Castings in FRC

[DonRotolo]

Originally Posted by Ian Curtis

I realize the average school is probably not okay with setting up a foundry in the machine shop, just wondering if someone had done it...

Heh. When I went to school, we HAD a foundry in the machine shop. (Of course, that was back in the stone age, so we didn't have metals yet...) Casting metal or plastics is really not difficult and can deliver parts nearly impossible any other way. But, one can design around that if necessary. Go to www.smooth-on.com to see some cool moldmaking and casting supplies

[Richard Wallace]

3620 did a simple casting for this.

Very nice when applied to our elevator.

[DampRobot]

Originally Posted by Richard

3620 did a simple casting for this.

Very nice when applied to our elevator.

Interesting. Considering 118's cast wheels, I wonder if any teams have tried casting their wheels around a hex shaft.

[tsaksa]

Originally Posted by DonRotolo

Heh. When I went to school, we HAD a foundry in the machine shop. (Of course, that was back in the stone age, so we didn't have metals yet...) Casting metal or plastics is really not difficult and can deliver parts nearly impossible any other way. But, one can design around that if necessary. Go to www.smooth-on.com to see some cool moldmaking and casting supplies

It is true that casting aluminum or other non-ferrous metals in a small shop does not require a lot of complex and expensive equipment, and can be carried out safely at a hobby level. However it does carry dangers that may not be well understood by the novice and it would be best to carefully consider the risks and consult and seek guidance from someone with experience before taking on any casting project. Such capabilities have been absent from many of our schools for some time and the experience needed to perform them safely may have also disappeared. You would be surprised how many people think it is OK to pour a casting over a concrete floor, and do not realize that trapped water in the concrete will cause it to explode if a spill occurs.

Still, I have often thought that casting has great potential for a small underfunded team. If you do not have access to very much machining capability, casting allows you to undertake the production of complex parts that rival those produced by teams who have access to CNC. Also, the raw materials can often be scavenged for little or no investment. It is true that these days AndyMark does have a solution for almost everything. But many teams cannot afford much more than the basic kit of parts. The ability to cast your own wheel blanks or other parts could be a real boon for some modestly funded teams particularly in smaller towns and rural areas without much local manufacturing or commercial support.

Again metal casting needs to be taken seriously, but I think casting may have been an under utilized manufacturing technique within FIRST. This thread has renewed my consideration of casing, and it will be something our team may want to discuss with our local shop teacher. But I know that I personally do not really have the knowledge or experience to supervise such activities right now, so we will really need to do our homework if we plan to undertake something like this.

[Jon Stratis]

If you want to see some cool applications of casting, ask for a tour at a company that makes jet turbines! I was fortunate enough to get tours through two of them when I was in school, and it's pretty amazing the different methods they use to cast parts out of steel to withstand the insanely high temperature inside a turbine.

[JamesBrown]

Interesting, there is a guy on there who has a furnace that burns waste oil, it appears to be made out of a keg (undoubtedly lined with some sort of ceramic) and an old vaccum cleaner. Pretty cool.

[HumblePie]

In 2011, we overmolded performance wheels with a urethane tread. Performed well, but we've also had good luck with the Hi-Grip wheel that came out in 2012. Here's some pics of our setup..

https://plus.google.com/photos/10248...CK2p1N3ssbWSRQ

[tsaksa]

Originally Posted by JamesBrown

Interesting, there is a guy on there who has a furnace that burns waste oil, it appears to be made out of a keg (undoubtedly lined with some sort of ceramic) and an old vaccum cleaner. Pretty cool.

A friend of mine has built one of these waste oil furnaces. It gets hot enough to cast iron, (which he has done). There are only a few hobbyists who ever attempt casting iron. This is an order of magnitude more difficult and dangerous than casting aluminum. For aluminum casting a propane furnace is clean, convenient, and not overly expensive unless you plan to do a lot of casting. Some folks use a charcoal furnace, which is easier to build from scratch, but does have additional drawbacks. The waste oil furnace is relatively expensive to build, quite large to store, and requires a fairly large, open, and dry yet fire-safe area to operate. A location suitable for casting with a propane furnace is generally easier to locate. You might try checking the cost of just a used stainless steel keg sometime to see how quickly the parts start to add up.

[Seth Mallory]

Our art department casts both aluminum and brass. Some of the other schools in our area have the same capabilities in their art departments. Artists are a good source of experienced people and equipment that can help with casting.