Model Engine Maker
General Category => Oddball => Topic started by: A7er on October 22, 2022, 01:18:27 PM
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Well over a year ago I contacted a local engineer to ask where he got his casting sand from. He invited me to his workshop a day or so later to watch him pour 25kg of cast iron. I took along the 3D prints of what I was hoping to cast, my half size Austin Seven engine, and he was very interested in what 3D printing could do. He asked me if I could design and print four nameplates for him to fix to a match plate to be cast in brass. I of course said yes and left a while later with a couple of kg of aluminium and 25kg of green sand plus a bag of bentonite. I had to get a new cad programme as FreeCAD couldn't produce draft on extruded text. I managed to get a student copy of Solidworks sent to me by the company on dvd. Excellent service, fantstic software. I realised that a nameplate printed in pla probably wouldn't last long, so I used the 3D print to cast four plates using ZL12 an aluminium/zinc alloy. Today, I went back to visit him as he offered me some more aluminium, and I picked up one of the brass nameplates he set aside for me as well as another 1.6kg of aluminium. The photos are of the pla pattern and the brass nameplate.
His website is well worth a visit.
https://www.jw-eng.co.uk/Foundry-Work (https://www.jw-eng.co.uk/Foundry-Work)
Lee