Hot brass casing burn how to#
Hot brass casing burn full#

He was very strict on safety and gave us aprons, face shield, gloves, spats, hardhats. There were a few surface voids in my hammer that I get to keep looking at. He told me that nobody gets sick from a little whiff like that, but if you mess up, you will be reminded of it for a long time. The instructor was yelling at me to breathe and pour and had a pretty good laugh when I expressed concern about fume fever. They got a little overheated and I had not properly choreographed the pour, and I ended up getting a lungful of the fumes. We had a nice dedicated shop area with vent fans, but I used dirty brass from used valves from a repipe job. I once cast a couple of brass hammers in a shop class. I shouldn't have told you what I have, I really don't like encouraging someone to do dangerous things unprepared.īrass does release zinc fumes if overheated. Casting bronze is NOT something to teach yourself it's dangerous if you know what you're doing and WAY dangerous if you don't. I'd recommend taking a college extension class in casting or find a studio that gives lessons.

Hot brass casing burn how to#

Now all you need is parting compound, some basic casting tools, rammer, riddle, sprue punch, gate knife, striker and someone to show you how to make it work. On the hammer halves AND the pattern board. It'll need index pins so the hammer head is lined up correctly. Once it's set, cut the resin casting in half and glue it to opposite sides of the pattern board.

Hot brass casing burn full#

You could saw a hammer head in half OR make a rubber master mold then cast it full of the media of your liking, casting resin works nicely. The real hassle is making the master pattern. Cope and drag halves of the flask and spend days tempering the sand. Were I casting copper hammer heads I'd use a more standard method of ramming up green sand molds. Deoxidizing is important for casting copper especially but doesn't hurt with bronze and it'll keep the sand from sticking. The burning cardboard will deoxidize the pour like a flux. How's this for an easy cheat, cardboard tube on a piece of card stock in a container of fine sand, open at the top and pour it full. Green sand is easy as is investment casting.

Trying to cast brass or bronze into steel will braze it to the mold. And YES, this once it IS a welding Helmet not just a shield. I even offered him the use of my supplied air welding helmet and he passed, says the fumes linger too long for safety. One of the guys in our club is a caster and won't touch brass. The stuff isn't nearly as hazardous as folk think UNLESS you're sensitive to it.Ĭasting brass is something else though, melting brass puts zinc oxide in the air even if it isn't hot enough to burn it off so there are no blue green flames and lacy while sooty smoke to warn you. If you know me you know I frequently speak out about the almost knee jerk panic where zinc oxide is concerned.