Follow my 1967 Dodge Dart Restoration
I am pretty excited about the past weeks happenings. Here is an update:
After completing the bell housings design with CAD, I "cut" the design into sections so that it could be made out of layers of styrofoam. This picture shows one of the sections.
The bell housing will be made out of 9 layers of styrofoam, which will each be cut in half to fit on the CNC milling machine. There for I had to cut 18 pieces of styrofoam. All the pieces will be glued together to form the bell housing.
I then machined every styrofoam piece on the CNC milling machine.
PLEASE take a look at the video clip i attached.
VIDEO
[ame=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XxnnA6BU5o&feature=em-upload_owner]
[/ame]
Here are some pics:
After all 18 pieces of styrofoam were machined, I glued them together 9 layers high. After the glue dried many hours of sanding got the result i wanted. A perfect styrofoam mold for casting:
The styrofoam standing out in the center of the bell housing's mold is were the molted aluminum will be poured into and distribute to all corners of the bell housing.
Note the areas where the starter and clutch fork is located has enclosed bulges to protect these items against outside elements, maximizing its life span. This was one of the more difficult, but one of the more important part of the design to me.
At this point the styrofoam mold was complete and ready for casting. How ever, I still needed a flask to place the mold into to cast. So i ran to Home Depot and got some wood. I constructed i simple box:
Today i placed the styrofoam mold into the wooden flask and packed it with sand. The sand was packed very carefully to ensure a good cast. I made 5 risers around the outer edge of the mold and made a volcano shaped hole in the middle where the molten aluminum will be poured into. The risers act as vents and reservoirs during the casting process.
The furnace was started and a few staffs of aluminum was melted. Aluminum melt at around 1200 Fahrenheit. The aluminum's temperature was measured at 1252 Fahrenheit just before casting it.
I cant wait for tomorrow morning so I can go dig the cast aluminum bell housing out of the sand!!
It will then required some more machining for all the bolt holes and good mating surface areas.
I hope it turns out a success.
Louwtjie
I am pretty excited about the past weeks happenings. Here is an update:
After completing the bell housings design with CAD, I "cut" the design into sections so that it could be made out of layers of styrofoam. This picture shows one of the sections.
The bell housing will be made out of 9 layers of styrofoam, which will each be cut in half to fit on the CNC milling machine. There for I had to cut 18 pieces of styrofoam. All the pieces will be glued together to form the bell housing.
I then machined every styrofoam piece on the CNC milling machine.
PLEASE take a look at the video clip i attached.
VIDEO
[ame=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XxnnA6BU5o&feature=em-upload_owner]
[/ame]Here are some pics:
After all 18 pieces of styrofoam were machined, I glued them together 9 layers high. After the glue dried many hours of sanding got the result i wanted. A perfect styrofoam mold for casting:
The styrofoam standing out in the center of the bell housing's mold is were the molted aluminum will be poured into and distribute to all corners of the bell housing.
Note the areas where the starter and clutch fork is located has enclosed bulges to protect these items against outside elements, maximizing its life span. This was one of the more difficult, but one of the more important part of the design to me.
At this point the styrofoam mold was complete and ready for casting. How ever, I still needed a flask to place the mold into to cast. So i ran to Home Depot and got some wood. I constructed i simple box:
Today i placed the styrofoam mold into the wooden flask and packed it with sand. The sand was packed very carefully to ensure a good cast. I made 5 risers around the outer edge of the mold and made a volcano shaped hole in the middle where the molten aluminum will be poured into. The risers act as vents and reservoirs during the casting process.
The furnace was started and a few staffs of aluminum was melted. Aluminum melt at around 1200 Fahrenheit. The aluminum's temperature was measured at 1252 Fahrenheit just before casting it.
I cant wait for tomorrow morning so I can go dig the cast aluminum bell housing out of the sand!!
It will then required some more machining for all the bolt holes and good mating surface areas.
I hope it turns out a success.
Louwtjie