Thread: Melbourne Foundry Suppliers

heres a site I stumbled across...dont know whats in it but noted links to Nikel Plating Kits etc etc

What site would that be eskimo?

Originally Posted by Stustoys

What site would that be eskimo?

hahaha

Now I have to see if I can find it again...hahahahahahahaha

I have no idea...hahaha....it looked good tho......

Originally Posted by RayG

If you only plan on doing a few castings every so often then I would recommend you get some petrobond, it's expensive, but worth every penny in terms of quality of casting and it's mostly re-usable.
Ray

Hmmm, it seems I lost track of this thread. I realise it is a bit old now but I am still in the same position as when I originally posted. petrobond would be great but...

where on earth can you get it?

Hi Gary,

CMS (Cast Metal Services) Since the original post they have Changed their name to Arnott and Guy Foundry Supplies, still at the same address... same phone number
20 Marni Street
Dandenong South 3175
Telephone 03 9706 6440

Petrobond in 25 Kg pails $4.45 per Kg

Try giving them a call and see who the distributor is in Sydney.

Regards
Ray

Cheers Ray, will do, although I suspect unless there is a local distributer shipping will be a killer.

Greetings Chaps Ah the joys of playing with hot metal. I agree with Ray that Petrobond is the way to go. The chemically bonded sands have to be mixed properly to be effective. I used a chemical sand for some work and this was set off by using CO2 gas. This method is OK if you have a muller. I doubt if you could use green sand effectively without one. For those who don't know about a muller it is basically two large heavy rollers in an open tub. They revolve but do not touch the bottom of the tub. They squeeze the sand and break up the lumps from the dried sand. when this is done a sprinkling of bentonite is added. this is allowed to mix. The theroy is that each grain of sand is coated. after a few minutes water is added. No more than three percent. If it is too wet steam will cause an eruption. To test moisture get a small amount of sand in your hand and squeeze. Open hand and the amount of sand sticking will indicate if it is too wet. trial and error. Noise I ran a Kao Wool furnace in a back yard in Richmond. This is inner city. The draft was supplied by a Sadie Vac no complaints from the bodies around. Aluminum gives off little or no smell. The preparation of the green sand eventually drove me to a full working Non Ferocious Foundry. I used to take three drums about 35 gallons into the RMIT Foundry school and mull them there. I spent 13 years as a student at RMIT and worked there as a patternmaker and moulder.
Lastly It is fun to play in the sand pit we are all children at heart.
Best of British if you need help don't be afraid to ask 4-6-4

I have done a little casting in a previous life with home made green sand. I was given some Bentonite samples for free. I used clean beach sand and mixed it all up by hand. Reusing it was not too bad. Mix in the sand from the casting and then add a little water until it works. I never had any smoke with plain green sand. A little steam once when the sand was too wet.

I had lots of smoke when I did lost foam casting.

I have never played with Petrobond or resin so I cannot comment on how that will work or the amount of smoke generated.

One time I did have a lot of smoke when I poured molten aluminium on the wooden flask.

It is such a fascinating and useful hobby. It is just so infuriating that it is so hard to find (at an affordable price) the basic supplies required, e.g.

1. green sand
2. bentonite (to make own green sand)
3. Petrobond
4. fireclay or other refractory (with which to make a gas furnace)
5.Sodium Silicate
6. CO2

I have thus far been able to build a rudimentary electric furnace using old heater elements and Hebel blocks from Bunnings. Using a thermocouple attached to my multimeter I can bring it up to 800C fairly easily. I have had a modicum of success with some basic lost foam castings using playground sand. Alas, unless I can find a source for some or all of the above items that appears to be as far as I can go.

Hi Gary,

Couldn't agree more, the difficulty in finding suppliers for this stuff, was the main reason for starting this thread, all the suppliers I found are listed in the very first post, but that's for Melbourne, not Sydney.

Just curious, why do you want sand and bentonite? If you have petrobond, you don't need to make green sand. As 4-6-4 mentioned, to get into using green sand you probably want to think about getting a muller..

Did you contact CMS ( Arnott and Guy ) yet?

Regards
Ray

Originally Posted by RayG

not Sydney.

Yes of course, I always assume if I can't get it in Sydney that you can't get it anywhere in Oz but that is obviously not always the case, in fact I'm beginiing to think it's the reverse.

Originally Posted by RayG

Just curious, why do you want sand and bentonite? If you have petrobond, you don't need to make green sand.

Well just as an alternative if I can't obtain Petrobond, even then, I would expect it to be a more economical proposition.

Originally Posted by RayG

As 4-6-4 mentioned, to get into using green sand you probably want to think about getting a muller..

Well I think they are generally too expensive to buy, but it may be feasible to build one.

Originally Posted by RayG

Did you contact CMS ( Arnott and Guy ) yet?

Well I rang them but all I get is the answering machine with a message that doesn't even identify them (as Arnott and Guy) - are you sure they are still in business?

BTW I received a list of suppliers from Col Croucher of MyHomeFoundry.com - alas when I contact them I either get no reply, little help, or the quantities involved are just not viable. It's rather disheartening really.

Edit: I should probably take the CO2 off the list because I have found it available through home brewing suppliers, presuming that is satisfactory.

Hi Gary,

Try Cast Metal Services Pty Ltd Refractories - Northgate, QLD

275 Toombul Rd, Northgate QLD 4013, Australia
(07) 3266 6266




Instead of Hebel bricks have you considered using the isolite bricks... much lower thermal conductivity. I used them in the heat treatment furnace.
http://www.woodworkforums.com/f65/he...uction-137007/


Building a muller would be a good project.

Regards
Ray

I was just wondering if anybody has any idea on where I can get Bentone 34 (not Bentonite) I wish to make the K-bond oil sand mixture as per :

K-Bond - Oil Bonded Casting Sand

I have all the other ingredients, but cannot find the Bentone 34. I have a friend that used it in the past (10yrs ago) and only recently had a look at his work and the results leave my greensand for dead, you can see the detail achievable on the link I posted.

On that Web page he specifically states not to use Bentonite, a real shame as I have two bags full from my greensand mixing days.

It seems that Bentone is derived from Bentonite but is chemically different.

I will try the suppliers listed earlier in this thread next week but thought somebody here may have an idea of where to get the stuff.

Cheers.

Russell.

Bentonite 34 is used in the paint industry as a general ant-settling agent.

Perhaps pop in to your local paint manufacturer and offer to swap some for liquid refreshments?

Thanks Fred, I will look that up, the daughters boyfriend happens to work in the paint division of a hardware shop, might be time to call in a favor

Russell.