dgfoster
Diamond
- Joined
- Jun 14, 2008
- Location
- Bellingham, WA
At long last I have time to make the pattern for my 48” Featherweight straight edge. Folks have been asking about it for a year and all I could say was “as soon as possible.” I am hoping to complete the pattern in the next week to ten days. I have completed the necessary upgrades to my foundry capacity to allow pouring this big brother to my very successful 36” Featherweight camelback which is now (as of 2 days ago) available on eBay as a raw casting and as a nicely machined casting. Those changes are larger flasks for the green sand molds, larger crucible, larger pouring trolley and altered lifting hoist for single-handed lifting of the 2600 degree 80 pound crucible out of the furnace. It all entails a fair bit of welding and metal cutting. And there have been improvements to my furnace tuyere and burner arrangement, new furnace lid etc. What I am saying is there a bit more to making this step than simply making the pattern—that’s the easy part.
Here’s a link to a recent short video of a 20 pound pour of a custom gear I cast for a guy in Michigan who is restoring a 100-year-old windmill.
The 48” will look very similar to the 36.” It will be just a little taller and the same sole width.
Here are a couple pics of the first cuts being made to the web portion of the pattern. Making it light in weight and with a curved bow means a lot more pattern making work than if it were more rectangular. But the extra work is worth it given the weight savings and improved rigidity.
I plan to post a few pics here and there as progress is made on the pattern.
Once the pattern is complete I’ll be casting the new 48. However, I anticipate some tweaking of the process as complex and somewhat delicate patterns often need some finessing to get them to pour perfectly.
The last pic is a photo of the crucible at night---included just cuz I like it. ;-)
Denis
Here’s a link to a recent short video of a 20 pound pour of a custom gear I cast for a guy in Michigan who is restoring a 100-year-old windmill.
The 48” will look very similar to the 36.” It will be just a little taller and the same sole width.
Here are a couple pics of the first cuts being made to the web portion of the pattern. Making it light in weight and with a curved bow means a lot more pattern making work than if it were more rectangular. But the extra work is worth it given the weight savings and improved rigidity.
I plan to post a few pics here and there as progress is made on the pattern.
Once the pattern is complete I’ll be casting the new 48. However, I anticipate some tweaking of the process as complex and somewhat delicate patterns often need some finessing to get them to pour perfectly.
The last pic is a photo of the crucible at night---included just cuz I like it. ;-)
Denis
Attachments
Last edited: