Casting an odd cylinder

Hi Gents, I recently cast the following cylinder and steam chest for my next project. I thought some of the other foundry-men might enjoy some pictures (as it came out of the sand). The interesting part of the mould is how to extract the lip that bolts onto the smokebox from the sand (if you ram sand into that recess when you extract the pattern the sand will brake out). There was only one parting line which is visible in the pictures, and the only core was the core for the cylinder hole. Normal green sand was used. I’m curious to hear how you guys would attempt this.

Is that iron? It would be interesting to know how you managed the part below the parting line.

Was the pattern for the lower half in more than one piece so you can remove say a central part and then the outer two can move inwards then up and out.

Others might go lost PLA route.

Looks like you have the makings of a portable engine though the cylinder would be at the wrong end for that.

Colour of the vents make it look like bronze to me.

Edited By JasonB on 15/08/2023 16:15:08

Yep, I split the pattern. I was curious to hear how the other guys would have done a pattern like this. The discoloration is actually a very interesting point. This is a type of bronze that I’ve developed for my cylinders that casts at a higher temperature than gunmetal. This alloy requires coal dust as a cushioning additive (to prevent burnon) same as when I cast iron. But on this day I cast a number of low melting point alloys like aluminium and brass where cake flour works better, and I only made one batch of facing sand. This is why there is minor oxidation on the surface. The breathers and ingate is the correct colour because my backing sand is my standard iron mix. Here’s a few pictures which illustrated how I tackled the moulding…

Great work

Drew from salvage hunters was at the bo'ness iron foundry last night.

They have 10s of thousands of casting moulds going back to the 19th century, gawd knows how they organise them all but they are all very accurate, take ages to make, and need to be kept undamaged when not in use

Edited By Ady1 on 16/08/2023 13:13:10