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I wanted to do something nice for my girlfriend, so I was thinking about taking some worn silver coins and making a silver casting out of them. I have some refractory cement lying around and I wanted some advice whether this would work as an investment casting. I was thinking I could use a small stainless or mild steel cup that I make and a mapp gas or propane torch to melt the silver and then pour it into a mold. I have plenty of refractory cement here to make several small casting so I was thinking I could make a lost wax casting or lost foam casting. Perhaps cutting something out of foam and then using a solvent to dissolve it out or maxing it out of wax and using the torch to burn out the wax.  BTW this is not the design I would use.
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May 18, 2010 05:16
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Lord Gaga posted:I wanted to do something nice for my girlfriend, so I was thinking about taking some worn silver coins and making a silver casting out of them. I have some refractory cement lying around and I wanted some advice whether this would work as an investment casting. make sure the coins are actually silver all the way through and not like pennies, zinc alloy that has been copper plated.
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May 19, 2010 00:22
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Random Number posted:make sure the coins are actually silver all the way through and not like pennies, zinc alloy that has been copper plated. This is a pretty recent thing as far as coins go, generally speaking dimes and above were all 90% silver pre 1964. A few years of nickles were 35% silver as well as Kennedy halves at 40% silver. EDIT: As far as the actual concept behind it, it sounds to me like itd work but what the hell do I know. I would try some with lead free solder first though. AnomalousBoners fucked around with this message at 00:32 on May 19, 2010 |
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May 19, 2010 00:27
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Melting silver is really tricky in larger sizes. I took ~28 troy ounces and made a decent ingot, 40x40x12mm back when I was enthralled with water cooling. Turns out silver does really cool stuff at the melting point that makes it really difficult to remain molten and add metal to without the right gear. Took a long time with an ox/acet torch and a coal stove preheating my mold. These were .999 bars and it was something I decided doing once was enough. Jewelers have alloys that are hypoallergenic that will melt at lower temps and might be better choices. Assay, then pawn coins and buy the right type of silver to start? Question about my stove from previous page. 5/16" MS plate is ordered! Sidewalls are 1/4". For joining 1/4" plate to 5/6" plate should I use a 5/32" rod? I have a box and a half of 7018 1/8" which would be nice to get by using, or should I look at 6011 rod? What is the difference between "deep" and "med" penetration assuming I dial in the right voltage and have nice clean steel to start with?
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May 19, 2010 02:05
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Its a stove, it just needs to seal and be able to transfer heat/expand without cracking. If the rod/weld doesnt appear thick enough, just make another pass then let cool in still air.
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May 19, 2010 02:12
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Either of those rods would be fine. Penetration in this application isn't really important. Like RKH says, just weld, add another stringer if it really needs it.
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May 19, 2010 04:27
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Lord Gaga posted:I wanted to do something nice for my girlfriend, so I was thinking about taking some worn silver coins and making a silver casting out of them. I have some refractory cement lying around and I wanted some advice whether this would work as an investment casting. This probably won't work. I don't think gravity alone will be enough to displace the air in the mold and force in the metal. If you don't have access to casting equipment, your best bet is steam pressure casting. Keep your sprues small, strips no thicker than 1.3 mm and no broader than 6.5 mm, and melt the metal directly in the sprue base. You can make a steam casting handle out of a jar lid large enough to cover your investment flask, attached to some sort of handle with a screw. line the jar lid with newspaper and keep this in a bucket of water while you prepare the casting. When the metal is molten, clap the handle on top of you flask, and hold it there until the metal solidifies. Wear a breath mask while you do this, and good luck!
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May 21, 2010 01:58
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This guy is awesome. He made an anvil out of a piece of forklift tine. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fW1n0Xts0H8
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May 21, 2010 21:27
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Lord Gaga posted:... out or maxing it out of wax and using the torch to burn out the wax. The way to do lost-wax is to make your wax positive, embed it in plaster (or refractory cement), then heat the mold in a kiln to preheat the mold evenly and let the wax melt/burn out. Melting it out with a torch would work, but your mold will get really flaky and brittle on the inside and give a really crappy cast. A mold at a few hundred degrees below the melting point of your cast metal (few tens for lead-free solder) makes the metal flow into all the nooks and crannies. Melt your metal, pull the mold out of the kiln, pour the metal in, then put it back in the kiln and turn the kiln off. Let cool very slowly (at least 24hrs), and you're done. I used plaster of paris, which melts in water. I don't know how you'd get your refractory cement off the cast.
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May 21, 2010 21:36
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Say hello to my little friends. Size 12 boot for reference.   The little one is missing a support bracket and a spring, and the big one's collar is cracked. Both easily fixed. Need to build a stand for the big one, I need some heavy plate.
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May 22, 2010 03:14
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Oh man. A big sturdy post vice is such a useful tool. Someday I will have one...
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May 22, 2010 19:45
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Very cool. Were those craigslist finds or did you find them at an antique shop or something like that?
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May 24, 2010 05:56
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I found it on kijiji, which is kind of like craigslist. It's just a buy/sell website that I occasionally find the odd useful thing on. I found some tractor implements on there, and I think I may have gotten the link to the place that sold me my tractor from there too. (not sure of this is a canadian thing or not)
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May 25, 2010 05:35
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I made a small tin casting out of lead free solder using a butane torch to melt an oz or two of the stuff in a can. It was just of a pattern I carved into some wood so I wont really show it but wood isnt the best for casting things into. Tends to crack. Either way it flows really easy and if you wanted to so some mall low temp metal castings I'd suggest it.
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May 26, 2010 21:14
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First day I've had to myself in ages. I have a huge hankering to do some metalwork, it's been ages since I've had a chance. Still, I can't set up a 'proper' work area outside, it's too muddy, and I would just have to take it down anyway. So I can at least take care of a little job. Like fixing that broken support frame on my 'new' vise. This fucker is heavy too, I still can't believe I found a 6" post vise.  Nasty little crack.  Grind it out a little.  Blast it with weld.  The friction spring is pretty badly mushroomed.  Better.  All fixed. Spring back in place, collar around the leg and spring, C clip holding the collar to the mounting plate, and friction spring holding it all together nice and tight. This is a pretty cool design, simple, effective, and it would be quite easy to just replace any part of it myself if I ever had to with just a little time and effort.  Yay, accomplishment. Small as it is. 
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May 30, 2010 22:09
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Looks good. I'm still super jealous that you not only found a post vice, but two of them. This weekend has already been more productive than most, and I still have tomorrow left. I finished building a picket fence frame for my brother yesterday. I forgot to take pictures of it though, so hopefully I will remember to take some next time I am over there. Tomorrow, I hope to start and finish an ornamental arch thingie for a different brother to attach to the top of his gate. I will take pictures of the whole process (hopefully) for you guys.
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May 30, 2010 23:04
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Pardon the ignorance, but what is a "post vise" for?
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May 31, 2010 02:14
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Blacksmiths use them to hold poo poo while they hammer it.
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May 31, 2010 02:32
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They're different from machinist (aka your regular workbench style) vises in that they transfer the impact to the floor through that big leg. Machinist vises have cast iron bodies, and when you hammer on them, either that, or the screw, absorbs all the impact, which is why they're usually for filing, drilling, things like that. The forged iron of the leg vise is a lot more resilient and meant to take a beating. The screw itself is also "floating" in that it isn't directly attached to the body. tl;dr it means you can hit it with a 20 pound sledge hammer and not damage it.
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May 31, 2010 03:02
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I love that vice. Almost every part of it looks hand-made, which is awesome. Making a post vice from scratch would probably be an interesting project for a very proficient blacksmith to show off his advanced skills.
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May 31, 2010 18:32
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Leperflesh posted:I love that vice. Almost every part of it looks hand-made, which is awesome. Making a post vice from scratch would probably be an interesting project for a very proficient blacksmith to show off his advanced skills. My favorite vice is whores. I believe most blacksmith's vises like that are forgings, so typically not hand made.
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May 31, 2010 18:44
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Ugh... how did I never even notice that the two words are spelled differently?
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May 31, 2010 20:53
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It's certainly possible to make your own post vise, but there are 3 portions that are fairly difficult. 1, the stock you're working from either has to have the same width as the jaw size you want to use (heavy, money) or you have to do a poo poo load of upsetting to get the mass you want there (almost impossible to do with heavy stock, well, not impossible, but it takes for loving ever and is really hard to do it right). 2, the holes you need punched for the screw are huge. Again, possible to do, but you would have to make a temporary and very tall faux-anvil to support the leg while you're driving huge loving punches and drifts through the hole. I've never seen a regular anvil with a 2" pritchel on it  3, these things are heavy. If you were going to forge a 5 or a 6 inch unit you would need an overhead crane to hold it. You might be able to get away with hand forging a 3 or 4 inch. Maybe. 3.5, you would probably want a power hammer to forge down the legs from 5 or 6" stock. Also you need a big rear end forge. The screw isn't something you can hand make, unless you feel like spending days with a file I guess. You need a friend with a lathe or scavenge one from somewhere. I was considering making my own at the place I made my table a while back, because the cost of a new unit is outrageous. There's a shop that still sells brand new ones, but I think they're only 4 inch, and they cost about 600 dollars. These two cost me 250 for the pair. Totally worth it if you can find one.
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May 31, 2010 22:07
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I would imagine you could make one out of welded together tool steel that would have comparable properties and strength to a forging, but again you're talking a huge price.
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Jun 1, 2010 02:22
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I didn't get the gate done today because it was retarded hot today. I did, however, get the rough design laid out so I could mark it up and what not. The green marks are where welds are going after I get all the scrolls to be the same size. All of the straight parts that point towards the center of the arch are all going to have twists in them. Some of the parts in the picture aren't attached by green because I don't know if I want it there yet. The pieces sticking out of the bottom are going to be cut off, so the arch has a level bottom. It will make more sense when I get it done. Click here for the full 1600x1200 image. Hopefully I can get this put together this week.
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Jun 1, 2010 03:01
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RealKyleH posted:I would imagine you could make one out of welded together tool steel that would have comparable properties and strength to a forging, but again you're talking a huge price. Actually, yeah, that would probably work. Some heavy walled 2" pipe for the screw holes, larger diameter pipe, say, 4 or 6 inch, quartered parallel with the flow direction and shaved down to a neck with a torch. Various solid bars, the spring is easy to make. That would work really well, I'd bet. Good idea. Also, zquargon, looks good man, nice scrolls 
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Jun 1, 2010 03:26
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vz4YXakjlas So, not really up and running the way I want to be, but my shop will be here in two weeks, give or take.  Still, it felt good to get outside and smash some poo poo.  I am really out of practice, but that will change soon. I joined an artist's cooperative on the weekend, and while I was there I met a member of the southern alberta blacksmith guild. I knew they existed, but they're very hard people to find. I think most of them are kinda old and not really on the internet. So, hopefully I can start building up a stock of items that I can put up for sale at the store here and make a little money on the side. Any suggestions on what I should put on offer?
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Jun 7, 2010 04:46
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Something that every household can use, is just expensive enough to be worth making, but not so expensive that few people can afford it, and is not too difficult to make. Fire irons. A set with poker, shovel, tongs, brush, and a stand. Make a bunch at a time, put some nice little flourishes in them, and you can probably sell each set for a couple hundred dollars. Most of the pieces just need basic square stock, maybe three-quarter-inch or whatever. When I look at hardware stores and home furnishing places and the like, most of the fire iron sets I see are awful; ugly, badly made, or both.
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Jun 7, 2010 18:19
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Leperflesh posted:Something that every household can use, is just expensive enough to be worth making, but not so expensive that few people can afford it, and is not too difficult to make. On that note, I just started working on a big-rear end farm (real farm, no GPS-laden tractors or nothing) and I plan on bringing my smithy out here in July. I'd like to start hitting farmers' markets on the weekends for a little extra cash. Any ideas for relatively quick projects that look great all laid out on a folding table next to some vegetables? Preferably something that someone who lives in Aspen and has more money than they know what to do with would find absolutely stunning or marvelous or whatever the gently caress that kind of person would say?
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Jun 8, 2010 01:16
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Dongsmith posted:Any ideas for relatively quick projects that look great all laid out on a folding table next to some vegetables? Preferably something that someone who lives in Aspen and has more money than they know what to do with would find absolutely stunning or marvelous or whatever the gently caress that kind of person would say? Oh man, just start welding and bending and poo poo. If it looks like some jerk-off in a modern art museum would scratch his chin at it those kind of folks would probably drop like 15-25 on it at the drop of a hat. Kinda like those guys that carve eagles and bears and poo poo out of logs.
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Jun 8, 2010 02:03
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Steak turners for the bbq! Just a long stick and a little hook in the end! Probably froofy things like napkin rings. Easy to make out of 1/4 round with little scrolls in the end and wrapped on a larger rod to shape.
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Jun 8, 2010 04:44
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Door knockers. Candlesticks. (Other 'architectural' blacksmithing projects like door handles, hinges, railings, fences, lanterns, etc. are all probably worth a lot more, but I tend to think they have to be custom-made.)
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Jun 8, 2010 05:21
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Dongsmith posted:... Any ideas for relatively quick projects that look great all laid out on a folding table next to some vegetables? Preferably something that someone who lives in Aspen and has more money than they know what to do with would find absolutely stunning or marvelous or whatever the gently caress that kind of person would say? I would suggest making a couple fake longspring leg-hold traps, as wall-hangings. A leghold trap doesn't look like a leghold trap unless it's open, but that's too dangerous to do with a real trap. I have seen this done with real traps, but to do that they had to torch the springs and then weld the jaws open. And the real traps don't look rustic,,, and real vintage traps that DO look rustic,,,, cost a ton of money. ...... A fake one would be easy to make. It wouldn't need all the parts of a real trap, just enough to look like an open trap in the Roadrunner & Coyote cartoons. And if any animal-rights pests give you guff, tell em to shaddap. The only way to kill an animal with it is to chase the animal down and beat em over the head with it. -------- My own question- I just ordered a jewelry torch (Gentec/Smith/ArTorch) for my oxy-acetylene setup. If anyone knows where to find plain steel wire thinner than 1/32" (that I can use for welding filler wire on regular steel) it'd be real nice to say. The 1/32" I can find is the small MIG wire--which is not RG45, but may be the best I can do. The thinnest TIG/gas torch rods are 1/16" diameter. Picture wire is always stainless, as far as I can find. Any kind of cable wire is going to be stainless. I am aware of music wire, it is plain steel but it's rather expensive. I'm not sure of the carbon content but it may be quite high (not good for my use). I am also aware of jewelry-wrapping wire--but all of that I've found so far is based on silver, tin or aluminum. I thought of baling wire, but 1) it's not that thin, and 2) it's mostly sold in wholesale quantities. I'd bet there's poo poo-tons of fine PLAIN steel wire made and used for something, but not knowing what that is, I can't seem to find it... :/ ~
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Jun 8, 2010 19:21
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Single strand solid core HF wire might fit your bill, but you'll have to strip the shielding off. That's not actually a bad thing as the shielding will prevent it from oxidizing really badly before you use it. Expect to pay ~.75/foot
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Jun 9, 2010 03:30
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edmund745 posted:
EDIT: Never mind I suggested stainless steel lockwire for planes but you dont want to use stainless. EDIT 2: If wikipedia is to be believed, piano wire is 1060 steel which is high carbon. What do you need to weld that is going to require a filler rod that small? AnomalousBoners fucked around with this message at 03:41 on Jun 9, 2010 |
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Jun 9, 2010 03:37
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I didn't know that I would need tiny rod for anything.... I just wanted to know what to try if I did need it. Trying to use filler rod that's fatter than the torch flame doesn't work real well, and I didn't know how small a flame the torch would give. Now I do. It came today and I played with it a bit.  (above picture) The jewelry torch is only about half as long overall as a "B"-size port-a-torch handle w/heating tip. The smallest jewelry torch tip gives a inner cone that's only about 1/16" long at best. The largest (jewelry torch) tip size is nearly as large as the smallest size tip of the larger torch. I dunno how the f*** I'll clean them, they're way too small to use regular tip cleaners. And the two smallest ones have sapphire orifices besides. Is there any liquid solvent used to clean acetylene torch tips? Next I looked around for anything steel and really small I could try welding on.... And all I had was paperclips, so I tried welding a few of them together. It occurred to me that the paper clips were soft steel and pretty thin and could be used for filler rod themselves, but it turns out they're thicker than the MIG wire. The paper clips are about .031" and the thin mig wire is .023". I haven't got any of the MIG wire yet. (pic below)  At first I wanted to see if the largest jewelry tip would melt the edge of thin sheet metal (it did, and the square piece there is 20-ga I think) so there is a larger HAZ than you would really have from just welding paper clips to the edge. With the first couple tries (on the right side) I was burning through them, then kinda got the hang of it after a few tries.... And I will admit, SOME of these welds are not real good, lotsa ugly bubbly crap there because the paper clips have some kind of chrome-paint coating that burns off and fux things up. It would have worked better if I'd have sanded that off first, but I only had a few minutes available to play with it. I will try the classic "TIG welding two aluminum cans together", I have some aluminum welding flux around, but no cans! I buy my soda in plastic bottles. So I'll get to that later. ~
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Jun 10, 2010 19:32
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I believe paper clips are galvanized. Make sure you've got something blowing fumes away from you, or you'll get very sick. Zinc poisoning is bad bad bad.
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Jun 11, 2010 00:12
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edmund745 posted:
I toss my Acetylene tips in our instrument cleaning chemical ( which is a solution of acid and other things) You could go to a jewelry store (or wal-mart probably) and buy a small ultrasonic jewelry cleaner and clean the tips in that. Our shop doesn't have ultrasonic, but that's what I used in school. To scrub in the tips I use a trumpet mouthpiece brush on the brazing tip, and a pipe cleaner with plastic barbs as well as fluffy stuff for the soldering tip.
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Jun 11, 2010 00:22
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I love McMaster-Carr. Carbon-steel wire as fine as .009. On spools, by the pound.
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Jun 11, 2010 02:21
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jovial_cynic posted:I believe paper clips are galvanized. Make sure you've got something blowing fumes away from you, or you'll get very sick. Zinc poisoning is bad bad bad. Its not a bad idea to wear a respirator when working with and coated anything.
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Jun 11, 2010 02:23
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