OT: Casting Brass in Boolit Molds

[John C]

Sorry for the Off Topic thread, but here goes:

A situation has come up where I need to get a pair of brass balls to give to a friend who needs them badly (don't ask why). Since I already cast lead balls, and have a Lee .600 ball mold, the obvious solution appears to be to melt down some scrap range brass and cast a couple of balls.

A couple of questions:

1) what needs to be done to melt brass? Temp, furnaces, etc?

2) can I use an aluminum mold? I'm concerned about going over-temperature and wrecking the mold. I do have a smaller Lyman mold, but in this case, bigger is better. Perhaps I should just shell out the cash and get a .648 iron lyman? (I could use the size)

3) if aluminum molds won't work, will lyman iron molds work? Or will the same temperature, etc issues cause problems here, too?

Thanks!

-John

[klausg]

John- a quick google search reveals brass w/a melt temp of 1650+, aluminum @ 1190+, so I don't think I'd try an aluminum mould. My next concern would be getting the mould hot enough to get decent fillout and what that might be doing to my rather spendy blocks, i.e. warpage. It may be easier/safer to see if Buckshot or someone else could machine you a set on a lathe.

-Klaus

[John C]

Thanks, Klaus.

Intuitively, that's what I thought, since aluminum is, of course, soft and brass a bit harder. The other issue is getting the brass to melt. I saw a website showing backyard furnaces.

I'll see if I can get some machined for a reasonable price, if not, probably the best way to go is lost wax casting. I could use my molds to cast a wax ball which I would then imbed in sand, pouring the liquid brass into the cavity.

-John

[StrawHat]

If it would help get the balls for your buddy, why not cast in lead and spray paint em?

Just a thought.

[klausg]

John- I did a little lost wax jewelry back in my younger days; don't know how well the method would hold up with sand. IIRC, I used a 'flask' that was basically a chunk of 4"steel pipe with nice square edges. You set your wax model w/sprues & vents attached on a chunk of glass, put the flask over it and poured in some high-speed form of plaster named "investment". I think that it was just a very fine grade of plaster of Paris. Once dry that went into a kiln to complete drying/ melt out all the wax and preheat along with your crucible of whatever. Once everything was ready, you put it in a centrifuge and flipped the switch. Then while it was still hot you dropped the flask into a big bucket of water which basically destroyed the plaster; fished around in the bottom & picked up your piece.

For your application I think you could forego the centrifuge, no fine detail that needs to be picked up, but I think I would try the flask/plaster route. The big drawback to lost wax is contained in the name. If something goes wrong with your cast, your model is, well, lost [smilie=1: and you get to start all over again. Let me know how it all turns out.

-Klaus

[4060MAY]

go here
http://www.mcmaster.com/
search "brass Balls"
1/6"dia to 3/4" dia.

[Ricochet]

Tell your buddy to be careful with those brass balls. Cold weather's coming soon!

[trooperdan]

McMaster-Carr sounds like the ticket, less than $11 for 5 3/4" brass balls. I never thought about buying any before! :)

[charger 1]

Not only brass but 5 to boot. And I thought I was tough. Sorry SIR

[John C]

Richochet;

Well, like I said, I NEED to give him a PAIR of brass balls. He currently doesn't have any.

[smilie=1:

It's for a work situation. I'm going to place them in a small cardboard box, with a white label reading:

BALLS, BRASS, 1 PAIR
OPEN PACKAGE AND USE WHEN NECESSARY
LEAVE CLOSED IN PACKAGE ON SHELF WHEN NOT IN USE
MAY BE HAZARDOUS TO CAREER PROGRESSION
DO NOT USE WHILE UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF ALCOHOL OR DRUGS
DO NOT USE WHILE IN MEETINGS WITH YOUR BOSS

-John

[StarMetal]

McMaster Carr has brass balls from 1/8 diameter up to I believe 3/4 for a really fair price, so why cast them?

www.mcmastercarr.com

Joe

[wills]

http://www.bumpernuts.com/truck%20accessory%2024.htm

[fatnhappy]

Richochet;

Well, like I said, I NEED to give him a PAIR of brass balls. He currently doesn't have any.

[smilie=1:

It's for a work situation. I'm going to place them in a small cardboard box, with a white label reading:

BALLS, BRASS, 1 PAIR
OPEN PACKAGE AND USE WHEN NECESSARY
LEAVE CLOSED IN PACKAGE ON SHELF WHEN NOT IN USE
MAY BE HAZARDOUS TO CAREER PROGRESSION
DO NOT USE WHILE UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF ALCOHOL OR DRUGS
DO NOT USE WHILE IN MEETINGS WITH YOUR BOSS

-John



you might want to add that he should never, under any circumstances let his wife carry them in her purse. he'll never get them back

[4060MAY]

Could he possibly be a Man from Nash?