Its been almost three months since I have been able to tackle the re casting of the lid due to my poor method of mixing the lid. I used a trowel and never really got any interchange between the Perlite and the fire cement. It was only after learning that the best methodology is to use your hands like a really big cake mix!
I used two pairs of disposable gloves (one on top of the other) when handling the mixture and had the bucket and lid at a comfortable working height. In the end I had just enough materials to cast the lid and also included a plug formed by an old Pot Noodle pot. Just need to have it set off now for a few days.
Suitably recharged I thought I should tackle the hinge for the lid. I decided to use a couple of scrap bits of steel from the scrap box. The outer tube is from a handle that was 'saved' from somewhere..... I thought I would mill a slot that would require the lid to be raised, before revolving the lid outward and then dropping into a holding slot slightly higher than the closed postion.
The inside bar then had a 6mm metric thread tapped into it so a grub screw could be inserted and act as the pin (see photo's below). The outside tube will be welded to the steel casing of the furnace. The lid part of the tube will be cut later and the bar then welded to the top part.
The lid can then be lowered into the base part welded to the main casing and the grub screw then inserted allowing the hinge to operate. We shall see......
The remaining tasks are now as follows.
1 Weld the hinge to the lid and base.
2 Make the fitting to attach the burner to the furnace
3 Make a stand for the crucible to stand on inside the furnace.
4 Make up the sand boxes to hold the casting sand.
Then fire up the furnace and see what happens! It shouldn't be too long before that happens and certainly within the next fortnight I would hope.
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First pour of the mixture for the lid
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Now we need to wait for it to set….a few days!
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Milling the slot for the hinge
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Cleaning up the slot for the pin to traverse
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Using a grub screw which will allow assembly
About Mike Freeman
Hello, my name is Mike Freeman and I am a retired Chief Fire Officer from the United Kingdom with a keen interest in model engineering, silver caddy spoons and sea fishing. I live in the pretty fishing port of Brixham, South Devon, in the United Kingdom.
I am a sufferer of degenerative osteoarthritis, which impacts on the amount of time I can spend in the workshop, and is the reason why you will see seats and a stool in some of the photo's. I have only recently added the above sentence after a discussion with one of my Doctor's from the excellent pain clinic, based in Torbay. This does affect concentration one of the reasons why I double then re-double my measurements and set ups.
Before completing nearly 30 years of public service I and my wife Sandy, owned and ran, a small restaurant in Okehampton Devon. Prior to marriage I worked for my father in his various businesses, in the early days these were garages, which he bought in a run down state, then built them up before moving on, to start again.
I took every opportunity in those early days, to work in his workshop's
learning 'on the job' rather than as an apprentice. This, I suspect, is the reason why my building various model's in the early days, turned into model engineering, when funds allowed the required equipment to be bought.
My workshop comprises one half of a detached double garage. It has a
stud wall separating the two halves and unusually perhaps, its own
shower/toilet/washbasin compartment! (the true reason for buying the
bungalow - don't tell the wife!!!)
It is fully insulated with a ceiling and fluorescent lighting supplementing the one window. Several double electrical sockets are dotted around in
relevant positions.
Equipment consists of 2 lathes (1 Myford ML 10 and 1 Chinese variable
speed motor with etched glass DRO's), 1 milling machine (RF25 far East) floor standing pillar drill, Proxxon bandsaw, Warco bandsaw, 6" wire brush and polishing mop motor, 6" coarse and fine grinder, Proxxon mini drill, various benches and an engineers vice. I have just acquired a third lathe, a Myford ML7 which I am at present evaluating so I can decide which of the Myford's I will keep.
I have only just bought the Chinese lathe and had it fitted with DRO's prior to delivery. And what a bonus they are! So good in fact that I decided to buy another set for the Milling machine. Whilst my engineering experience can only be described as limited, I find the use of DRO's has affected my accuracy levels which have improved tremendously (although that's not saying much!) and would recommend their fitting to any model engineer.
Prior to retirement I built for my son's 17th birthday a Locost car. This
was a tremendous project and a great feeling when it passed its test. The book it was based on suggests it can be built for £250. Ours was nothing special in the sense of all new parts but still cost about £900 to build!
