Mystic River Foundry
Mystic CT
Sharon Hertzler - Owner
Some year back I purchased the pattern shown in the picture below at Captain Tinkhams' Emporium up in Maine. I finally got to thinking that it would be neat to have some parts cast from the patterns to show my students. I found my way to the Mystic River Foundry ( www.mysticriverfoundry.com ) and found a welcoming attitude and willingness to help out. Please be certain to visit the Foundry's site to see photos of the WWII B-17 bomber Lower Ball turret they cast back in the 90's. A truly impressive casting job.
On Thursday, 10 July 2003 I was invited to the Foundry to have my parts cast.
Although in my previous life as an industrial model maker I had quite a bit of experience making and casting molded plastic parts this would be my first experience with sand casting and HOT metal. The material that was being cast that day was to be aluminum and that what my parts are made of.
I arrived at 10:00 AM and Sharon started right in giving me the full course on molding and casting molten metals.
There are 52 slides in this set and I have tried to show the order in which this process takes place.
The first step was to find a flask that the pattern board would fit. There was some discussion of modifying the holes in the pattern board but Sharon found this flask that was pretty close to what we needed if the pattern was put in slightly cockeyed. This proved to be a working solution. Being a machinist/toolmaker/several other types of work where everything wants to be square and true this took some getting used to.
Sharon is about attach an air vibrator to the pattern board to aid in getting the cope and drag off later in the molding process.
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