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Organo Clay or Bentone for use in making K-Bond Sand.

Prices include USPS flat rate shipping in the US. The attached recipe calls for 6lbs of bentone per 100lbs of sand.
3lb - $18
6lb - $34
10lb - $45
15lb - $66

K-Bond is named for Kent State where it was developed by one of Tom Cobett's Students.
It is an almost smokeless oil bonded foundry sand for casting zinc, aluminum, brass, bronze and iron.

See this link for the recipe:...

Bentone for sale

I'm a semi retired grumpy old guy that hasn't cast anything in well over a decade. I have a couple of projects (too many) that will require some aluminum castings and I'm too cheap to sublet the work. That means resurrecting my casting hobby and upgrading significantly the hardware and my knowledge base.

This desire lead to this forum. Been lurking for a while now and have learned a lot.
The pics below is of the few patterns left from those days and some of the castings from the...

In the middle of nowhere - Wyoming

On another current thread (http://forums.thehomefoundry.org/index.php?threads/replicating-a-motorcycle-intake.1916/) as a sidebar we have been discussing epoxy and polyester as binding resins for cores. I am unaware of much previous discussion of these binders in this forum. So, since tow very experienced folks, Ironsides and Tom Cobett, have provided important information on the subject I decided to make a thread compiling that information here. Otherwise it can be hard to...

Using Epoxy (and maybe polyester) to Make Cores

Hung around here last year, and got some great info. Things moved slowly for a while (too many other projects going on), but they are heating up again.

I think I have most of the process worked out, and I've done a few test pours.

By and large, the results are far better than I expected at this point. Here's the one from yesterday, pretty much straight out of the block:

...

I'm Back! Updates and a question

Hello, i am working on sand casting for aluminium products....and i am getting lots of casting defects like shrinkage and warpage, shape deformation after solidification.... anyone one help me out this....that would be great.....!


This above link is my casting defects video..... Can check....

I got conscripted to build a duck house for my mother's two ducks.

I salvaged pallet wood (7 large pallets - with her help) for enough wood to make it. Got left over insulation and some tar shingles somewhere to finish it off.

Figured I'd share.

View attachment 17953 View attachment 17955 View attachment 17954

Here are the little buggers. They grow so fast
View attachment 17956

This time Success, one smart cookie, I learnt from failure! This time I double reinforced the mold with fiberglass threads (pulled sheet fiberglass mat apart and mixed it with the mud) And I even got a video so the safety officers here can fine me!
I think this was the best batch ever, I am over the moon!!



View attachment 17594

This is my latest pattern making effort: a matchplate to cast a 30cm/12'' deep aluminium box using green sand. I plan to cast the box upside down with the top of the box being open sided, so the inside sand mould will be able to rest on the outside sand mould for support once assembled. So for such a small base to depth of the mould, the inside/core green sand mould will need some kind of steel bar reinforcement to prevent it breaking off during withdrawal from the pattern, flipping and...

Reinforcing 12 Inch deep pattern for green sand?

I watched this very interesting video about casting a iron cooking pot. They used a green sand core and never bothered to put in vents in that green sand core. I have used only two green sand cores in the past and worked well. Seeing how large this core was it would make no sense to make it out of epoxy resin because the casting is emptied from the mold while very hot, so there is very little time for the epoxy resin to burn out plus green sand can be reused over and over again....

Green sand cores.

Currently I am making such burners and now testing a Frosty T burner which appears to work well in my small cast iron furnace, but have yet to test a melting session. It gets hot enough to melt copper, but cast iron ? I think I need to use my already existing forced air burner.
But do some people melt cast iron with a naturally aspirated burner ?

View attachment 18274

Propane is IMHO one of the best fuels for powering a melting furnace, although some prefer waste oil. But lighter refill fuel is mainly butane and in the past here in W-Europe cooking on butane (so- called 'butagas tanks') was common in places devoid of natural or town gas.
Now it is completely phased out for tanks similar to propane tanks.
I think it is due to its 'high' boiling point of 0ºC under normal atmospheric pressure, which means that under freezing temperatures in winter, the...

Are there users here using butane ?

This Youtuber has recently made a 300-500kW monster rocket burner where he 'breaks the temperature barrier' like the sound barrier in aviation as he calls it. He plays a trick with two oxygen nozzles inside the burner body making it so hot that it melts even the 2700 F rated refractory of his furnace, which is not a usual swirling around the crucible design as we all have, but a central burner inlet design.
Looks spectacular, but with a decent welder and carbon arcs the same temperatures and...

NOBOX7 channel: Epic melt down rocket burner

I have a project I am returning to after working on it several years ago. It's an axle cover with a very detailed winged logo on it. I have made at least 6 by sand casting with PetroBond and 4 with lost wax slip investment. I have a good silicone mold of the part for making my wax patterns.

I am seeking advice on the spruing of these wax patterns. When I cast them in sand I had a riser, a gate that fed the part and another riser on the opposite side. (See second try 2 ) These worked well...

Spruce design for lost wax slip investment casting?

Has anyone developed a PolyCast slip-investment burn out schedule they are happy with. I have downloaded both of the PDF files offered by PolyMaker.

Heat the kiln to 1100-1200 °C for an extended period of time (up to 40-60 min) to simultaneously sinter the ceramic shell and burn out the PolyCast™ patterns. The optimum burnout temperature and time may be determined by each foundry for the metal/part to be produced and the specific kiln or furnace used.

Is this supposed to be a slow rise...

PolyCast burn out schedule?

Thought we needed a thread where anyone can throw in random stuff that doesn't warrant a thread of it's own.

71 and building my first foundry oven. At this point I am actually still acquiring the needed items for my melting furnace. As I only need to melt aluminum and some copper for alloying aluminum-bronze for now I am going cast-able cement and perlite with a 1 to 2 inch kaowool backing. If I decide down the road that I need to cast iron I will more than likely just build an upgraded iron melter. Anyway a little about me. I have a roughly
30 x 70 pole barn machine shop. Am not a machinist but...

An old noobi.

I got a request from a friend to make a couple dozen thumb nuts(?) that he can fit to various c-clamps. I didn't ask him too many questions about his application yet. (He's an old tradesman and knows what he wants. He's 88 and has probably forgotten more than I'll ever know.)
He wants them 3 inches long and with enough beef in the center to drill various sized holes for different sized clamp screws. Shaped like a "butterfly". I'm picturing something like this.
View attachment 18259 ...

C-clamp thumb screw

I have a few burners which I use with forced air and that works awesome. But I see some Youtubers (e.g. BigstackD) have a burner without any forced air and uses natural aspiration and yet gets very hot (> 1300 C).
So I tried making a similar 'bell' and testing it by holding the 'bell' (yes the brass one really sounds like a bell) at the air input of the burner, but there was no difference at all :-(

What am I doing wrong ?...

Self aspirating burner not working ?

Thought I'd share a pattern and core box that I've been working on (slowly) over the past 6 weeks or so. It is a decorative dome/cover for the safety valves on a 7 1/4" gauge live steam locomotive. The original part was too small for the boiler (as it was built) so a slightly larger casting is needed. The complicated part was the fact that the boiler on this particular engine is angled so the curves are different on the "front" and "back" sides of the dome. This proved to be quite difficult...

3D Printed Pattern and Core Box

Is there such a thing as a budget conscience burn out kiln?

Smaller units for jewelry cost in the $650 range but they can only handle a 3 inch tall flange. I don't need a huge unit but it seems I need a flange that'll be 5 or 6 inches tall.

I watched you tube videos of home made kilns but it seems you need to have a welder. Even the PID controller is expensive to buy. Sorry for the complaints.