Message-Id: <9907269330.AA933011613@cardell.com>
Date: Mon, 26 Jul 1999 13:53:13 -0400
From: <dechaze@cardell.com>
To: <lancair.list@olsusa.com>
Subject: Re: Lead Weights
Mime-Version: 1.0

          <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<--->>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
          <<  Lancair Builders' Mail List  >>
          <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<--->>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>
Well, my water cooled form for casting lead weights wasn't too smart, it seems. 
However, just as science progressed during times when the method was 
questionable, I too, have a simple fix to turn a dangerous process into a simple
and reliable one.  My experience suggests that water was not needed for cooling
the epoxy layup form into which I poured the lead.  Next time I would simply
bury the bid layup in a bed of sand for stability and proceed to pour the molten
lead.  This saves the time of making a wood form that Jim McKibbin describes. 
The form was created in the first place by laying up two layers of bid around a
foam core made to the desired shape and size of the lead piece.  
    If I knew my way around sand casting I could go directly from the foam core
to pouring the lead into the sand.  But I don't, so the bid form comes into
play.  Marv, you mentioned sand casting; is it a simple process to mix sand and
other ingredients to get the necessary characteristics for pouring lead into the
sand impression?  The sand cores I've seen (engine head water galleries) seem to
have glueing agents to keep the sand together.  If the ingredients are readily
available, it would be a terrific new skill.

Regards,
Ed (avoid steam explosion) de Chazal


[I understand the simplest way to do this is to mix flour and water into
the sand (doesn't take much to create the 'binder'), take the impression,
then bake to remove the moisture.  This will require having a proper 'plug'
from which to take the impression, of course, but doing those out of
plaster is a no-brainer and very quick.

If you'd like to get more information on sand casting, I'd highly
recommend that you contact Lindsay Publications, PO Box 538, Bradley, IL,
60915-0538, (815-935-5353, fax 815-935-5477) and ask them for whatever
books they have on the subject.  Get on their mailing list as well, as 
they put out all sorts of interesting metalworking books and booklets on 
just about every related subject you can imagine.  I see a 175 page 
softcover book in one of his older catalogs called "Green Sand Casting" 
(publication #4082) listed at $9.95, but in his catalogs he suggests that
you don't order from old ones... I've no idea why.  I see that they also
offer a video for about 30 bux, might be worth the investment if you
want to get serious about this activity.  I hope this helps.    <Marv>  ]

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
LML homepage:   http://www.olsusa.com/Users/Mkaye/maillist.html