Casting other than boolits?

[troy_mclure]

Does anybody cast anything other than projectiles?
I saw a guy casting at a renisance faire. He was making copies of coin looking things by using a sand/clay mix, and making an impression of it in 2 blocks of the clay/sand mix, and pouring tin into it.
It looked pretty cool, and I think I'm gonna attempt it with lead soon.

[thegreatdane]

thinking about making round balls for my slingshots both rubber and slings.

[PatMarlin]

I've wanted to get into green sand casting.

Back in 2008, I worked with a friend at his shop up in Washington for a month. They make all their gold dredge equipment pumps from total scratch. AL alloy to the finished product, with a foundry right in the machine shop.

[dale2242]

I cast fishing sinkers...dale

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

a fairly new friend of mine has a small collection of toy soldier molds,
I've been inchin' at ask to borrow one of them,
but have held off, due to the fact that I don't like to borrow my stuff out.
Jon

[Bad Water Bill]

a fairly new friend of mine has a small collection of toy soldier molds,
I've been inchin' at ask to borrow one of them,
but have held off, due to the fact that I don't like to borrow my stuff out.
Jon

With PB getting scarcer try taking some ingots over to his home and offering them in exchange for the opportunity to cast some of THOSE NEAT SOLDIERS in his shop.

[bobthenailer]

Over the years i have cast fishing sinkers , jig heads , down rigger balls .

[Blacksmith]

I have cast:
A decorative piece in a sand mould in High School.
Jewelry in lost wax, cuttlefish bone, and Tufa moulds.
Toy soldiers in metal and silicone moulds.

Useing
Aluminum
Silver
Gold
Tin
Pewter
Lead

And been associated with other types of castings as a manufacturing engineer in industry.

But most important is BOOLITS.

Blacksmith

[DCM]

With PB getting scarcer try taking some ingots over to his home and offering them in exchange for the opportunity to cast some of THOSE NEAT SOLDIERS in his shop.

Jeff in NZ has been using Zinc? for casting his fishing sinkers. Might want to try that for some toy soldiers.

[btroj]

I have been known to cast jigs. I also am knowN to cast aspersions......

[Blue Hill]

Used to make big lead hammers for smacking stuff that you don't want to put a hammer mark on. I've cast babbit bearings lots of times for a 300 horse electric motor. Lots of work to making those. Lots of lathe work and hand filing and scraping etc.

[stubshaft]

Also cast sinkers and diving weights.

[quilbilly]

I have been casting custom fishing jigs and spinner baits for wholesale commercially since 1978. I still have all my teeth, marginally sane (except for this cast boolit thing), and blood tests are normal so far.

[Stick_man]

I have gotten pretty good at casting a shadow on sunny days. Does that count? Still working on the cloudy days though. I have also cast small decorative Christmas ornaments out of plaster of paris to be painted in tole painting classes.

Am gathering all of my zinc wheelweights to cast up a bunch of round balls for the "wrist-rocket" slingshots. Haven't cast any of those yet though.

[OneSkinnyMass]

first lead I ever melted, my friend and I pulled the lead off the roofing nails of his dads tin roofed barn and melted it down in a tin can. made drawings in the dirt and poured the lead in. First blink I ever saw. Yeah, we got our hides tanned. skinny

[Marvin S]

Lots of jig heads and some fishing weights.

[jcwit]

Do a google on "tin soldier molds" all kinds of stuff.

[DLCTEX]

I've got half of a keg of lead head nails, but I think they're worth more for rustic decorating than the lead is worth. If I ran out of lead????

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

thinking about making round balls for my slingshots both rubber and slings.

my son thought he would get smart , and shoot dad with paper wads from his sling shot

dad got smarter back and used some glue bullets , with his sisters sling shot


now i am thinking hot glue round balls of about .490 it could be like sling shot air soft , i may have stumbled into a new game.

all you would need to play is a pair of safety glasses and a 6 dollar sling shot

[Reload3006]

The biggest problem with sand castings for pump parts is normally the metal is very porous and will leak like a sieve. It can be sent for impregnation and will usually seal them up.

[letsmeltlead2693]

I melt lead into sinkers. I make worm, egg, and bank sinkers. I am also considering making a furnace to melt some aluminum. Go to http://www.alloyavenue.com/vb/forum.php and sign up there. They melt other metals like aluminum, brass, and even iron. Tell them metalmelter2693 referred you to that site. That is my profile name on that site.

[Jeffrey]

Sinkers: bank and split shot. Hand carved soapstone moulds: pewter medallions for my middle ages reenactment group, pewter buttons for friends and family.

[Ed Barrett]

Many years I bought feed grinder at a farm auction. It came with a rig to replace the top journals and pour new bearings. It was belt driven and was built around 1900, I used a John Deere B to run it. I used it for 4 years and poured new bearings about every 5 or 6 months. Sold it to an Amish gentleman and he was pleased as punch. It will probably be running another 100 years from now.

[edler7]

Sinkers and jigs for fishing. In the past I have also cast gold and silver for jewelry. In 9th grade metal shop (1967), cast an aluminum paperweight of a submarine using packed damp sand and a hand made mold . Still have that one on my desk.

I can't imagine Jr. High kids being allowed to melt and handle molten aluminum now, even allowed to be in the same building with it- I guess things were different back then.

[Kskybroom]

I Cast
Sinkers (Bank Split Shot)
Fishing Jigs
Spinner Baits
Down Rigrer Balls
Plastic Fishig Bodys
Round Balls (Sling Shot)
Decoy Weights
Gluelits
Boolits
Too Much ???

[nanuk]

I've cast a sideways glance or two

[Blacksmith]

Our High School had a working Linotype machine in the shop class on printing. The melted lead wasn't considered a problem but we also had a rifle range in the basement. Many of our shop classes had hazards but they were ment to teach people how to do a job where they could be employed and earn a living. Todays shop classes, unless you are a VoTech student, don't teach any real skills except maybe drafting.

[Jammer Six]

Our High School had a working Linotype machine in the shop class on printing.

That's like saying your high school had a complete buggy whip factory in the basement.

Our high schools were designed to prepare us to survive in the world as it was then.

High schools now are designed to prepare students for either community college or universities.

That is today's world.

Todays needs are different. The skills students need are different. We have more knowledge. Because the teachers then didn't know about the hazards of lead doesn't mean that those hazards didn't exist, or that they weren't real. The teachers then taught you to avoid the hazards they were aware of-- that's why you were taught not to look at the arc of an arc welder.

There's no problem there.

Unless you want your son trained up as a master buggy whip weaver.

[Blacksmith]

Jammer Six

I also happen to make "buggy" whips but didn't learn those skills untill much later in life. Todays best "buggy" whips bring very high dollars especially so called "Holly" whips.
http://www.drivingessentials.com/holly%20whips.php

I primarly make carbon fiber carriage driving whips and started doing it because I had trouble holding a regular whip because of carpal tunnel issues. Very high tech materials, mostly from the custom fishing rod industry, hand assembled using some of the skills I learned way back in shop classes that taught people how to use tools and machinery.

I would maintain that todays schools are not doing a very good job of prepareing students for higher education and a very poor job of preparing them to survive in the world of then or now. After retiring as an engineer I took a job teaching what passes for "shop" classes today and what I had to teach was not what students really needed for college, business, industry, or doing productive work and I had recent experiance in all of those.

Not teaching simple mechanical skills will have far reaching effects that will only come to light with the passing of the generations that universally had these skills. Fewer people will take up hobbies such as boolit casting, do it yourself projects will wane, finding skilled tradespeople will become harder, and finding people able to clear a simple paper jam or change the toner cartridge on the office copier will require calling a specialist.

I have obviously learned the basics how to use a personal computer, something that didn't exist when I was in school (with the early ones some assembly was required), but it will be much harder for people to find a place to learn the basic tool and machinery skills needed to do the simplist mechanical projects.

Make a flower box.
Hang a picture.
Change a tire.
Change your oil.
Repair a broken lamp.
Change a lock.
Fix a leaky faucet.

The list goes on and on.

I have made sure my son and grandsons can use a hammer, saw, rule, and wrench. No I don't expect them to earn a living doing those things but they could if they had to or wanted to. There are certain basic skills everyone should have. Driving a shift car, swimming, simple food preperation, computer skills, making a fire, safe gun handling, basic hand tools, reading, writing, 'rithmatic, basic woodcraft, etc.

[legend]

I worked in a cast iron factory in highschool,we made cast iron stoves,manhole covers,fireingpins for the military(must have been huge guns),cricket boot jacks,and lots of wheels for ore carts...this is where i fell in love with casting.

i have a woodlathe i play with a lot,and, have cut a shallow dish shape out in junk wood which i cast lead into making a bowl shape.Then i glue it to a scrap of wood and turn the lead slug into a bowl. i make plates to fit it and sell them at times at craft fairs. they are cute little minature soup bowls....ladys love them.

i pour candles,and cast my butt off for trout in the summer.

[Jammer Six]

Well, my view differs.

Running my company drove me back to school.

I'm a master at one trade, and a journeyman at a second trade. When I set up shop, I thought that knowing how to build a house would be enough to run a company.

It's not.

What I found when I went back to school, (I finally got a degree at the tender age of forty eight) was extremely encouraging.

Like you, I used to believe that kids weren't prepared or good for anything. But what I found back at school was a generation of children who were getting ready. I found bright, alert, ready-to-rock kids who, when they pick up the reins, are going to be just fine. I discovered that the next generation has its share of Alphas, and they are eagerly awaiting their turn to lead the hunt. Strong, fast, sharp, deadly Alphas. After listening to them in class, I would be proud to lead any number of the kids I met there.

What they are learning is considerably different from what we learned. But that doesn't mean that they are learning less, or that they are learning things that are less valuable. In fact, where we learned to build houses, they are learning to build developments.

We reached the moon.

They will reach beyond.

P.S. Your whips are pretty cool. :D

[10 ga]

decoy keels, decoy anchors, a whole bunch of different types of fishing sinkers, net weights, boat anchors out of lead.

bird baths, lawn and pond ornaments, pavers, out of concrete and tufa.

10

[Blacksmith]

Jammer

Those arn't my whips, tough finding the right raw material for those but I have a couple of sticks curing. And yes in todays world you need multiple skills and in business even more i. e. accounting, law, investing, economics, etc.

I am guessing you are in the construction business. Are you having a problem finding carpenters, plumbers, electricians, all the skilled trades at the entry level, the folks in their early 20's who are willing to work in the trades and have the basic skills you need? I would guess the labor force is getting older or the entrents are those who chose to go the Vocational School route. In manufacturing, a number of years ago now, we were having to hier people and then train them in the mechanical skills and make sure instructions assumed they had no basic skills. For example instead of saying loosen the nut we would say using the 1/2" open end wrench turn the hex nut counter clockwise three revolutions. We had already taught a class on what an open end wrench was, common hardware, etc.

Somebody still has to build the house or there won't be a development.

My Great Grandfather was at Gettysburg.

[Jammer Six]

Yes, construction. I'm not in it now, I'm retired.

I had no trouble finding skilled labor-- for most of the last few years, I used union labor. That seemed to limit the labor force to those who were serious about becoming professional tradesmen.

Don't get me started on teaching. People who think there's no such thing as a stupid question haven't met my apprentices. :D

http://www.oz.net/~jammer/Brass/page4/page4.html

[Blacksmith]

Thanks for the link. I have a cement mixer. I don't speak dude but am a real man.

[midnight]

I used to make my own Bluebill and Mallard decoys with expandable polystyrene using molds from Wilson and Decoys Unlimited. A keel weight was cast inside. A friend used to give me 22lb linotype bars and I hate to think of the 100s of lbs of linotype in my decoys and anchors. I have some battery lead I don't trust so I use it for my jig heads and don't contaminate my good alloys. and then there are the 100 or so bullet molds.

Bob

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

Sinkers and jigs for fishing. In the past I have also cast gold and silver for jewelry. In 9th grade metal shop (1967), cast an aluminum paperweight of a submarine using packed damp sand and a hand made mold . Still have that one on my desk.

I can't imagine Jr. High kids being allowed to melt and handle molten aluminum now, even allowed to be in the same building with it- I guess things were different back then.

i did just that in the 90s 9th grade we made a bunch of cast aluminum projects

everything from a skull shifter for a person who wanted one to belt buckles , and emblem casts of dogs, horses , and such

all damp sand/oil hand packed

[Jammer Six]

Back on topic, I've cast diving weights, although I wasn't very successful. They got hard, and they were weights, but pretty, pretty much uh-uh.