"In the world of spuds today"

[Labtecpower]

Nice... centre of gravity? looks like the walls could have been a bit thinner...

somewhere around the end of the hole.. The walls could certainly have been thinner, but I did this to make them reusable, not working when i'm shattering them against bricks, or burying them under the lawn

[Fnord]

New foundry built today, and a torch to go with it.

Capacity will probably be about 200 cubic inches with a steel crucible, about 1/3 that with my graphite one.

I threw five pounds of steel in it and got it glowing orange in 3-4 minutes. It's mainly for bulk aluminum, but I might try using it to cast steel in the far future.

Short test video.

[MrCrowley]

Link doesn't work

What will you be casting parts for? A hybrid I hope.

[Fnord]

Works now... wasn't done converting apparently. Vimeo chewed the compression up a bit

I'd actually like to get a lathe underway; much more useful in the long run. If I can get it to melt steel I might use it for a high-pressure fittings I'd otherwise have to order online. And I'd never have to buy thick stock material again.

[MrCrowley]

Could always cast parts to make your own motorbike

Thought about using casting to make your QDV hybrid idea? Now that I think about it, casting does open up a lot of possibilities for piston valve design and manufacturing custom fittings to improve hybrid design.

[Fnord]

Thought about using casting to make your QDV hybrid idea?

That's a possibility, though the paint bucket foundry had enough capacity for the bulkiest part in that design(piston). For testing purposes I'll probably make some ash trays for the guys at work, since a couple of them asked me why I rolled a big chunk of galvanized steel yesterday .

Oh yeah, and I may use this as a forge in the future.

[ramses]

Does that use waste oil or straight propane?

[Zeus]

Nice work, looks like propane to me?

[Fnord]

It's just propane. You can probably see there's no second inlet on the torch. (typically you need forced air with a waste oil torch).

I cranked up the heat a little sunday night and scrapped some copper I had laying around... here's a crappy video still of the crucible coming out.

[Zeus]

Fnord, by horrible things that can go wrong while you're playing with hot metal, does that include dropping the full crucible while you're wearing shorts?

[Fnord]

Hey!

Shoes.
Shirt.
Safety glasses

...AND pants. (Shorts are basically pants)

That's a lot better than I usually do.

No gloves, socks or underwear though.

[jackssmirkingrevenge]

"Mummy, why does uncle Fnord not have children we can play with?"

"Well dear... you see, "Commando" is not just a Schwarzenegger movie..."

[mark.f]

itwost, I got my hands on a working A/C compressor. All I need is a single compression fitting and air filter and I can say goodbye to 10 minute pumping sessions.

[MrCrowley]

This is what I did today. Not exactly helpful for most of us but might be a useful example for newbies. The main reason I filmed it was just so I had some hard numbers for these two cannons (my only 'large' bore pneumatics).

[youtube][/youtube]

[mattyzip77]

you always make the best videos!! Where did you get that chronny and how much was it?? That sprinkler valve is a monster!!