up production patterns to lower the price per piece and do a small run of these. DM @tobho_mott if you're on IG so I can keep you in the loop if/when that happens. If you're not on there I can post an email address. Thanks again!
@Parzivle6 ай бұрын
That’s fuckin wild man, all I got from my first girlfriends dad was a threat upon my life
@tobhomott6 ай бұрын
He's a good kid, far as I can tell
@oddduckfoundry82236 ай бұрын
Very nice! Nice, simple, clean design.
@tobhomott6 ай бұрын
Thanks Pete!
@tinayoga88446 ай бұрын
I laughed when you said "dumb shorts". Exactly my feeling of them.
@tobhomott6 ай бұрын
Glad it's not just me!
@tinker-craft6 ай бұрын
Nice! Seems like you have the gating/feeding pretty well dialed in since there’s no significant shrinkage on the part even though it’s aluminum bronze 👍
@tobhomott6 ай бұрын
There actually was a little dip on the bottom (cope) side. Shhhh!😂 That feeder is sufficient for an aluminum phone stand but could have been a little bigger here. No matter, I may use a little filler to flatten it out and put some felt over it to protect the furniture anyhow. Shhh again
@Preso586 ай бұрын
The most badass phone stand........in the world!
@tobhomott6 ай бұрын
Thank you sir. I'm sure It won't be long until someone makes one with spikes on it and takes the top spot. But I'm going to enjoy it while I can 😂
@mgermca6 ай бұрын
Cool! Now I want one too!
@tobhomott6 ай бұрын
Thanks! I'll take that as a compliment, but if you really actually want one you can dm me on ig. Those classes were fun, wish it could have kept going. Trying to remember what you made...
@carlericvonkleistiii21886 ай бұрын
Nice job! Glad to see a new video!
@tobhomott6 ай бұрын
Thanks! Things have been slow lately but hoping to pick up the pace a bit this year. Got a collab with another local creator coming up that should be pretty interesting.
@frikkiesmit3276 ай бұрын
I think its cool. And you know what? If it falls it wont break. 😂
@tobhomott6 ай бұрын
Thanks. Actually it might break... a floor tile! 😀
@stevesrt86 ай бұрын
very nice. i bet it is decently heavy. cool gift for sure.
@tobhomott6 ай бұрын
Thanks man
@BEMetalMelting8 ай бұрын
That is incredibly beautiful! I love it! I see what you mean by the cores now thank you so much for the info! So tapping the edge will help to harden it? That was my main concern with my bronze axe that it wouldn’t be very durable, but I wasn’t too worried since it was a gift and not meant to be used too much haha
@tobhomott8 ай бұрын
Thanks! Yes, the ancients used a similar method to harden the edge of bronze age blades; the hammer marks can still be seen on artifacts. Aluminum bronze can get very hard this way, harder than almost any other copper alloy. But the hardening does not go super deep into the metal. I have another video that shows what happens if you try to chop wood after grinding off the work hardened surface: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/m9KRfZp0p56RiYk.htmlsi=HBBCSQtlrS8-nTWA Ignore what I say there about having annealed the edge of the blade - that may or may not be true but I definitely removed all the work hardening through aggressive re-grinding. The same thing could have happened without any overheating involved if I had just skipped the original work hardening. It's worth noting that some aluminum bronze alloys can also be hardened with a heat and quench treatment, similar to hardening steel though not quite that hard. Very unusual for a copper alloy. I have not experimented with that myself. Yet. I've made a couple of bronze axes for folks who really just wanted a shiny wall hanger, but I always harden the edges anyway. But that's more for me than for them, I just like knowing they are all functional tools as well as art. 😁
@tobhomott8 ай бұрын
The casting defects have been diagnosed. If you look at the mold at 7:15 you can see little clumps of parting dust in the mold cavity that correspond exactly to the "divots" that aopeared on the surface of the casting. I should have blown that excess parting out befire closing the mold. Now I use this as an example of why that's true. I also should have been using a proper parting bag to avoid getting clumps to begin with! Live and learn.
@garljoens8 ай бұрын
Have you found that burning oil degrades your heat exposed surfaces quickly? I’m about to fire up my furnace for the first time, burning waste veggie oil
@tobhomott8 ай бұрын
So far I haven't had to reline any of my furnaces. As long as you have a good 3000F+ refractory lining and keep the burner tuned reasonably near neutral, you should be fine for a long time.
@ebahns10 ай бұрын
Hey got a couple questions. But first off, thank you for making this video. I have followed your steps and have successfully made a core for a spear I'm making. It took me a couple attempts. My core is 5 inches long and 5/8" diameter. Sometimes after I take the core out of the box and let it sit on counter for a couple minutes, the core develops a hump in the center. You could see the rainbow effect as you roll it on the counter. Sometimes it doesn't happen. Any ideas? I'm using the same gasket maker you did. Maybe too much is my guess. My last question is, why is heating the core necessary? Further hardening? When I made my spear the core broke off inside my sand flask after casting. Not sure if that's normal. Maybe the heat from the bronze broke it loose. I was still successful though. Just trying to understand more.
@tobhomott10 ай бұрын
I'll do my best to answer. Most people I've seen using sodium silicate to harden cores use CO2 to harden them. But you can also use heat to cure sodium silicate as I did here. Or you could even just leave them to sit there for a while and let the CO2 in the air get to them over time. Before I baked them, these cores weren't hardened at all, just sticky because of the gasket sealer's viscosity. I'm sure mine would have bent if I hadn't been pretty careful demolding them. I also baked them almost immediately after demolding. Once they have. Hardened they should not be able too bend any more, but it's still a good idea to bake them again before using them, to make sure the cores are absolutely dry. Is it possible that your cores flexed either during demolding, or perhaps you set them down somewhere not quite flat before hardening them? As for your core breaking after you cast it, as long as the socket in your spear tip came out right, that's probably a good thing. If the core didn't have enough collapsibility to compress a little as the casting freezes and shrinks, the metal surrounding it might tear instead of the core breaking up. It isn't uncommon for foundries to add a portion of sugar and/or different types of grain and wood flours to core sand in order to improve the collapsibility of cores.
@gwheyduke10 ай бұрын
Looks good. Nice castings too.
@tobhomott10 ай бұрын
Thanks!
@BlainesGarage11 ай бұрын
Good idea
@tobhomott11 ай бұрын
Thanks, this method has worked well for me for several years now
@carlericvonkleistiii218811 ай бұрын
Also, do not pour molten bronze into heavy duty aluminum muffin pans... I wasn't paying attention to my tools.
@tobhomott11 ай бұрын
I would trust 1/4" thick steel molds with a good coating of black oxide not to get copper alloy ingots brazed into them, but this works for me. I can usually get several uses out of a mold like this if I'm careful not to damage the mold dumping out the ingots. However the mold cavities deteriorate with each use. But who cares if the ingots are lumpy? Their only use it to get melted again later anyway!
@tobhomott11 ай бұрын
Preheated thick steel molds, I meant. Of course, another plus I forgot to mention about using molding sand is the ingots molds don't need to be preheated...
@HeinrichsMade11 ай бұрын
Genius 😂😂😂😂😂
@tobhomott11 ай бұрын
Aw shucks 😉
@ralphmourik11 ай бұрын
I've seen this a few times and it gets mentioned often, but If never tried it yet. I once bought a bunch of "ingot" pans like those, Muffins big and small, Twinkies, and various cake sizes. All of them are now warped, bent and broken 😅 they are all the same size so 1 wooden frame would do for all, why did I not think of this back then? ... oh well, back to yard sales and flea markets, or the internet I guess 😁Thanks for the reminder👍
@tobhomott11 ай бұрын
Go for it! Good luck
@among-us-99999 Жыл бұрын
I made a knife blank with 90Cu/9/Al/1Si, sadly it’s a bit crooked, can I just anneal it + hammer it into shape?
@tobhomott Жыл бұрын
I'd say it's worth a try. Worst case scenario: it doesn't work, and you end up remelting it and trying again...
@odellcreations Жыл бұрын
Came out pretty clean man! Good work!
@tobhomott Жыл бұрын
Thank you! That is the goal.
@HeinrichsMade Жыл бұрын
Awesome job! I was glad to aee it came out clean removing it from the sand. It definitely gave you a little trouble even after tapping it for awhile.
@tobhomott Жыл бұрын
Thanks! 😃 Slow and steady wins the race. Rapping too much on patterns with text on them, especially rapping side to side, is how I always end up breaking off ie. the little sand triangles in the middle of the A's, so I try to go easy and sometimes end up having to gently wiggle it by hand using the draw screw for a few seconds til I feel it come loose. Seems to work for me
@HeinrichsMade Жыл бұрын
@@tobhomott oh yeah! I had that problem with the letters before. Lol. Hit it too hard and the dirt comes out with it.
@Preso58 Жыл бұрын
That surface finish is superb. The raised text came out perfect too.
@tobhomott Жыл бұрын
Thanks Preso! I used plastic sign letters with the tabs nipped off the back. There is a selection of fonts and sizes available online. I didn't do this here, but if you cast a blank to use as a pattern, you can just soak the letters back off the casting after to recover the letters, I have cast a couple of sizes of blank plaques that I use this way so I can vary the text that's on them without having to make a whole new pattern. I've also used your 3D printer fonts before to good effect when using printed patterns 👍. I've also got an old trick for making much smaller pattern letters that I'd like to show, but first I need to find my dymo embossing tape gun amid all the clutter...
@ironhead65 Жыл бұрын
Nicely done good sir!
@tobhomott Жыл бұрын
Thanks man, I'm happy with it. I think I saw earlier that you're working on an interesting pattern, looking forward to it
@ironhead65 Жыл бұрын
@@tobhomott yep! Hope it turns out well. It is for a friend. Trying really hard to do this one myself!