Legality of owning a personal foundry.

Home enthusiasts discuss their Foundry & Casting work.

Moderator: Harold_V

Andy R
Posts: 441
Joined: Wed Sep 26, 2007 2:18 pm
Location: So. Calif.

sparks at foundry

Post by Andy R »

Harold,
You wrote: "... having a little trouble visualizing a situation where sparks are an issue."
How about this?
Sparks.jpg
OK, OK, I'm a smart alec … It's a very large commercial iron foundry, not a home foundry.
But it is a neat photo.
User avatar
NP317
Posts: 4557
Joined: Tue Jun 24, 2014 2:57 pm
Location: Northern Oregon, USA

Re: Legality of owning a personal foundry.

Post by NP317 »

Andy:
If that pic was of a home foundry we would have read about the fire department response to save the house!
RussN
User avatar
Bill Shields
Posts: 10460
Joined: Fri Dec 21, 2007 4:57 am
Location: 39.367, -75.765
Contact:

Re: Legality of owning a personal foundry.

Post by Bill Shields »

Depends on the house....lotsa steel, brick and concrete won't burn.... :mrgreen:
Too many things going on to bother listing them.
User avatar
liveaboard
Posts: 1971
Joined: Sun Dec 08, 2013 1:40 pm
Location: southern Portugal
Contact:

Re: Legality of owning a personal foundry.

Post by liveaboard »

Houses in Portugal are all masonry with ceramic tile roofs.

They still burn when wildfires pass through.
RONALD
Posts: 754
Joined: Sun Oct 26, 2003 7:27 am

Re: Legality of owning a personal foundry.

Post by RONALD »

A number of years ago, I bought an old Duncan ceramic furnace, that saw little use, to see if I could melt some of the non-ferrous metals I use, but sorry to say I have yet to get it wired up. I also wanted to use it on the burn out of ceramic slurry coated styrofoam.

It is much too easy to lite off the natural gas fired McEnglvan B30, but one of these years I will do it.

On the other end I have a Kerr electric furnace that I have used many times in my basement, very little in fumes, and pouring into a vacuum creates no sparks or fumes.

I suspect, at +10,000 watts, the Duncan will be more costly to run than the B30, or even my B700, using natural gas, at least for now.

DSCN3059.JPG
DSCN3060.JPG
DSCN2642.JPG
User avatar
Harold_V
Posts: 20231
Joined: Fri Dec 20, 2002 11:02 pm
Location: Onalaska, WA USA

Re: sparks at foundry

Post by Harold_V »

Andy R wrote: Thu Nov 18, 2021 12:04 pm Harold,
You wrote: "... having a little trouble visualizing a situation where sparks are an issue."
How about this?
Sparks.jpg
OK, OK, I'm a smart alec … It's a very large commercial iron foundry, not a home foundry.
But it is a neat photo.
Yep! And I strongly suspect that what you're seeing is the inoculation of gray iron, converting it to ductile iron. That's highly unlikely to happen in a home shop, although I've made provisions to do just that. I have yet to muster the courage to give it a go.

H
Wise people talk because they have something to say. Fools talk because they have to say something.
Andy R
Posts: 441
Joined: Wed Sep 26, 2007 2:18 pm
Location: So. Calif.

inoculation of gray iron

Post by Andy R »

Harold: "...what you're seeing is the inoculation of gray iron, converting it to ductile iron.:
YES! Give Harold a cigar!
You know your stuff ! (as usual.)
FKreider
Posts: 338
Joined: Fri Feb 02, 2018 8:44 pm
Location: Massachusetts

Re: Legality of owning a personal foundry.

Post by FKreider »

Nonferrous metals do not spark like that in a home foundry. That is definitely iron which I would not suggest attempting for the average casual home foundry enthusiast.
-Frank K.
User avatar
Harold_V
Posts: 20231
Joined: Fri Dec 20, 2002 11:02 pm
Location: Onalaska, WA USA

Re: Legality of owning a personal foundry.

Post by Harold_V »

FKreider wrote: Thu Nov 18, 2021 7:29 pm Nonferrous metals do not spark like that in a home foundry. That is definitely iron which I would not suggest attempting for the average casual home foundry enthusiast.
I agree, although some have enjoyed success melting gray iron with a crucible furnace. It's not easy and not cheap to do, due to the high temperature involved. A cupola, arc or induction furnace make it easier.

H
Wise people talk because they have something to say. Fools talk because they have to say something.
jscarmozza
Posts: 599
Joined: Mon Mar 03, 2014 5:09 pm

Re: Legality of owning a personal foundry.

Post by jscarmozza »

I've followed this thread since the beginning and although I don't believe there is anything 'illegal' about operating a home foundry you do have the responsibility to make sure that you don't jeopardize yourself or others. If you're planning to make a portable unit that you'll operate outdoors stay far away from buildings, trees and other flammable things; if your furnace is an inside unit like mine, you may want to have it inspected by the local building code officials. I didn't do that and while inspecting another project my shop and all of the things in it became an issue once discovered because it was all done without permits and inspections. Like I told the building inspector, this is my hobby, it will all be removed when I sell the house and it was all added piecemeal as I acquired things a little at a time. The building inspector still made me file for after the fact permits and inspections for the natural gas piping, electrical wiring, power phase converters, disconnects,transformers etc.. Everything passed but the fire inspection was a different story, although my house and attached garage are masonry he had an issue with the masonry chimney's 8" square flue that I built for the wood burning stove and blacksmith forge, two appliances in a common flue. It took a lot of convincing and an intervention from the building inspector to get him to ease up. Why did I mention all this, because you have to be comfortable about what you are doing. I was ok doing everything without permits until I got caught, I still have never mentioned that I have all this stuff to my homeowners' insurance carrier...I don't know how they would feel about it and don't plan to find out. But in all cases be carefull and use common sense.
John
Post Reply