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  • From: Tvoivozhd <tvoivozd AT infionline.net>
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Homestead] Home business, backyard foundry
  • Date: Thu, 26 Aug 2004 10:15:48 -0700

A home manufacturing business should exploit niche markets in which few others compete. Among these niche markets is cast iron products---for several reasons---scrap iron is a lot cheaper than aluminum and laying around everywhere for the cost of picking it up. A melting cupola for cast iron does not depend on gas or oil as a fuel---coke is common, but homemade charcoal will do just fine.
You aren't going to injection mold molten cast iron---like most aluminum products the molten iron will be poured in a two-piece mold (cope and drag) filled with green sand, whose cavity is formed by a pattern of the product, commonly but not necessarily made of tight-grained wood. An even easier process is the lost-wax method, in which a wax (or plastic foam) pattern is imbedded in sand, and the incoming molten metal burns out the pattern, leaving a precise duplicate of the pattern. There's also stuff like shell moldings, which you aren't going to use initially in any event.

http://www.rockisland.com/~marshall/foundry.html (Stewart Marshall website and book)

http://www.compusmart.ab.ca/rmcbeath/books/books.htm (Lindsay Publications is an excellent source of how-to-do-it books, particularly the Gingery series.)

http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:GBw-dOjCD7oJ:www.lautard.com/Foundry.Html+home+cupola+foundry&hl=en (Chastain book, another good one on cupolas and their use, suggested products)

http://www.oldhouseweb.com/cgi-bin/davesamazon/products_feed.cgi?input_item=0970220308&input_search_type=AsinSearch (more detailed explanation of Chastain book and his more complex cupola)

http://www.bowmanvillefoundry.com/home.html (unlikely you will use induction melting, or produce ductile cast iron in spite of its superior characteristics, but you might as well know about it)

http://www.camdenmin.co.uk/FoundryPractice.pdf (list of cupola furnace and related books)

http://home.iprimus.com.au/cmckeown/foundry.htm (fine website detailing an Aussie experience---especially on making tempered sand---you can buy it or make it, but it is pretty expensive to buy small quantities.)

http://metalprojects.no-ip.com/metal.html (charts, data, forums for reference)

http://www.backyardmetalcasting.com/links.html (fine, long list of metal casting URL's, a must-read for anyone thinking about a home business.)

http://www.emmitsburg.net/archive_list/articles/places_articles/business/fraley_foundry.htm (history of cupola operation as it once was, an adjunct to a blacksmith shop)

http://www.herculesengines.com/Foundry/ (pictures of the non-ferrous foundry if you want to cast aluminum)

http://www.tri-mer.com/foundries.html (no one is going to bother a small, non-conspicuous backyard foundry making products for craft shows and flea markets---but if you scale it up, there are a lot of EPA requirements for controlling emissions and waste disposal)





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