Metalworking Thread (aka Haus indulging his inner mountain dwarf)

I wanted to post this here becuase it doesn't really fit in the 3d printing thread.. This started off over in the 3d printing thread because I use 3d printing to make forms that I then use in my less technological (but far more satisfying) hobby, which is metalcrafting. I melt metals down and cast things.

In this case I showed the 3d printed form for a eagle head inspired head for a maul. Because I want to hit things with a hammer. ("I want to start a little war, isn't that what this little red button here is for?" For those who might get the reference)

So... I 3d printed either side of a hammerhead/maul head :


Next, I took them and gave them multiple coats of a auto body primer (with filler material) because I wanted to remove the layer lines from the 3d printer....

Now I assembled them and sanded it down to smooth the whole thing as much as I could.... You might notice that post running "through" it, that's for what is called a "core" and causes the end product to have a hole through it. (in this case for a handle/shaft). So next, making the mold... Sand plus Sodium Silicate. Packed into a 3d printed mold. Then put in a ziploc baggie and filled with CO2 to cause the Sodium SIlicate to catalyze, and become Silicon DIoxide (sand). It's making artificial sandstone.

Then sit that outside for an hour in the June Texas heat and you get....

Now for the fun of sandcasting. First a Flask, which is the frame for the mold :

Put in the bottom half of the form. (I also coated the form with a couple coats of high gloss spraypaint after sanding to make it as glossy smooth as possible).

Now to pack it with sand. I use what's called "Petrobond" It's sand, plus powdered clay, plus a oil mixture to make it soft and hold shape well.

Pack it with the sand, and flip it over.....And I have to go to the next entry since I can only attach 8 pics...

Now, packed with sand...

The holes are for pegs to line up the two halfs. The other side has the pegs in it... I attach that and put on the top of the mold and repeat the procedure... I add a cylinder to form what's called a sprue, or basically a hole into which I will pour metal..

Now pack that with sand as well....lift the parts apart and you have this... The hole on the left one goes all the way through the sand..... Then you carve paths between the pouring sprue and the form

Now to remove the forms. Put a couple screws in and this is easy. And put in that core I made...The metal will go around the core... Assemble the two sides and put a can with a path on top to be a taller input tube.

Sorry for no pics of me pouring the metal... But that KINDA takes both hands... Poured metal....

Now I let it sit to cool for around an hour....

Now it's time to see if this was a complete failure... So with a pair of pliers I pull out the metal.

That core is now hyper brittle sandstone... a couple pokes with a screwdriver and...

Now to start post processing with a sawzall and a grinder...

Give it a once over with the wire brush wheel, and we test the handle fitment....

Take it off the handle, now it gets 48 hours in the vibratory polisher to see if that shines her up better... .

Soygen said:

Came out really well for a first draft! Where did you get the flask/mold frame that you're using? I've done some stuff with the petrabond, but I made a not very good wooden frame that probably ain't gonna hold up to much repeated work.

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I have a lot of wooden homemade frames/flasks. And yeah, I'm rough on them and slight overspills start burning them. I have seen a thing to semi fire proof them though. Getting that Sodium Silicate in like a 40% solution, then soaking the wood frames in it. Then you sit it out for a day to catalyze it.

That metal one was.. lemme go look.... eBay, part of a two flask set

This was my inaugural run with it and I couldn't be happier with how it did. Great having handles, great having bolts to secure the sides to one another. $100 and change well spent.

As for the casting itself, I had some pitting on the bottom side of the cast, which I attribute to me not noticing some small chunks of petrobond which might have fallen into things. Also the halves didn't align absolutely perfectly so I had a flash line around the median of the form. Tomorrow I'm going to cast the 'cap' for it, which would be the wedge/crown piece that goes into the top to spread the wood of the handle and hold it in play. I'm going to do that in Brass as an accent piece. Also once I have all that together I think I might stain the handle and/or do a leather wrap for fanciness. Mark II will probably be brass, but I will have to go by the range where I can buy brass cheap by the pound (spent casings) and reload some.

This is me trying to get into larger and more complicated casting. I also have a lot of little trinket graphite coin molds (two sided and open back), and have used my resin printer to print a lot of coins and stuff I

After this will be me attempting a poor man's version of lost PLA casting.

Some pics of my other silly distraction casting....
Aluminum open sided molds, and my first attempt at lost PLA on top.

Various, mostly sand casted, but some 2 sided graphite molded, coins...

One sided (open back) castings in aluminum, brass, and copper.

Crappy pic of my small amount of bronze I've done :

Some zinc crosses and coins... (I like Zinc more than Aluminum as it polishes up better, is heavier, and has a much lower melting temp)

last but not least, the most functional casting I've done to date. The belt buckle I wear just about every day :

TBT-TheBigToe said:

That’s awesome as fuck, my dude. Seriously cool.

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Yeah, I picked this up during covid as something to get me away from my computer and the WFH hell of post Covid life. Was doing a deep 3d printing youtube rabbit hole one night which led me to a video on "lost PLA casting".... Which led me to "how to build your own home melting furnace"... Which inevitably led me to.. Bigstackd.

His latest video.. Big copper scrapping melt.


Since I have focused on finding as much of what I melt as I can, and buying some places like shooting ranges. My wife is none too happy that I will stop and grab ANY old celing fans anybody puts out for big trash pickup (Around 1-2 pounds of copper in each, plus zinc.)

Control said:

So I'm not sayin you should start a youtube channel where you build custom hammers and then smash the fuck out of random stuff with them...
No, wait! That's exactly what I'm saying!

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I will admit if this works my next will be the obvious (A comic accurate Mijolnir), and then after that a comic accurate Stormbreaker (aka Beta Ray Bill's hammer)