Casting an aluminium flask FEEDERS vs NO FEEDERS (modular flasks part7) DIY casting flask/DIY flask

[@garygenerous8982]

Julian, you are a very bad boy because of that opening shot... making us think that the pour had failed... naughty boy. In all seriousness they look awesome. I think I prefer the ones with the feeders due to the lack of shrinkage but that is just aesthetics. Also while you were ramming up the drag I had a thought. Could you print a piece that would fit against the 45 which you could pull off before adding the cope? That would make it so you didn’t have to scoop out the area and have a cleaner parting line at that point. Don’t know if it’s necessary at this point but I thought I would put it out there.

[@JulianMakes]

Gary Generous hahaha I know I am! Omg Gary that is genius!!! I love that idea, I will try to do something with that, I love it, while I’m getting good at the scoops, no scoops would be much better!

[@Jack_C_]

Who doesn't like a bit of mandolin!😄 Even when you're not well you have more enthusiasm than most. Another Awesome video!

[@JulianMakes]

Jack C haha thanks jack!

[@myfordboy]

I have been watching your project with interest and admire your enthusiasm. You have inspired me to make some metal flasks as my most used wooden ones are getting worn. Patterns are made, wooden not printed so not modular but I know the size i want. It works well for you but I am surprised at the small feeder and gating you are using, I was expecting to see the metal freeze before the mould filled. Thank you for entertaining videos, wish i could narrate like you!

[@JulianMakes]

thank you so much myfordboy! oooh exciting, i look forward to seeing you make your flasks, awesome! And what a coincidence... i mention you in the video i'm uploading right now! thank you so much for your comment i really appreciate it!

An interesting comparison between feeder and no feeder. In this particular case there seems to be little difference. Perhaps a small amount of warpage down the length of the part is to be expected. It is not likely to effect the fit up of the four sides. Great job Julian ! We are all learning along with you. Your next rendition eagerly awaited. Music perfectly acceptable when kept in the background and doesn't encroach on any commentary.

[@JulianMakes]

Michael Walter thanks Michael,I think you are dead right, it is to be expected. you will see some cool th8ngs in the next one. Thank you so much cheers!

[@raschellesherwood6347]

Have to agree with martin. Awesome pour. Your confidence is growing mate. Bloody fantastic.1 half of a flash great work.

[@JulianMakes]

Raschelle Sherwood thanks raschelle!!!

[@WarGrade]

Julian, when you first parted the flask & you had a sand stick, I always try a quick recovery trick. Put the two flasks back together again, lower the level of the sand in the area of the issue, and re-ram (not to hard), what you are trying to do is restitch the broken sand with the sand in the cope, fill and ram as you would normally & strike off. Then see if it worked. It takes a minute or two but might save you having to do the whole cope again & as long as you don't over ram & bugger up the drag, if it fails again you have only waisted a minute or two. Without the ribs, or perhaps a broken rib, the bend should disappear. Personally I'd ditch the ribs altogether, they are tapered so do little for it. Shrinkage, the handle part, try hollowing the inside of the pattern behind the handle, reducing the molten volume in that area and also put in a second gate reducing the heat concentration in one area. It's all looking real good mate. waiting for the next episode.

[@JulianMakes]

War Grade some awesome points there mate, thank you, yeah I will be testing a no rib side one day when I get time, I agree I think it will have little to no bend, I think the rib is causing the small bend really, but I am quite a bit further down the line now, I hope in a day or two to upload some progress. Also hollowing the handle section is genius, I shall def investigate that further, even if it’s just a large dimple on the inside, I think it’ll make a good difference, brill idea thanks mate!

[@InsideTheMindOfMatt]

looking great maybe a big feeder on the center cross to help reduce the shrinkage that is what the feeder help with but either way if your happy with the results that's all that matter but nicely done cheers

[@JulianMakes]

Inside The Mind Of Matt thanks mate, I’m good with the shrinkage if it doesn’t affect the function, and it hasn’t, if fact I cast two long ones together wit even hotter metal next and they are functionally perfect but have some bad shrinkage though, but no extra bending. Thanks loads mate!

[@MeltandCast]

Great job mate, I wouldn't worry about a tiny bit of warp or shrinkage... If the sides are flat and the pins line up correctly once its all bolted together it'll work fine. 👍 If I was to guess at the cause of the warp I'd say it's down to the metal being hotter where it enters the mould and cooler on the ends after the metal has passed through the sand. The centre of the flasks have expanded whereas the ends haven't, also indicated by the shrinkage in the centre where the metal was hottest. But I'm only guessing, aluminium's not my thing !!! Either way they look great, cant wait to see the completed flask in action !! Cheers Andy 🍺🍺🍺

[@JulianMakes]

MeltandCast I think you are right, but the way I look at it is the same but different, I see the hot buildup of heat at the center gate area as the last thing to cool and therefore freeze. (Same as what you are saying really!). Also those ribs will def freeze first making an un shrinkable skeleton on the back, then as the still thick hot main plate freezes and shrinks, it can only bend the whole plate as it does so. I’m almost certain that is what’s happening, but I guess a dead flat plate casting with no ribs will show it as true - if it doesn’t bend (although it still might near the hot gate unless a feeder is put in to supply metal as it freezes. Lol! it’s kind of a step too far for me right now (you’ll see why on the next upload) but I’ll def do a flat casting (of the same size) one day to see what happens :) thanks for the advice mate you know your onions, I appreciate it!

[@MeltandCast]

@@JulianMakes That was what I was getting at, sorry I didn't explain myself very well... I think your right about the ribs too. I wouldn't change anything though, I think the slight bow and the shrinkage is more than acceptable, after all the bow is only a mm out of line and the shrinkage is tiny. Honestly mate, these castings are superb, now go cast the other pieces so I can see the finished flask !!! Best wishes Andy 😜😜

[@JulianMakes]

@@MeltandCast i think we are saying the exact same thing, i'm sorry mate, you are spot on!

[@OldIronShops]

Morning mandolin iv used it in many of my videos .

[@RotarySMP]

Nice work. You could move your pouring spout closer to the middle, and not burn the flask each time.

[@JulianMakes]

RotarySMP you are not wrong, but I don’t like to aim too far from the edge! The a8 is tricky to aim when full :)

[@raschellesherwood6347]

It's interesting that feeders only made such a small diffrence. If I dont use feeders my casting tend to crack and always have sinks in my parts. From what I understand an aluminum with a good si content will shrink less. But whatever the case mate great work again

[@JulianMakes]

Raschelle Sherwood thanks rascelle, yeah I agree it should be worse, I think that it’s actually fairly thin helps now (especially if you add the long grooves on the base).

[@mamamheus7751]

I'm in agreement with everyone else, who doesn't like a bit of mandolin? (Especially an ex-musician lol) Rather enjoyed the music actually :) V happy for you that your experiment was such a success. A little bit of shrinkage, especially at the mm level, doesn't appear to be a problem from where I'm sitting, as long as you can attach all 4 sides and they're more or less straight (lengthwise), any minor changes shouldn't cause any problems when they're actually working, should they? I know you're a perfectionist but there are times when "good enough" (or in this case, better than good enough!) really is all you need to aim for. Would perfection actually make the pieces work better? (Assuming that the corners do stick together perfectly - that would be my biggest concern, I think. They appear to!) I must admit that if (before I had discovered you, of course) someone had told me that I would get hooked on a series of some bloke trying to cast the sides of a rectangle, I'd have laughed my head off! But as I was going to bed after midnight, I noticed that you had just uploaded - I got the message about oneish I think. It was late enough for me to wonder what you'd been up to during the day anyway lol - and was annoyed that I was too tired to watch it then. So I'm typing on my tablet at, um, 08:37 having just watched it. I'm still in bed! So you've managed to get me hooked on this series, above and beyond what most channels manage!

[@JulianMakes]

Mam Amheus haha thank you so much for your kind comments!!! You have many talents! I agree with you 100% about the bend I think it’s fine, and I’m good with shrinkage in this case, as long as it doesn’t affect it’s function (so in this case as long as it doesn’t pop through to the other side). I think you’ll enjoy the next one, thanks again mam!

[@mamamheus7751]

@@JulianMakes I was talented, I'm now arthritic. But I get a great deal of pleasure from watching talented people like yourself. I can't wait till the next episode! I don't have many channels on notification (I'm subbed to so many it would get silly) but I am with you :)

[@ChatterontheWire]

You're always so happy when things don't go bad like you think they are going to have gone! Its always fun to watch your excitement! Keep it up man and get these done to the level you want. I wonder if you switched to different aluminum alloy if you'd see less shrinkage over distances too. I really need to put that video together, but I know when I melted down aluminum casings from ammo that I had almost no shrinkage on it compared to some other stuff I've melted having huge shrinkage.

[@JulianMakes]

Chatter on the Wire thanks chatter! Not long now!!!

[@JulianMakes]

oooh i missed the bit bout your ammo, very interesting, yes i bet you are rihgt, i know that my LM25 is pretty good and it's high silicon contnet means its not too bad on shrinkage, but i bet there is better out there. And a lot worse!!! cheers mate o/

[@askquestionstrythings]

Seems like a bend test on the pla model is needed. The question to answer is 'How much deflection does the pla model exhibit from the expected mass of the sand in the flask over the part?' Looks great.

[@JulianMakes]

Ask Questions, Try Things, thanks mate! the pla model came out of the mould dead straight. And while in the mould was surrounded by sand on all sides, so almost incompressible, I don’t think it’s bending. It’s def bending due to heat/shrinkage differences or perhaps the sand is moving after pla model removal (because wile the pla model is in, there is nowhere for the sand to go, it’s all full. But I don’t think it’s that either as the bend is perfect the same on both sides of the flask, on both parts. You don’t know this yet I’m editing it (but I’ve just done two long sides next to each other in the new wooden flask, both sides bent the same tiny amount equally across the mould (ie not more bend in the center due to the sand sagging after pla removal). I really think it’s just plain aluminium bending due to freezing at different rates. I have a new prototype that I printed with even lower ribs that would sway the argument one way or the other, but it appears it doesn’t matter now :) you’ll see why when I hopefully get the next one uploaded, it’s good news lol.

[@crookedriver2079]

Julian, so glad you are making progress on the modular flasks ! I'm looking forward to what you are trying to achieve !! I myself have about 100 lbs of 6061, some of which that im going to turn into your modular flask design. Keep up the good work, you are helping a lot of Makers out there ! Thank you!

[@JulianMakes]

Crooked River oooh thanks and that sounds awesome! Thank you so much.

[@swdweeb]

Nice pour mate. Nice and steady, once you found the basin :-D Sprue stayed nice and full the whole time. Thanks for doing the comparison, very good to know.

[@JulianMakes]

swdweeb cheers mate it was dead useful.

[@JointerMark]

Congratulations! It looks like you have a successful modular pattern! Well done!

[@JulianMakes]

Mark Shymanski thank you so much mark! Omg I can’t wait for to see what I’ve done today... I need to get editing!!!

[@luckygen1001]

Yesterday I knocked out a mold I poured 19 days ago. Making three videos at the same time I forgot all about this mold. My record was 5.5 months, a very hot spring and summer made sure I could not do anything in the shed. When I pour iron molds are knocked out about an hour after pouring. If the iron casting is still glowing when knocked out it will be very hard to machine.

[@JulianMakes]

luckygen1001 wow, ok you win lucky! Ooh Interesting, I need to try a cast iron casting one day. What would you recommend for donor material?

[@luckygen1001]

Sewing machine is as good as any I have used. I see that a good idea was suggested to you: using a pattern instead of digging out the parting line for your molding box sides. I used the same method when I made my molding boxes 20 years ago.

[@GeorgeK356]

Don't know if this has been suggested in later videos Julian, but if you 3D Print some Toblerone shaped prisms to go loosely at the end of the wings they will eliminate the need to scoop out to expose the wing edges. This could also eliminate the problem of sand sticking into the scoops when you pull the cope?Just a thought, keep up the good work.George

[@boydmcree9085]

This is awesome, if I get my foundry going is it ok if I pinch your flask design.

[@JulianMakes]

Of course! I’d love to see the flask too!

[@tobhomott]

Great result! Heh, if it were me the shrink might bother me more than the bend I think, but neither one would stop it from working as a nice flask. I wonder if the bend could be getting caused by that big flask and the sand in it flexing a little bit when you roll it over and move it around? Some of the large flasks I've seen have supports crossing the halves to keep the sides from bowing and to support the sand so it can't warp... If I can dig up a pic of what I mean I'll post it in your forum thread. Can't wait to see 8 sides!

[@JulianMakes]

thanks Tobho! yeah i'm only worried about the bend more becasue i have no experience putting aluminium parts together, i'm hoping with a bend that small it'll all be fine (we'll see!). oh i'll have a look later thanks mate o/

[@jeffcapeshop]

Doesn't look like it will matter, but if it bends at the verticals - do you need those? is it just more volume that cools at a different rate?

[@JulianMakes]

jeffcapeshop you are dead right jeffcapesshop, I only put it in to make a worse case scenario as I wanted to test properly. Because of lack of time, I’ve not cast a complete simple side without the fat verticals yet, I will do after, at the end I think, there are a few things I’d like to do like that, that will complete the experiments off nicely. Cheers :)

[@hemeoncn]

Question for you Julian. Are you loosing sight of what you are making which is a flask out of metal and not wood? Would it really make that much difference if the long side had a slight bend. I would think it wouldn't make that much difference. The imprint in the sand would seem to me to be most important and not the containers that hold the sand. As long as it doesn't burn up is the task. Just wondering if you are loosing sight.

[@JulianMakes]

clarence you are spot on, i have been trying to remove the bend a little obsessively, but i put that down to being nervous about joining aluminiium parts (i've never done it before - so i don't have a good handle on what's 'good enough'), but now i'm ok with what little bend there is. I have also been trying to reduce the bends just as a casting excercise too, and so yes i think you are right :) I do tend to get a little too focused! you'll see in the next day or two, i hope... that progress is made! :)

[@boelwerkr]

Instead of scraping out the 45° ears can't you make some wedges, you can remove when ramming up the other side? this should reduce the risk of mold breaking, as you can make the wedges with nice angles. Some small divots should be enough to locate the wedges when ramming up.

[@JulianMakes]

thats exactly the plan Boelwerkr it's a great idea :) cheers

[@docvencil2222]

Did you ever settle on a pattern for a flask

[@JulianMakes]

Yes! It’s worked well for me. There is the final one I made (there is a video on my channel somewhere!) and there is an updated pattern too but it’s untested by me.

[@docvencil2222]

I think I saw your pattern on Thingiverse. But I didn't know if it was the final version @@JulianMakes

[@blitoris]

Regarding the Mandolin music, not my cup of tea, but didn't detract from the video, it's better than silence. Thumbs up for the use of Galaxy Quest, love that movie.

[@JulianMakes]

Khane Betrayer thanks mate, and omg I agree it’s def one of my favourite movies ever!

[@barthanes1]

That one tune you started playing first is used in every other KZbin video. It has become almost unbearable. Please never use it again.

[@JulianMakes]

oooh which one Ross? can you give me a timestamp? this is quite an old video now so i've probbaly used it 20 times since then! :( getting decent music is such a headache, i used to make my own recordings and even some from old 100yr old classical pieces (so well out of copyright), but i still used to get copyright trolled with them, so now i just use the YT library and since i dont have much time to watch other channels right now i dont see what everyone else is using.