Sandbagger's Iron-Man builds - Now in STEEL

Dude!!! This is epic!! but please don't s*rew up this awesome build with a set of round and dull finger pieces. The best fingers ever modeled, IMHO, are this ones by @MZX :) :) In foam they look great! In metal they would look even better :)

http://www.therpf.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=444956&d=1425071553

Keep it up!

Fear not, they will be done to my satisfaction.

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Thanks dude. :D

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Love this!

Stay tuned my friend. :D

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Right.. back to the refractory. I screwed in some self-tappers to give the insulation blanket something to hang on to. The lid is lined and the two have enough excess poking out that they form a spongy seal when the lid is closed, locking in all the heat.


Tonight I will paint on some sealer that sets hard on the inside of the blanket and place a nice flat fire-brick on the bottom to support the crucible.


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Hey Baz you might want to drill a drainage hole in the bottom of your furnace. This is common practice, on the off chance that your crucible breaks the molten metal has somewhere to go other than the bottom of said furnace.
I am in the early stages of building my furnace. I am opting to have mine on a cart for mobility. With the holidays on the way I won't begin till the new year.
You just got to love the evolution of this build...GM
 
Hey Baz you might want to drill a drainage hole in the bottom of your furnace. This is common practice, on the off chance that your crucible breaks the molten metal has somewhere to go other than the bottom of said furnace.
I am in the early stages of building my furnace. I am opting to have mine on a cart for mobility. With the holidays on the way I won't begin till the new year.
You just got to love the evolution of this build...GM

I'm going to build a small standing trolley for mine. Good tip on the drainage. Never thought of that. Thanks. :D

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Started sculpting the clay patterns over the little cardboard inners. It's an art, but hopefully I'm a fast learner. I'll let these two dry until morning, give them a sand and see how they look and if they have cracked at all.


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Epic is an understatement. Engaging the steel suit was one thing, now making sheet benders, rubber casts and now molten aluminum casting equipment! Crazy....but I love it!
 
What fuel are you going with Baz? I meant to ask earlier...GM

I'm going to try the BBQ beads and hair dryer first because I'm interested to see how it goes. I have a gas regulator and venturi poking into my forge so I can also drill out the port in that and stick that in for a go later.
 
Testing the forge for the first time.


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Warming up.


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Inside the furnace.


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Outstanding. You are the real tony stark, not only have you put your suit together but your building the machinery and equipment to do it.

Shhh mate.... Don't tell everyone! :p

Pouring the molten aluminium.


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Ingots for convenience later.


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As I read this thread and watch the pictures,I hear the Iron Man soundtrack play in my head :D
You rock,SB.Good luck with this !
 
Thanks George.

Update:

Finger armour patterns for sand-casting. These are still wet, but once dry I will sand them smooth then imprint them in the casting sand, ready to pour in the aluminium.


I've made the wall thickness and edge length a little generous, to give me room to refine the aluminium cast later with files and sanding.


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Splitting migrane all morning so didn't get to try anything today until an hour ago and *&$@# !!! That's not going to work either! The clay over card inners all cracked and fell apart when dried. I can't press them into sand for casting as they disintegrate with the slightest pressure. I tried coating them in lacquer but that didn't work either.


I thought I would try cutting them out of foam for lost foam casting, but the blades I tried all just hack the foam to horribility. I really don't want to now have to make a hot-wire cutter.


More thinking outside the box including the time-consuming and tedious lost wax method. I have a couple more ideas to try. Posting up failures is just as important as posting up the successes.


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OK, so I just went outside for 15 minutes to try a rough-cut foam cast. Buried the foam piece, made a small sand-cone leading into it, then poured in the melted aluminium. Seemed to work OK. I'll clean this one up on the sanding belt and see how it looks.


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It seems the lost-foam method is going to be the best for me.


I can throw away all the clay ones I made. I will use them for sizing first, then cut them all out of foam. This piece was 15 minutes on the sanding belt and it's come up a treat. 27 more to go.


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