[SEL] Pouring castings at the Tod Engine Works Class.

[Curt]

Well folks I'm here to tell you that a trip to the Tod Engine Works is a 
fun and educational day! Wednesday after work I departed for Ohio and 
got about 7 hours of the 10 hour drive done. Found a local State Park 
about mid way up in Ohio and slept in the bed of the truck under the 
stars. Great sleeping weather there as the air is still dry and brisk 
this far north. Was up early and arrived at Rick's place at 11:00.
Got the grand tour of the neat 100 year old building and looked at his 
mullers, furnace, MG set, ramming lines, and pattern storage area.
We began the day by mixing no bake core mold sand in the small muller 
and filling all the coreboxes. These were set in the sun to expedite the 
curing. After a couple of hours they were dropped out of the coreboxes 
and another batch of core sand was mixed and the coreboxes filled again 
for the other halves.
Then we mulled green sand and rammed several patterns.
Pig ingots were loaded in the furnace and a heat was begun. 3/4 of the 
way into the heat, a rubber fitting failed on the water cooling system 
and a major leak was underway. We nursed the furnace back to safe 
temperatures, and took the heat exchanger out of the loop for repair. A 
trip to Lowes and we got the necessary copper fittings to make the more 
permanent cooling loop. A few hours later and this was complete and we 
were ready to heat again. But hunger pains were stronger than the drive 
to pour, so Rick's (very supportive) wife joined us for dinner at a 
local steak place. We were now properly fueled for the long evening ahead.
It takes about 2 hours to heat a cold furnace and contents to be ready 
for pouring. So about 11:00 the first mold was poured. This was the 
large Alamo piston and it took all we had melted to fill it, roughly 50 
pounds.
The second heat took about 45 minutes, and we poured the double 1 1/2 HP 
Hercules pistons, and a single 3HP Hercules piston. We were done at 
about 1:00 in the a.m. and we were beat. Whew I'm not used to those late 
hours anymore!
We agreed to meet the next morning at 9:00 and we broke the castings out 
of the flasks. The risers and gating were broken or cut off the castings 
and they were ready.
Unfortunately Missy needed the digital camera for a scouting trip so I 
was unable to take any pictures, so this tale will have to suffice.
But if you are up for a fun day in the foundry you should all consider 
signing up for Rick's Foundry class before he gets so busy that he will 
no longer have time for these classes. The proceeds all help him with 
getting the foundry into full production and with the reassembly of the 
Tod Engine.

I was back home Friday evening and on Saturday began machining on the 
Alamo piston. I'll post a picture of it when it's done.
Curt Holland
Gastonia, NC