casting small parts at home

[vhgmcbuddy]

As I reported here, I bought a BMB Cultmate with the BSA engine, fitted with the AMAL 124 carb, as you can see it had a home made top, that consisted of a bit of rubber hose and an insert clamped to the top of the carb,bowl. I thought i would try to replicate the original top, but not having any Zinc handy I decided to cast a lump big enough out of aluminium so that I could machine it and thread it in the lathe. I used a mixture of sand and clay, and used an old Tate & Lyle syrup tin as the mould box, you can see the RED wooden pattern I made, I melted the alloy using a Blow torch, it is worth using bricks to surround the container to concentrate the heat, the finished article fits fine, it is a bit thick in the lid, but I did not have enough “Good Metal” to grip in the chuck, by the way, the knurling was done with a thread file, I do have a proper knurling wheel, but did not want to risk breaking something made from aluminium. Small home castings are a good way to produce small parts in Zinc , Aluminium and brass, anyway what else are you going to do on a wet weekend?

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[vhgmcbuddy]

Weekend well spent, where there’s a will there’s a way. Well done.

[vhgmcbuddy]

PURE genious and ENGINEER great fabrication Philip.

[vhgmcbuddy]

Thanks John, You have to keep practicing dont you? otherwise you forget how to do it! anyway it,s a bit of fun when its too wet to go and work on the allotment, and too wet to get the machines out!

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