Metal Casting Vol. 2

Metal Casting: A Sand Casting Manual for the Small Foundry, Vol. 2

This is Volume 2 of Chastain's Small Foundry Series. This book takes up where Volume 1 left off. You will learn a lot of technical stuff about the metallurgy of aluminum, brass / bronze, and iron. Don't let the material science scare you off, because the second part of the book is solid how to.

Steve will tell you about gating, risers and feeding & pattern making. The last chapters show you how to make pistons, piston rings, cylinders, heads and take you on a tour of how the big boys in Detroit did it. Here's the second half of Steve's comprehensive foundry manual, and I think it's even better than the first volume.

Chapters include solidification of metals: the differences between pure metals and alloys. Then aluminum alloys are discussed: effect of alloying, grain refiners, heat treatment, hardening, melt reactions, practice and more. Chapter 3 covers copper alloys: bronze, brass, aluminum bronze, and more. Chapter 4 launches into iron: the effects of carbon and silicon, ductile iron, alkali fluxes, alloying elements, etc.The next three chapters cover gating, directional solidification, heat loss from risers, making insulated riser sleeves, pattern allowances for shrinkage, match plates, making rubber molds, making a vacuum chamber (for rubber molds), making a match plate, and more. Chapter 8 provides useful foundry projects: a sturdy flask lock, a knee operated air valve, variations of the aluminum flask, making piston castings, cylinder head castings, and casting piston rings. You'll see old photos of Ford flathead V-8's being produced. And you get the usual biblography, appendices, list of suppliers and all that.

You don't have to know a lot to pour useful castings, and have fun doing it. Once you try it, though, you run the risk of becoming addicted to melting metal. And once that happens you'll want to get beyond the basics and become a "gourmet" sand crab cooking up really impressive castings. Check out the photos of Steve's pistons and engine head, and you'll see what I mean.

More good stuff from the head sand-crab. Same quality as his other books. Consider it carefully.

Table of Contents
CONTINUED FROM VOLUME I

• I. SOLIDIFICATION OF METALS (6)
  • Freezing of Pure Metals (8)
  • Freezing of Alloys (9)
  • Phase Diagrams (16)
• II. ALUMINUM ALLOYS (21)
  • The Effect of Alloying Agents (21)
  • Grain Refiners (23)
  • Solution Heat Treatment & Precipitation
  • Hardening (25)
  • The Composition of Aluminum Alloys (27)
  • Melt Reactions (32)
  • Aluminum Melting Practice (35)
• III. COPPER ALLOYS, BRASS & BRONZE (42)
  • Copper-Based Casting Alloys (45)
  • Silicon Bronze (45)
  • Brasses (46)
  • Manganese Bronze (47)
  • Tin and Leaded Bronze (50)
  • Aluminum Bronze (54)
  • Solidification Range of Copper Alloys (58)
  • Brass and Bronze Foundry Practice (592)
• IV. METALLURGY OF IRON (65)
  • Carbon (68)
  • Silicon (69)
  • Carbon Equivalent (70)
  • Alloying Elements (72)
  • Ductile Iron (74)
  • Alkali Fluxes (75)
• V. GATING SYSTEMS (77)
  • Parts of a Gating System (77)
  • Filters (87)
  • Design of Gating Systems (88)
• VI. RISERS AND FEEDING OF CASTINGS (99)
  • Directional Solidification (104)
  • Chills (105)
  • Heat Loss From Risers (108)
  • Making Insulated Riser Sleeves (111)
• VII. PATTERN MAKING (117)
  • Shrinkage (117)
  • Machining Allowance (118)
  • Fillets (119)
  • Wax Extruder (120)
  • Follow Boards (121)
  • Core Prints (124)
  • Stop Offs (1253)
  • Rubber molds (129)
  • Building a Vacuum Chamber (137)
  • Making a Match Plate (140)
• VIII. FOUNDRY PROJECTS (148)
  • Make a Sturdy Flask Lock (148)
  • Make an Knee Operated Air Valve (152)
  • Cylinder Head Casting (160)
  • Piston Casting (169)
• X. AUTOMOTIVE CASTINGS (172)
  • Casting Piston Rings (172)
  • Production of the Ford Flathead V-8 (178)
• XI. MISCLANENIOUS (185)
  • Molding Deep Fins (185)
  • Lifting Force on Cope (186)
• CONCLUSION (187)
• BIBLIOGRAPHY (188)
• SUPPLIERS (189)
• COMPOSITION OF ALUMINUM ALLOYS (190)
• INDEX (191)