what every boy needs - yeah seriously

On Jan 10, 1:44*pm, "Maxwell" #$$9#@%%%.^^^ wrote:
wrote in message

If you can reference any hobby process that will made it "simple" to cast
custom air cooled VW heads at home. I can assure you, I'm not the only
person on this group that would like to see a link.

I'd never have thought this technology was that obscure :-) 'course
it depends on your definition of "simple". You have to make or buy a
whole bunch of new tools and learn a few new skills if you have never
done it before. Kind of like making an airplane from a pile of raw
materials (the token aviation reference)

To me it's pretty straight forward use of patterns and molds, but then
again I had the good fortune of my grandfather showing me how to make
molds and fire porcelain things just shy of 50 years ago. We could
have made VW head molds back then using nothing more sophisticated
than some clay, plaster and green soap. The materials available
today make the process MUCH easier.

Fire up Google and see what others are doing.

My first exposure to hobby foam casting came from such an adventure
and was found of all places on a site run by a den mother describing
how to make foam trinkets for the kids to paint. If some 8 year old
kids can do it.......................

http://www.foundry101.com/racert2.htm

Not the site I had in mind but this is using green sand - with enough
detail and complexity for a VW head.

I've also been keeping my eye on a couple of interesting projects
being pursued by "Why Not!" types trying to build inexpensive 3D
printers. Think what we could cast up with one of those out in the
garage.
=========================
Leon McAtee

On Sat, 10 Jan 2009 11:29:25 -0600, "Maxwell" #$$9#@%%%.^^^ wrote:


"Stealth Pilot" wrote in message
.. .

| this will be no consolation but I've just thrown in a job that
| returned me somewhere between $80,000 and $100,000 per year to move
| below the poverty line.
| I've become my wife's carer as her psyche problems worsen.
|
| so I will be *making* my next aircraft. the turbulent will have all
| manner of bits cast and machined by me.
|

Do you have any photos of some of your projects?


considering the reaction I got from the last photo I sent you
.....bugger off.

On Jan 10, 1:44*pm, "Maxwell" #$$9#@%%%.^^^ wrote:
wrote in message

If you can reference any hobby process that will made it "simple" to cast
custom air cooled VW heads at home. I can assure you, I'm not the only
person on this group that would like to see a link.

Couldn't find the site I discovered a few years ago - even had some
pictures - but I did find these this afternoon after a quick google.

http://www.plansandprojects.com/My%2...am_casting.htm
https://duckdeco.dkgnet.com/Molds.htm
http://www.tempo-foam.com/engineerin...ands_index.htm
http://www.wowessays.com/dbase/af2/skx196.shtml
http://www.mate.tue.nl/mate/showabstract.php/3871
http://www.answers.com/topic/expande...yrene-foam-epf

Combine this info with the fact that we can buy silicone casting
compound that lets us directly cast low melt metals like zinc and
pewter and I'll leave it up to the reader to connect the dots.

My only problem now is finding a source of the EPS beads again. One
of the local hobby-n-craft stores had them, but they went the way of
the missing web site.
=====================
Leon McAtee

wrote in message
...
On Jan 10, 1:44 pm, "Maxwell" #$$9#@%%%.^^^ wrote:
wrote in message

If you can reference any hobby process that will made it "simple" to cast
custom air cooled VW heads at home. I can assure you, I'm not the only
person on this group that would like to see a link.

Couldn't find the site I discovered a few years ago - even had some
pictures - but I did find these this afternoon after a quick google.

http://www.plansandprojects.com/My%2...am_casting.htm
https://duckdeco.dkgnet.com/Molds.htm
http://www.tempo-foam.com/engineerin...ands_index.htm
http://www.wowessays.com/dbase/af2/skx196.shtml
http://www.mate.tue.nl/mate/showabstract.php/3871
http://www.answers.com/topic/expande...yrene-foam-epf

Combine this info with the fact that we can buy silicone casting
compound that lets us directly cast low melt metals like zinc and
pewter and I'll leave it up to the reader to connect the dots.

My only problem now is finding a source of the EPS beads again. One
of the local hobby-n-craft stores had them, but they went the way of
the missing web site.
=====================
Leon McAtee

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm well aware of the lost foam and lost wax processes Leon, as well as
their limitations. Do you have any examples of something being cast as
complex as an air cooled cylinder head? Coffee cups, duck decoys, and alike
are useful items, but hardly good examples for the task at hand.

"Stealth Pilot" wrote in message
news
On Sat, 10 Jan 2009 11:29:25 -0600, "Maxwell" #$$9#@%%%.^^^ wrote:


"Stealth Pilot" wrote in message
. ..

| this will be no consolation but I've just thrown in a job that
| returned me somewhere between $80,000 and $100,000 per year to move
| below the poverty line.
| I've become my wife's carer as her psyche problems worsen.
|
| so I will be *making* my next aircraft. the turbulent will have all
| manner of bits cast and machined by me.
|

Do you have any photos of some of your projects?


considering the reaction I got from the last photo I sent you
....bugger off.

I didn't think you would.

On Jan 12, 8:58*pm, "Maxwell" #$$9#@%%%.^^^ wrote:

Do you have any examples of something being cast as
complex as an air cooled cylinder head? Coffee cups, duck decoys, and alike
are useful items, but hardly good examples for the task at hand.

You ever heard of something called an internet search engine? Try
Google, Yahoo, Altavista, Ask, or Dogpile. (add a "dot"com to the end
to make 'em work)

Examples of lost foam casting of the complexity required are quite
common.
=====================
L

On Jan 12, 8:13*pm, "
wrote:

Examples of lost foam casting of the complexity required are quite
common.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Alas, I haven't found any.

The stuff is a casting and the fin length is approaching 4 inches.
Volkswagen apparently uses metal molds and sand cores, this based on
working with a few VW heads.

Trying to TIG additional fins onto the existing finds proved
impractical for two reasons, the material used, and the expertise of
the welding. (I'm not that good a weldor -- I had to keep the things
in a box and use a bare electrode to get at the joint, even after
cutting away the existing fins on an angle so as to give me more room.
Once the chamber was heated to approximately 450*F, the welded portion
of the fin started to move around, typically 'leaning' over to touch
the adjacent fin, which shut off -- or upset -- the air-flow. I tried
1/8" 3003, some 5052 (I think .120) cast tooling plate (1/8) and fins,
salvaged from other heads. The latter gave the best results... but
only on the short sections, where I was TIGging to a fairly heavy
section (ie, adjacent to the exhaust stack or to the portion of the
head bearing the valve guide) But that didn't give enough fin area to
make much of a change in the temperature of the cooling-air. (I
measured it going in & coming out.)
After a LOT of effort I got two heads. Two STOCK heads. Which didn't
fit my jigs :-) ...one of those little details I sorta overlooked.
It was a bit discouraging.
Reading about Kyoto Ceramics and their efforts to produce a precision-
ground crystal for use in a wrist-watch, I figure I just didn't try
hard enough. Perhaps the isolated heads hold the answer, although I
recall the amount of effort put into their development by the
helicopter guy -- who was no dummy. (George(?) somebody? He knew his
engines and it looked like a shop to work in... except for its
location :-)

-Bob

wrote in message
...
On Jan 12, 8:58 pm, "Maxwell" #$$9#@%%%.^^^ wrote:

Do you have any examples of something being cast as
complex as an air cooled cylinder head? Coffee cups, duck decoys, and
alike
are useful items, but hardly good examples for the task at hand.

You ever heard of something called an internet search engine? Try
Google, Yahoo, Altavista, Ask, or Dogpile. (add a "dot"com to the end
to make 'em work)

Examples of lost foam casting of the complexity required are quite
common.
=====================
L
----------------------------------------------------------------

You're the one that quote them, and you're the one that insists examples of
such are quite common. So where are they?

I have seen a lot of foam, wax and sand casting, and never seen process that
would let you whip up a simple foam investment of something as complex as a
VW head, and cast it at home. Nor am I interested in reviewing all the "make
a furnace and cast a slug at home" examples strung out all over the
internet. Anyone with a propane tank and a hair dryer can melt metal. Anyone
with a shovel can mix up a home made sand that will cast an ash tray.

Casting your own VW head can be done, but it's not nearly as easy as you
would like to suggest. If you have examples to the contrary, as I said
before, I'm not the only one on this news group that would love to see them.

On Mon, 12 Jan 2009 21:59:09 -0600, "Maxwell" #$$9#@%%%.^^^ wrote:


"Stealth Pilot" wrote in message
news
On Sat, 10 Jan 2009 11:29:25 -0600, "Maxwell" #$$9#@%%%.^^^ wrote:


"Stealth Pilot" wrote in message
...

| this will be no consolation but I've just thrown in a job that
| returned me somewhere between $80,000 and $100,000 per year to move
| below the poverty line.
| I've become my wife's carer as her psyche problems worsen.
|
| so I will be *making* my next aircraft. the turbulent will have all
| manner of bits cast and machined by me.
|

Do you have any photos of some of your projects?


considering the reaction I got from the last photo I sent you
....bugger off.

I didn't think you would.


beyond all that .... casting is serious business and must be given
one's full attention.
you do not want the distraction of visitors.
you do not want the distraction of pausing for photos.

In truth I have no photos because I've never delayed the processes to
take any.
it is a dark art and making castings in exactly the same way will
often result in totally different outcomes.
often I have thought a casting wasted when it has turned out perfect
and often I have thought I would have a perfect casting only to find
it stuffed and useless.

most of my castings were done for other people as I developed the
techniques.

I'm about to restart casting again after a few years break.
this time around I will be casting wheel hubs and the like for my
flying projects.

Stealth Pilot

"Stealth Pilot" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 12 Jan 2009 21:59:09 -0600, "Maxwell" #$$9#@%%%.^^^ wrote:


"Stealth Pilot" wrote in message
news
On Sat, 10 Jan 2009 11:29:25 -0600, "Maxwell" #$$9#@%%%.^^^ wrote:


"Stealth Pilot" wrote in message
m...

| this will be no consolation but I've just thrown in a job that
| returned me somewhere between $80,000 and $100,000 per year to move
| below the poverty line.
| I've become my wife's carer as her psyche problems worsen.
|
| so I will be *making* my next aircraft. the turbulent will have all
| manner of bits cast and machined by me.
|

Do you have any photos of some of your projects?


considering the reaction I got from the last photo I sent you
....bugger off.

I didn't think you would.


beyond all that .... casting is serious business and must be given
one's full attention.
you do not want the distraction of visitors.
you do not want the distraction of pausing for photos.

In truth I have no photos because I've never delayed the processes to
take any.
it is a dark art and making castings in exactly the same way will
often result in totally different outcomes.
often I have thought a casting wasted when it has turned out perfect
and often I have thought I would have a perfect casting only to find
it stuffed and useless.

most of my castings were done for other people as I developed the
techniques.

I'm about to restart casting again after a few years break.
this time around I will be casting wheel hubs and the like for my
flying projects.

Stealth Pilot

Sure you will.