Searching for Moulding material :(

[Ali76J]

Hi All,

I am new and this is my first post :)

Firstly I was thinking it is going to be very straightforward but it seems not :(

I want to cast Zamak and Aluminium at home using my 3D printed pattern(But not investment casting).

I was so excited as I was thinking have passed the hardest part of it but apparently the hardest part is to find the moulding materials!

My intention is to have the best possible details out of my casting and at the same time the quickest way of moulding.

I jumped on the net to find a kind of casting kit for hobby and something like that but it was not successful.

Anyway, I live in Melbourne (Boronia) if you can help me with this I really appreciate it.

If anybody lives around I am happy to buy a kilogram of reusable moulding material (I really don't need more at this stage).

Also another challenge is to find small amount of Zamak 2 :(
Any thoughts on this?

Cheers

Ali

[Ueee]

Hi Ali and Welcome,
The zamak may be best sort from a wreckers, lots of old chromed parts were zamak.

As for the molding, you either need to go with green sand or oil bonded sand. Green sand you can make with sand, bentonite clay powder and water. The finer the sand the better the detail.
You can buy petrobond from here http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/slacks-creek/miscellaneous-goods/petrobond-not-kbond-foundry-molding-sand-for-making-castings/1052021045 E-go will charge you about $15-20 to get the bucket to you i'd imagine.

Cheers,
Ew

[Ali76J]

Hi Ali and Welcome,
The zamak may be best sort from a wreckers, lots of old chromed parts were zamak.

As for the molding, you either need to go with green sand or oil bonded sand. Green sand you can make with sand, bentonite clay powder and water. The finer the sand the better the detail.
You can buy petrobond from here http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/slacks-creek/miscellaneous-goods/petrobond-not-kbond-foundry-molding-sand-for-making-castings/1052021045 E-go will charge you about $15-20 to get the bucket to you i'd imagine.

Cheers,
Ew

Many thanks for your quick reply,

That Gumtree was sold :(
Maybe naive but where can I buy good quality sand (Fine) and bentonite clay powder? I've searched for these and the answer is pottery shops or foundry supplies however I cannot find them with a website to buy from. I need small amount maybe this is the problem.
Can you (or somebody else) give me the address where to go and buy these items?

I found some addresses here on this forum gave them a call but they didn't answer or they were too far from me. Dandenong area possibly is the closest area to me.

Thanks in advance

Ali

[clear out]

[QUOTE=Ueee;1821838]Hi Ali and Welcome,
The zamak may be best sort from a wreckers, lots of old chromed parts were zamak.

Hi Ali and good luck with your project. Interesting to see the how the new technology integrates with actually producing something in the real world in a low tech workshop situation.
I have friends who have used a 3d printed master for a making a prototype and then a pattern and had about 3 goes at getting it right.

Ueee, that gumtree ad has now disappeared do you have a contact address?
I wonder if the zamak from old car parts would be reusable?
Al may be a better option.
Kirksite was something used way back but although very low temperature melt was only good for patterns not end products as I remember. I have a pattern for a spokeshave body in it, you can bend the handles on to suit your knuckle clearance preferences.
H.

[Ueee]

Sorry about the ad.
His name is Ian Hawkins, If you want his email PM me, i don't want to publish it here and get him a pile of spam.....

I'm not sure where or how he got it but he has a heap of petrobond, maybe he bought out Toowoomba foundries supply when they closed?

Cheers,
Ewan

[steamingbill]

My wife got fine sand from nurseries and bunnings and gardening suppliers for making various propagating mixtures.

I got some more fine sand for her by getting a shovel and cleaning out the drains on the side of a steep dirt road and then running it through appropriate sieve - you might be able to do similar or maybe get some if you live near a beach or a creek ?

Building suppliers - I think they might call it paving sand ? Local quarries ?

Does the sand have to be predominantly quartz (silica SiO2) for your purposes or are you simply after some fine grained material i.e. doesnt matter what it is ?

Bill