The Home Machinist!

Ronald, this incredibly horrible casting was actually a success! I'm going to try to develop the lost foam technique that you've obviously mastered. I spent all of 5 minutes hand carving a piece of white styrofoam packing with a Dremel and burr ball, then dipped it in paraffin wax to smooth the surf...

Dan I didn't see your post, you answered my question regarding inside and outside valves being 90 degrees out. Thank you.
John

Thanks Russ, my project is inside admission. Why would the crank need to be positioned 90 degrees from an outside admission valve as Bill posted. It was that way to start, I repositioned the crank as per the outside timing instructions I posted previously and it wouldn't make a complete turn of the ...

Could you explain the difference to me Bill,this is the first time I'm hearing about it, thanks.

This was the criterion that I re-set the valve gear to, and it didn't work at all on my Pacific project. Oddly, this is the same method I used on my two LE Atlantics and they run beautifully, nice and square. So what's the answer? I had to turn the crank about 90 degrees on the Pacific to get it to ...

Check out the locomotive animation at trumpetb.net, it helped me with a 1" pacific project that I am rebuilding. I had it running on air but started to adjust things and got it got it so screwed up that it wouldn't run at all. What I think I learned (please correct me if I'm wrong) is there is ...

Thanks Ronald, I'm going to make up a small pattern and give this a try. Thanks again,John

Thanks Chris.

Thanks Chris, I'm also going to do some experimenting with lost foam.
Do you know of any 3D printing foam medium that would be suitable for lost foam casting? One of my live steam buddies is a 3D printer and we may be able to collaborate on a few things.
John

Ronald, a few questions; what type of styrofoam do you use and what tool do you use to cut it, would a thin coat of plaster of Paris work in place of the ceramic slurry, would green sand work or is the sodium silicate hardened sand necessary? All of my lost foam castings (white styrofoam) have come ...

That's a beautiful piece of work Chris, was that done with a 3D printer? I would make a split pattern and instead of the open interior, I would make it solid and raised as a core print,then create the open area in the mold with cores. Keep in mind that you can stack cores, file, sand, drill and saw ...

Check out PMC Supplies, they have a nice variety of crucibles, brush up on your metric conversions from Kg to Lbs and Cm to In, they list everything in metric units.