Casting Kindergarten

[nobbie48]

Needing to waste brain and shop time I decided to cast a small part. It's actually a part for a bicycle but I don't know if there are any motorcycle parts that would benefit from my first time experience.

Part 1 was to make a plug for the oximeter holder from body filler. I taped the body of the oximeter with Scotch tape and pushed it into some mixed filler. In a few minutes the filler had set and was reading to be trimmed. I unfortunately made one wall too thin but carried on regardless.

 

[nobbie48]

The next step was making the female mold with the special sand (Amazon)

 

[nobbie48]

I didn't have enough heat or a proper crucible so instead of casting in aluminum I used aluminum brazing rods, melted with propane in a small cast iron ladle. Pricy but the melt temperature is a lot lower and since the quantity was low, I went for it. The thin wall didn't let the metal to flow properly but it shows proof of concept.

 

[nobbie48]

A bit of grinding and buffing shows the concept workable.

In my case, I've always wanted to cast something in aluminum and this was small enough for a first effort. I've got to see if I can come up with a crucible that fits my inductive heater and try again with a better starting plug. Also the brazing rods are denser so the part is heavier than needed.

I'm throwing this out in case someone needs a simple replacement cast part for their bike. I don't recommend my method for pistons or a sand cast Honda 750.

 

[GreyGhost]

Cool but why? 3d printer is probably faster and cheaper and most definitely much lighter.

How hard are you working on a bicycle that you want to monitor pulseox often? It really shouldn't be dropping much. Heart rate is normally a solid indication of your output vs what you are capable of.

 

[ifiddles]

And here I thought you were getting your kids ready for kindergarten in a few weeks!!! LMAO

 

[nobbie48]

Cool but why? 3d printer is probably faster and cheaper and most definitely much lighter.

How hard are you working on a bicycle that you want to monitor pulseox often? It really shouldn't be dropping much. Heart rate is normally a solid indication of your output vs what you are capable of.

Sometimes I just want to try something different and I wasn't going to try an engine block. The bracket was the right size.

3D printing or CAD / CAM would mean buying equipment I don't know how to use. Another option would be casting the thing in resin.

The high school I went to had a foundry class but shut it down in the mid 1960s because only one person took it as a major.