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Holy crap lost foam casting is awesome

Originally posted by: Slacker
O RLY 😵
Click to expand...

quickly what ive learned.

pour molten steel/aluminum etc into the styrene that is set inside sand, and the styrene disappears as the mmolten steel hits it.

hence "lost foam"
 
Originally posted by: MIKEMIKE
Originally posted by: Slacker
O RLY 😵
Click to expand...

quickly what ive learned.

pour molten steel/aluminum etc into the styrene that is set inside sand, and the styrene disappears as the mmolten steel hits it.

hence "lost foam"
Click to expand...

that's pretty effin cool
 
Originally posted by: johngute
so how does traditional casting work?
Click to expand...

With Iron, molds are made from sand. Once the molten iron poured into them cools, you break it out of the sand and you grind down any imprefections (usually from the ventholes and at seams in the mold) and paint it.

With aluminum, it's similar, but a layer of plastic is vaccu-formed over the inside of the mold before both sides are assembled... I forget why they do this... but once poured, same thing, imperfections are grinded down, but aluminum usually doesn't need painted.
 
Originally posted by: Injury
Originally posted by: johngute
so how does traditional casting work?
Click to expand...

With Iron, molds are made from sand. Once the molten iron poured into them cools, you break it out of the sand and you grind down any imprefections (usually from the ventholes and at seams in the mold) and paint it.

With aluminum, it's similar, but a layer of plastic is vaccu-formed over the inside of the mold before both sides are assembled... I forget why they do this... but once poured, same thing, imperfections are grinded down, but aluminum usually doesn't need painted.
Click to expand...

thats one thing that Lost Foam mostly eliminates, the imperfections
 
This is basically the "lost wax" pattern that jewlers have been doing for hundreds of years. Create what you want to make (ie a ring) with wax, invest (make a mold of it) it with something that won't melt, heat it so the wax (in this case foam) melts out (because you put a spruce to access the mold) then fill it with molten metal (or gold to make your ring!). Break the investment (the mold) and BAM. Theres a duplicate of what you built with the wax but now made of gold. This is EXACTLY how a dental lab tech makes gold crowns and bridges too. That's cool to see it done on such a large scale like an engine.
 
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