Do you know a good foundry?

On behalf of an expert model engineer friend who manages to live without an internet connection, may I ask whether anyone can recommend a reliable foundry that will undertake small jobs in cast iron, aluminium or brass/bronze?

My friend makes all his own patterns and has been successfully using a particular firm for some years. Unfortunately this foundry seems to have lost the ability to make small parts in cast iron – up to, say, a 10 inch flywheel - that can be machined. Whether this is due to chilled castings or something more fundamental, we can’t say. The only option seems to be to find another supplier.

He lives in the midlands, but will be happy to find a good foundry anywhere that the postman will go to.

If UK members would like confirmation that this chap does know what he’s doing, have a look at the classifieds in the January edition of ‘Old Glory’. He is raising funds for his next project by selling a cross-compound horizontal mill engine, which is pictured there.

I’m still very much a beginner, so I don’t have much to contribute yet, but would like to take this opportunity to thank all those whose contributions I enjoy and learn from.

Happy Christmas and best wishes for 2011 to all of you.

Bill.

Hi Bill

If someone in the Midlands (I was born and brought up there) is having difficulty finding a willing foundry then heaven help the rest of us!

John - many thanks for that lead - only hope that the chap doesn't get so snowed under with enquiries for small orders and runs that he has to pull out of that side of the business.

Seriously the lack of the small "town" foundries now could be a major problem in the future to the continuation of this hobby. Yes I know you can cut just about any shape from bar or billet given enough time and the will to do it, but virtually all of the designs of engine, machine tool and accessory that we all know and want to make are casting based and, in a a heck of a lot of cases, those castings are no longer available, and a pound to a penny the patterns have been lost as well. If we can find suitable suppliers of castings then it would be worthwhile re-creating the patterns or re-visiting the old designs and, if necessary, bringing them up-to-date, and getting the new patterns made and the castings available.

I know this will be a lot of work but with so many of the hobby's participants being into cad and 3d modeling it should be possible over admittedly a large number of years to get the designs drawn, documented and archived, and the parts once more available. Perhaps this could be a long term project in which ME and MEW could lead the way and provide a central point of contact to help steer the effort forward.

I feel that if something like this doesn't get off the ground that a large part of the engineering heritage of the country will be lost, as it will, in a lot of cases, be too difficult for the newcomers to get into the hobby simply because a lot of the semi-finished raw materials will not be available. It's starting to get very expensive to carve things out of billet and throw 50% or more of the raw stock away as swarf.

Just my 2d'orth (for those old enough to remember pre-decimal currency!)

Keith

ps I don't mean this as a hi-jack of the thread, PLEASE do continue it with details of amenable foundries both ferrous and non-ferous we NEED them!!

Edited By Keith Long on 19/12/2010 22:29:15

Edited By Terryd on 20/12/2010 07:56:21

Less than 12 hours after I asked the question and you’ve provided some really helpful answers. Thanks very much, I’ll pass them on. (Yes Ramon, it is Paul.)

Thanks for your comments Terry. I appreciate your point about Yellow Pages, but I think the personal recommendation aspect is quite important.

Best wishes to all.

Bill.

I know this is an old topic, but I am looking for a suitable foundry to make me a small quantity of iron castings for a model I am building.

Preferably within visiting distance to where I live in West Yorkshire, has anyone got anything to add.

Thanks

Phil

For those of us further North than the Midlands, google William Lane Middlesbrough, they offer small runs in various metals.

I have not used them, but the website looks very professional and I have heard good reports

Brian

I only suggested Monor Foundries as I use them and in my work, emergency repair it's all one off's, very rarely a run.

I have found John at Manor to be very helpful in advise on the best way to go about patterns and the casting itself.

I used this company for one-off iron castings at my previous employment :

http://www.hdowns.co.uk/

I think the owner was Nigel Downs & I found him very helpful. The castings we had made were rather larger than the sizes quoted above, but the the company does all sorts - they were featured in a TV program where they cast a scale replica of the original Iron Bridge that was erected by the means originally employed.

Nigel B.

Forgot to say that they are in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire

Edited By Nigel Barraclough on 18/01/2013 10:57:49