Sample Projects

Band Saw Hand Wheel

This was one of my first projects, and the first successful thing to emerge from my homemade foundry.

My 6-1/2" x 11" band saw is a really nice machine, and I always enjoy a chance to use it. One day while using it I noticed the plastic hand wheel that it came with for tightening and unlocking the vice. It's solid enough but you can feel it flexing a bit whenever tightening something on the saw. It's not a big deal, but I decided it would be a fun project to cast one out of aluminum and machine it.

Originally I made a quick lost-foam mould from white styrofoam. This is the part I'm casting in my first video. It took about 3 minutes to make the mould, using my soldering gun to shape the foam, and it looked pretty bad. After I stuck it in the sand and casted the aluminum, it didn't look much better. Not surprisingly, it emerged warped and uneven, and wasn't usable. It was chopped up on the band saw to be re-melted for another try.

My first attempt at a casting

The second attempt turned out slightly better, as I used the pink insulating styrofoam, which is much denser than the white stuff. I cut the pieces on my dad's woodworking bandsaw and hot-glued them together. This attempt turned out much better, but it still had major voids which left it unusable.

Casting attempt number two (back side view showing voids)

The final attempt inspired me to make a proper hot-wire foam cutter, as I'm always uncomfortable using a vertical wood-working band saw due to safety reasons, and it's really not appropriate for this use. It obviously cuts the foam without any issues, but it leaves a "fuzzy" cut. My hot-wire foam cutter makes working with foam incredibly easy and the safety hazards are virtually gone.

Final mould prepared with hot wire foam cutter

Final casting before machining

Finished hand wheel, machined on the lathe and mounted to the band saw.

Overall the thing I learned most from this project was how important the mould quality is. You simply can't just throw together a bunch of foam and hope to make up for it by machining it later. I'm now experimenting with coatings and other ways of further improving the lost-foam casting process; stay tuned for updates!

Back to the Projects Page

Home