Two Crucible Pouring Shanks

When I set up my little foundry last summer I built these 2 pouring shanks.The first one is made from an oversized set of fireplace tongs that I had picked up cheap for this purpose. It is designed to hold a #8 clay graphite crucible just snug not tight. the cross piece on the pouring lip was welded on as an after thought to assist in skimming the crud in an iron melt.

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The second shank is for pouring a 5 lb capacity steel crucible for aluminum melts.

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In use for a good number of melts now, they have both performed very well.

Seems to be some interest in casting here I will upload my molding bench and some casting photos in a later thread.

Carlos

That's Kool Carlos, I have been a tool and die maker for 43 years but I never done any casting, maybe I should give it a shot
Nice Work

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Thanks Carlos B! We've added your Crucible Pouring Shank to our Forging and Casting category,
as well as to your builder page: Carlos B's Homemade Tools. Your receipt:

<div id="blocks"> <div class="block b1 pngfix"> <div class="bimg"> <div> <a href="http://www.homemadetools.net/homemade-crucible-pouring-shank-2"> <img src="http://www.homemadetools.net/uploads/167221/homemade-crucible-pouring-shank-2.jpeg"/> </a> </div> </div> <div class="head pngfix"></div> <div class="left pngfix"></div> <div class="right pngfix"></div> <div class="blockover b1 pngfix"> <div class="title"> <a href="http://www.homemadetools.net/homemade-crucible-pouring-shank-2">Crucible Pouring Shank</a> <span> by <a href="http://www.homemadetools.net/builder/Carlos+B">Carlos B</a></span> </div> <div class="tags">tags: <a href='http://www.homemadetools.net/tag/tongs'>tongs</a>, <a href='http://www.homemadetools.net/tag/crucible'>crucible</a> </div> </div> </div> </div>
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<!-- BEGIN /var/www/html/homemadetools/protected/modules/zeus/views/tool/postUpdate.php -->
Thanks Carlos B! We've added your Steel Crucible Shank to our Forging and Casting category,
as well as to your builder page: Carlos B's Homemade Tools. Your receipt:

<div id="blocks"> <div class="block b1 pngfix"> <div class="bimg"> <div> <a href="http://www.homemadetools.net/homemade-steel-crucible-shank"> <img src="/uploads/167225/homemade-steel-crucible-shank.jpeg"/> </a> </div> </div> <div class="head pngfix"></div> <div class="left pngfix"></div> <div class="right pngfix"></div> <div class="blockover b1 pngfix"> <div class="title"> <a href="http://www.homemadetools.net/homemade-steel-crucible-shank">Steel Crucible Shank</a> <span> by <a href="http://www.homemadetools.net/builder/Carlos+B">Carlos B</a></span> </div> <div class="tags">tags: <a href='http://www.homemadetools.net/tag/crucible'>crucible</a> </div> </div> </div> </div>
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Thank you Carlos for sharing your Steel Crucible Shank. I was looking for an idea to fire charcoal for my Weber and this will work 100%.
Jan.

Love the tools, would like a link to your foundry build, or plans for it if available.
Thank You Ken S.

No plans Ken. I am old school, I research my plans then play with ideas in my sketch book till I have something I like, then take the sketch book into the shop. Problems in the design are dealt with as they arise.As mentioned before the D. Gingery series of books and sites like Lionel Olivers "Backyard Metalcasting.com" are very good sources of information on hobby casting, equipment construction and foundry setup. I have collected tools and salvaged assemblies and materials for close to 50 years, when I build a project I use what I have on hand. This does not convert well to formal plans as sourcing parts would be a problem.

Here are links to a 3 part PDF of my build on MadModder. Warning starts to get nasty at the end when my casting and testing started, No body likes to see someone else succeed where they have failed.

Moved links to Dual Fuel Melting Furnace.

Carlos

"No body likes to see someone else succeed where they have failed."

Really? That sux. That's NOT what my impression of this place is. We are all so grateful somebody took the time to take pix, share and explain what they have done. Even better when they answer questions.

The only time I remember any disparaging remarks was when something didn't look safe or when someone decided this site was just folks showing off or mad about no free plans. I guess it is the Internet, but I for one appreciate your sharing this stuff here rather than doing a search.

Don't get me wrong C-Bag, when I said "no body" I didn't mean "everybody" but occasionally you do run into a character who would rather put a project down that is going as planned than to just leave it alone. Kind of turned me off active builds preferring to upload when I'm done. I'm new here so I have no opinion but your viewpoint sounds encouraging.

Cheers CB

Oh, I know all about those characters and have left a couple of sites because of them. If you look there's a tools in progress sub forum that seems mostly about getting advice then dissaperaring. But there are a couple of guys like Rendoman and FrankS. who let us in on their builds and it's like hanging out in the shop with them. Sometimes there's asking for opinions and sometimes help, but very little kibitzing, just questions. I say very little because I've not seen it, but it could happen. The guys with all the bling under their names are very respectful and encouraging so that rubs off on rest of the crew. Mostly the digital tide of lurkers don't have much to say so some time it can seem kinda quiet. But guys like yourself who want to participate and will answer questions are a great addition.

I find the hardest part of any new endeavor is the terminology. I NEVER would know those things were called shanks! Makes it hard to research when you don't know the term. I'll bet googling "grabber" never would have worked :)

Ha ha Yes sand casting is one of those activities that has been around for thousands of years and over time has developed its own terminology. To most people a mold box is a mold box but the correct term is "flask". I guess if you work in the industry it keeps the patternmakers, molders and furnace operators all on the same page.

Carlos

Carlos,

Thank you for the showing us how you were able to re-purpose the over-sized set of fireplace tongs to create crucible pouring shanks. I did casting in all types of metals years ago and having well made crucible pouring shanks is a "must have" to reduce the risk of pouring accidents. Looking forward to seeing more of your casting work.

Regards,
Paul

C-Bag: "I find the hardest part of any new endeavor is the terminology. I NEVER would know those things were called shanks! Makes it hard to research when you don't know the term. I'll bet googling "grabber" never would have worked".

Oh, 'Grabber' would Google fine.
If you wanted a tarted-up Ford Maverick, or X-rated something or another. Yep, Google search generates a lot of WTF?; even when you know relevant terms.

Seeing this stuff makes me wish there was a setup like local glass blowers have. Where somebody has the space and equipment and share the place with several artists at one time. That way I could see if this is something I'd really get into or would just suck at. And also get those little tips from experienced folks that would ease the learning curve. Come to think of it Cal Poly is just down the road, I'll have to check and see if there is a class in casting.

Alot of colleges do offer Foundry Technology coarse's, alot more Stateside than up here. Here's a picture of a foundry set-up at a Stateside college, can't remember which. Thats a mini cupola melting iron. Someone did a nice job of building that, thats preheated blast air they are using (the piping going down the side). I have played with some ideas to build one but have never had the time or need to follow through with them.

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Carlos

I tried casting aluminum and the casting seems to have a crunchie like finish dont have a pyrometer checked the heat like Dave Gingery did with a metal rod, pattern is good and sand is fine grain like sugar, using a fire extinguisher as a crucible thinking that I might need a different crucible might be getting steel transferred to aluminum melt anythoughts

Where does one get the crucibles? A forge is on my list, love your tools, I want some!

Sugar can come in different grain sizes, I use play box sand, it is at least as fine as most sugar types but I still find it a bit to grainy and will be changing it out this summer if I do any casting. Your mix may also need adjusting, more clay, Dave does a nice test, squeeze a handful and it should show good definition and be strong enough not to crumble when you hold it with two fingers.

Dave recommends 1350*F to 1400*F, I have never poured below 1400*F better a little higher than lower. I have a digital temp. meter that goes to 2200*F.

Here is the kind of finish that I am achieving with play sand, the saucer was just trimmed of the gate and wire brushed. Not great, I would like to improve on that.

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If the extinguisher was cleaned well before use and not showing scale rust that would contaminate the melt it should be ok. I have read of others using former extinguishers.

Thank you for the kudo Ralphxyz. I'm in Ontario Canada I got my clay graphite crucible at Smelko Foundry Products LTD in Milton Ont. about 1/2 hr outside Toronto, Paul the sales person was a great help. I imagine you are in the States, finding a foundry products supplier should still be easy enough, there are also lots of sites on line that you can explore. I prefer a store front for that type of item, I want to here it ring before I pay for it.

A propane forge is on my list to for this summer also. We will see, the list is already to long :).

Any internet search engine will find you as many crucibles as you can possibly use.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by hemmjo

Any internet search engine will find you as many crucibles as you can possibly use.

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In smaller sizes, Amazon is actually a pretty good source. You can find a bunch of books on casting and foundry work on archive.org, and Amazon still sells things like print copies of the US Navy foundry manual from 1958, which is a much referenced source of great info, and several books by C. W. Ammen are available on Amazon or archive.org.

My foundry has been on hold for over 10 years, now, I think. There used to be a group here in central Oklahoma, with a presence online at Yahoo, but they've evaporated on me, apparently. There are two (at least) groups that moved in whole or in part to groups.io, and sometimes people post messages there, too.

Bill (in OKC on Yahoo and Groups.io)