Bronze foundry tour

[Double D]

One of the things that we did when Colin the  Cannonmiester  of SAMCC visited earlier this month was to tour the Cal-e-co Gallery in Cody, WY.

A friend who comes up to Montana every May to shoot gophers is related to the folks at the gallery.  He told me that they were interested in expanding from art and hardware to cannons.  He suggested I get on contact with them.  So I did.  My friend is having a cannon cast by these folks.

Here are the photos of the tour.

My friends cannon that is being copied and cast in bronze.




























One of the things I talked to them about is what cannons they might be interested in producing.  I suggested a they might consider doing a group buy group pour for us.

I have been talking with Gary about this and he has some definite ideas.  I am listening to and we are working a first test piece.  To keep price and size down, the first piece will be  golf ball mortar exact scaled down from the 24 Pdr Federal Coehorn.

I will be putting some polls up on the subject to the feel you guys out on some issues with making these.  This is not a done deal, but has a potential to to happen.

[Zulu]

Douglas,
Neat idea!
Will they again use an existing barrel to make their moulds?
Zulu

[Zulu]

Years ago, when I first got into the hobby, I had immediate access to an aluminun foundry where I worked.  I gave them a wooden six pounder and they used it to sand cast three barrels for me.  They were never intended to fire but they looked cool. 
Two are unbored and one is bored 3" deep with the hole off center.
They are 15 1/2" long, 2 1/2" diameter at the breech and 2" diameter at the muzzle.
It was my only attempt at casting and my employees did all the work.
Here are a couple of pics of the barrels.
Because they are unbored, they are muzzle heavy so they don't display well on a carriage.  They have been laying around in the backyard for years.
Zulu



 

[Double D]

They will cast what ever you want.  Contact them and see what they might do for you.

The test- group buy project will be a golf ball coehorn.

[Zulu]

Someone help me with this question.
The bronze casters above used an iron barrel to make two half moulds. 
The wooden six pounder I made was used to make two, half moulds for sand casting an aluminum barrel.
If I wanted to make a wooden model to be used to make a mould, could it be used as the two examples above or would it have to be cut in half lengthwise?  Or would it work both ways?  Obviously, it worked on the bronze gun above without cutting the barrel in half.
Zulu

[GGaskill]

In making sand moulds, it is easier if the pattern is made in two pieces (which is not really difficult if you start with two pieces that are screwed together.)  When filling the first half, you can lay the half pattern on the moulding board and ram the cope or drag, then turn that over and lay the second half of the pattern on top of the first half (the pieces should be indexed together) and ram the other half of the mould.

A one piece pattern makes ramming more difficult but not impossible.  But if you are making a new pattern, there is really no excuse for not making it in two pieces.

[Double D]

The foundry made a two piece mould from the iron gun. They used the mould to make the wax form which is ceramic coated to make the mould that the bronze is pour in.

This factory does not work in sand.

[dan610324]

ceramic is good , but real investment is better
it doesnt need sandblasting to clear the casting from mold residues ,
just dip it in water and it will disolve by itself
but its the most expensive method to do lost wax castings
and of course the best if you do small details
used by jewelry companies mostly