Fabricating a steel workbench + man cave stuff

[TurboDieselWeasel]

So, just the other day I was scrolling eBay and the likes for affordable, good bench grinders. Without much success. Since I allready toasted two cheap ones (beyond repair, resp. beyond economic repair; they'd still be cräp). But sooner or later, I need a good bench grinder for grinding TIG electrodes and mainly HSS tool bits for the lathe.

So... Imagine my joy when I was given this today.



Stones are from 1987 and unused, as far as I can tell. Happy day!!

Cheers,
Jan

[TurboDieselWeasel]

Jan 6, 2017 8:40:47 GMT TurboDieselWeasel said:

Yesterday I continued with my little improvised wood-workshop.

See that chaos to the left? That shelf had been provisional for - a long time... and it's been bugging me ever since. Yet I was in no mood to drag out all the cräp that I store there to re-arrange it. But - I finally bit the bullet and built a proper storage shelf.





That's a bit better. On the bottom - it'll stay like that. There's a complete OM606 Turbo, two OM603s and a couple of gearboxes & doors. Bulky, heavy stuff.

After this was done, I looked up and had an idea for another shelf, way up high.



Not the perfect place to store tyres, but since I need to drag them out only 2x a year, it's OK. Anywhere else they'r just in the way. Also offers space for more cräp I'll never need to store.



And that's it. Cleaned up(-ish), more storage than before and still some voids left to fill with stuff. I love hoarding stuff. Better to have things than to need things, right?



Cheers,
Jan

[TurboDieselWeasel]

And guess the next little project...











I guess this was an easy one. Unfortunately, two cut to bits thin walled plastic buckets are not enough to withstand the pressure of the refractory, so my fire proof hole ended up eccentric and with a bit of a funny shape. Whatever... Should do the job:D

And much to my disliking, the fire extinquisher I chose to serve as a crucible - turned out to be made of aluminium... D'oh!

After 30h, I pulled out the buckets and smoothed the walls with a layer of refractory, to fill little air bubbles and indentations.



Anyway, the postage service messed up delivery of my burner tube - so that's all I can do with this right now. Watching concrete dry. Soo interesting!

Cheers,
Jan

[melle]

Great, on my to-make list as well! What will your first casting project be?

[TurboDieselWeasel]

Most probably pidgeon sh!t

Seriously; I wanted to do this for many, many years... First project will be to try to cast some center caps for a couple of wheels I have. Then some covers for my Steinbock trolley jacks. Plus whatever comes in, it's mostly a craft I want to master

Well, I got my burner tube after all... And. I don't know. I must have missed something. But it's nowhere near to 2 & 3", but more like 3 2/3 and 2 3/8"... I don't know, maybe this is British vs. American inches or it's East Lebanese Plumbers inch - clue me up if you know Point being; it's way bigger than the 2" exhaust pipe I have stiking out of my furnace...



Cheers,
Jan

[colnerov]

Hi, Ahh pipe and tube are not the same thing and are measured differently, Pipe is measured internally and then the wall thickness or gauge is added to it. Tube is measured externally.

Colin

[TurboDieselWeasel]

Thanks! I was not aware of this until now

Cheers,
Jan

[jiminwatford]

May 7, 2017 18:40:24 GMT TurboDieselWeasel said:

I don't want to sound silly, but what is this?

[guz]

May 11, 2017 22:20:11 GMT jiminwatford said:

May 7, 2017 18:40:24 GMT TurboDieselWeasel said:

I don't want to sound silly, but what is this?

An aroused polo mint !

[glenanderson]

"Better to have things than to need things"... Brilliant. That's my new motto! 

I am endeavouring to get some kind of order to the chaos here too. Your efforts are most inspiring.

[Good Scrap]

There's a full furnace set up with pattern boxes on homeworkshop.org just if you hit the buffers with home built.

[melle]

Also on the MIG welding forum: www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/threads/complete-foundry-set-up.72958/#post-994208

[TurboDieselWeasel]

Aroused polo mint - oh my

It's a furnace, to melt metals. I want to melt some metal and pour it. Not purely because I have an demand for it, but because I want to do it. I have a couple of little things that I want to cast. And I want to master another technique that I can add to my portfoilio of crafts

[melle]

I like your approach, the sheer urge to do something is by far the best reason for just doing it.

[VW]

Watching with interest. Always wanted to try some casting myself, only ever cast small silver or gold things.

I like how dangerous the whole process is when you start going bigger.

Unfortunately, what I really want to do is cast iron and ive read thats not really do able 'at home'.
Still, casting aluminium still sounds like fun.

[melle]

I don't think it's more dangerous than, say, using an angle grinder. As long as you understand the dangers inherent to the process you should be good. I've done a fair bit of casting when I studied Industrial Design in art school; with vacuum forming probably my favourite prototyping technique. It also looks very "professional" for some reason, especially when you machine parts of the casting.

[TurboDieselWeasel]

Probably is, but molten iron is a LOT hotter than say aluminium... Making a possible accident much more severe. Say a bit too much moisture in you mould, a spill-over - all a lot worse with white-hot molten iron. I guess. I don't know. But I'm not planing on doing iron any time soon.

Mainly because I think aluminium is all I need - and mostly because I have an almost infinite supply of free cast aluminium. That's one of the benefits of working in a garage; I take all the forged/cast aluminium parts with me. No alu enters our scrap bin (unless it's oily). I've been doing this for a long time now. I've not put it on a scale, but it's a lot. I guess close to 100kg. My thought was, that this is already the correct alloy for aluminium casts.

Re: vacuume forming; that's a very interesting process I did not know of until now! Thanks for mentioning it, this could be exactly what I need!!

Cheers,
Jan

[VW]

My first job was vac forming and printing, vac forming was very enjoyable.

As you mention, its moisture that makes casting dangerous, even with aluminium I believe. Spill it on a floor, even one that seems dry, and it can explode (or so ive read).
Arent you supposed to work over dry sand?
I also read pieces can condensate when you go to add them to the pot so you have to pre warm everything?

Just going from what I remember reading. Was a while back though and knew I wouldnt be able to play any time soon so didnt log the details.

As for iron, I think there are many issues, not just safety but creating enough heat, good enough forge, crucibles etc.

[TurboDieselWeasel]

Today I finally got round making the burner... I ordered a smaller bit of pipe & reducer.



I took a piece of a bottle jack, some left over brass and turned me a bit of - er - basically pipe to extend the nozzle into the big pipe.



Looks a bit weird, but I just used what I had at hand. It's adjustable so I can point it right at the center of the tube.



Next I made a simple throttle to adjust the amount of air passing through.



And hey - it actually works!



Played around with the setting a bit, until it started to smell like burned stuff... This thing has quite a lot of power!

Cheers,
Jan

[TurboDieselWeasel]

Also made a start on a crucible...



And then... Fired the furnace up for the very first time!



Even on the lowest setting I got temperatzure readings of 380-420°C. Turning the burner down is difficult, the less air & fuel it burns, the more likely the flame is to "backfire" and get into an oscillation. Think of a pulse jet. Probably not good.

So I turned it off when I noticed water oozing out along the burner tube... Tells you just how much water is still in there, after over 3 weeks of drying. Incredible.



I don't want it to crack too soon. Tthough I'm sure it will crack at one point, since I didn't use the correct material (I'm cheap, you know?). But for my first steps in casting - this will do. I think the next furnace I'm building will have steam vents in the sidewall. I guess concrete also draws water, depending on atmospheric conditions.

So - allready learned a LOT

Cheers,
Jan