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.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://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://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)
[Homestead] Home business, backyard foundry,
Tvoivozhd, 08/26/2004