




The first casting was perfect my plan was to drill the bolt hole after the casting. The front handle drilling was accurate but on the back handle I drilled the wrong angle for the bolt to fit correctly. I experimented with different core types I didn't want to make the traditional sand core. The second and third casting of the core failed but on the forth casting I decided to use a 9mm diameter metal tube, 1.5mm thick and 6mm inner core diameter. I heated the metal tube before placing it in the flask and pouring the molten aluminum. This casting was successful.





Before I made the sand mould I reconstructed the broken end of the back handle. I used a filler and varnish to prevent the sand sticking to the pattern. I also used my foundry casting green sand and it proved again to be very suitable for this type of castings. I left a wide gating system and sprue/riser well and that prevented any casting defects. After the casting was ready I cut off the sprue and riser and drilled the bolt holes.





In the next set of images you can see the unsuccessful handle castings back in the crucible for another remelting session. After the bolt holes where done I used my buffing wheel and polished the new aluminum handles.




In the next images you can see the jack plane with the new front and back aluminum handles ready for use.




27/03/2012
Today I was making a new pattern using my jack plane with the new aluminum handles first time. works great ;-)
