Blog- Maurice's Blog - Casting Masters - Part Two

RSS Fetcher · June 20, 2014

Firstly, may I thank the seven fellows who added notifications of "craftsmanship" to my previous entry and the two who liked the piece. It is most gratifying that people are so interested in my ramblings.

Having spent the morning chopping out some defective mortar (we had a leak through a cavity wall in last winters storms) on a west facing wall and replacing it using a 'mortar gun' from ScrewFix (there must be a use for this in delivering plaster for scenic work on a model railway) it was not until mid afternoon (too hot for wall work) that I got started on the masters again.

After yesterday's partial failure of the with the first master - the smokebox darts - I have put them on one side and tackled another item to be cast. This one is rather more robust being the brake standard. The handle was made first, again using long stock material to help with holding and aligning the parts. A flat was made on the side of a piece of rod and a hole drilled through for the handle. This piece was then put in the lathe chuck and drill out to take the stem. With the handle in place and the stem pushed into the 'tube' both pieces were soldered together in the same pass of the iron.

Before the pillar was shaped the end was drill to take the handle. Once shaped it was cut off the stock with just enough parallel material to remount it in the chuck and drill the fat end to take a stub that will help locate the finished casting as well as provide the feed during casting. Once this was solder in place the handle was added with the smallest amount of solder.

I suspect I will add another fixed handle to the smokebox dart as the individual dart would be a very small item to cast and will need to have the hole re-drilled. If the monotony of them all being the same gets to be too much, a little bending might take place or a new locking handle made and added after careful removal of the original.

Various parts for the a smoke box side lubricator are already started so that might be the next in the frame to get finished. There are however three types of these ... well two types, but one has left and right-handed versions! Lot of pin heads in that exercise.

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