TheSamba.com :: View topic

Tue Jan 26, 2010 5:46 pm

This isn't an ad, FYI. It's just a statement and MAYBE an offer at best. Mostly I'm just excited and sharing with you guys.

I have been working for weeks and months to get equipped with and figure out how to use some metal casting equipment. I had to built most of it myself, including a furnace some casting sand, molds, etc.

Anyhoo, I can now confidently say that I can cast custom parts in solid aluminum. The kind of stuff that would be perfect might be a carb/manifold adapter or some kind of mounting bracket, block-off plate or who-knows-what.

Now I can't really say that I can just whip up whatever anybody needs me to make for them. I wish I could, but between my job, my wife, my dog, and of course my bus, there is precious little time left in my life. BUT - if you have some amazing thing that you just HAVE TO have - AND YOU CAN'T BUY IT ANYWHERE... and maybe just maybe some guy who is sympathetic to air-cooled VW's feels he could make one out of metal for you - feel free to hit me up and we'll talk. You got an idea for something that folks might buy? Let's make a prototype. Or you have some amazing custom thing you are making but don't know where to get that one perfect part? That's the idea.

Here are a couple pics of a little part I made with a glimpse at the process. I have not machined it yet, so it has a rough, sandy texture, like most cast parts do. No drilled holes, etc. But you get the idea...

Tue Jan 26, 2010 5:49 pm

That's pretty cool. What is the thing that you made?

Tue Jan 26, 2010 5:59 pm

:lol: Ive always wanted to cast my own cylinder heads just for the hell of it :lol: They would probably last 5 minutes, but trial and error 8)

Tue Jan 26, 2010 6:01 pm

Oh that.... well, you're going to think I'm a huge nerd - which I am. It's an endplate (bearing block) to hold the shaft of an old-fashioned style (1800s) electric motor that I'm making from scratch. I'm casting the parts, winding the magnet coils, everything.

Why on earth would anyone build an electric motor from scratch? I don't know. I am a 70-year-old trapped in a mid-thirties body, I guess. I like to tinker. I like science stuff. It's just a fun project and includes metal casting, woodworking, machine shop stuff, electricity and magnets so I figured I'd go for it. Maybe it's a challenge to see if I can truly understand how they work enough to the point of designing my own. And to learn how to use all this casting stuff and my new lathe too. Sorry you asked?

OK, fine... I'll share my little blog page about it. Please don't steal my lunch money though: http://davidcolecreative.com/shop.php/

I'd love to think that I could make a bus part. So that's why I posted it here.

Tue Jan 26, 2010 6:23 pm

Neat motor. My mother was a high school physics teacher and had all her students make an electric motor from scratch with a thimble for a commutator, etc. They were cool simple motors.

Tue Jan 26, 2010 6:39 pm

That's awesome!

Tue Jan 26, 2010 6:52 pm

Cool. A new source for heads.

Tue Jan 26, 2010 6:58 pm

Dave you should make sidestep brackets ! :o

would they be strong enough?

then all we need is some aluminum siding :P

thanks for the pic dreadnotmusic :D - your bus looks sweet.

Tue Jan 26, 2010 7:19 pm

rustbus wrote: ...
then all we need is some aluminum siding :P ...
Heck yeah, aluminum panels! That could help lighten these bricks!

Tue Jan 26, 2010 7:37 pm

Cool hobby! I've fantasized this since I visited a little botique foundry in Conn that was casting a duplicate script for an old boat - like Cris Craft, but not. I think the greenish fume over your cheap brass is zinc fume. You have good air exchange in your shop? You might want to rig up a laminar flow hood to keep that stuff out of your breathing zone.

Tue Jan 26, 2010 7:58 pm

You're right! That was the zinc galvanizing burning off my crucible (which I made from a steel pipe from a hardware store). Yes, zinc fumes are toxic. I was doing this outside, and staying upwind... and since then I dissolved the rest of the zinc off, just to be safe - using muriatic acid, which I learned about here on the samba during my rusty fuel tank episode.

Tue Jan 26, 2010 10:17 pm

i used to build brushless motors from old dvd drives ans hard drives.. my fingers hurt when i got done with the winding. the secret of building motors is the winding

Tue Jan 26, 2010 10:37 pm

Daverham wrote: Oh that.... well, you're going to think I'm a huge nerd - which I am. It's an endplate (bearing block) to hold the shaft of an old-fashioned style (1800s) electric motor that I'm making from scratch. I'm casting the parts, winding the magnet coils, everything.

That's really cool. Good for you. It just goes to show, bus folks do some interesting stuff besides buses.

Tue Jan 26, 2010 10:57 pm

where do you get your aluminum?

Tue Jan 26, 2010 11:03 pm

My aluminum supply so far consists of a broken bicycle crank, legs off a broken lawn chair, some tent stakes, empty PBR cans... junk like that.

Yeah, winding.... I wound my magnets just 30 minutes ago, and my fingers hurt! You said that "winding was the secret" - what tips can you give? What's the secret??

Oh and that script off the boat, that would something that I could cast too. Right now it would be a little rough for an auto emblem, but I imagine that as I get the hang of it, or try some finer sand, etc - the texture will be able to be much smoother. Until then, I'll stick to things that either are OK as-is and rough, or can have machined faces.

Wed Jan 27, 2010 12:34 am

How much shrinkage do you get as the aluminium cools? I assume the pattern needs to be a little oversized.

Wed Jan 27, 2010 5:48 am

Casting your own aluminum will generate a sure visit from your state EPA. Better start coming up with a good story. Having a big checkbook would also help.

Wed Jan 27, 2010 6:00 am

You should try casting some emblems!

Wed Jan 27, 2010 6:19 am

hmm.... some center caps could be sweet.

Wed Jan 27, 2010 7:12 am

If you're looking for a smoother surface, try ceramic shell. http://www.shellspen.com/ I used these guys kits all through college for brass, I'll bet they will be fine with aluminum. You could open face cast too, still, and after making a wax positive, spray a little releasing agent (plaster casters use this, but really watered down dish soap works too) and then you can reuse your wax from the positives! (I'm little bit of a casting nerd myself!) Shell spen is awesome - I left fingerprints on a wax positive once, and they came out on the finished cast, in iron. :)