For years now I have been reading and learning lots of foundry stuff from the fantastic group over at Backyardmetalcasting.com. If you haven't been there to see Lionel's website and read the forums you really must. Its a free education on a vanishing profession...and the folks are real friendly too.

It has become a yearly contest to fabricate a handmade backyard casting for a annual casting contest. In 2009 it was the 'Thinnest' casting...I made a plaque. And for 2010 the contest was to build/cast and finsih a Bell...There were some rules, nothing to crazy and I just barely got my entry in before the deadline. I have copied my posting below this video showing the process, I hope you enjoy it.

The Time here is 10:38PM EST...heehee OK gang...been working on my bell like crazy and with a mighty wheeeew!!! Here is my entry....hope you like it!!

I'm trying to make my bell with lost foam...first I cut some foam sheets, glued into a tall stack and cut into a cylinder with the hot wire foam cutter (see the other foam cutter thread!!)...since I don't have a lathe I decided to rig up the disc sander.....safety factors sometimes ignored in this project but necessity....

[img]http://www.marksworx.com/furnace/block%20of%20Foam%20on%20SanderLathe.jpg[/img]

I made a paper form to use to shape the foam... [img]http://www.marksworx.com/furnace/Paper%20%20Bell%20Forms.jpg[/img]

I used some wood chisels (the wrong tools) to lathe the foam into a bell shape... [img]http://www.marksworx.com/furnace/PartialLathedFoamBell.jpg[/img]

The rough shape comes out...I finally sanded this into a nice shape...version 1 I used cheap silicone to try to fill gaps in the foam...didn't work...this is version 3 with masking tape.... [img]http://www.marksworx.com/furnace/LathedBell2.jpg[/img]

The final ver3 foam pattern.... [img]http://www.marksworx.com/furnace/FoamBellCoseup.jpg[/img]

Interior of foam bell... [img]http://www.marksworx.com/furnace/FoamInteriorCloseup.jpg[/img]

a shot of the bell being covered in blue masking tape... [img]http://www.marksworx.com/furnace/FoamBellTaped%20withWood.jpg[/img]

the taping of the bell interior.... [img]http://www.marksworx.com/furnace/TapingFoam%20Interior.jpg[/img]

Preparing to set the foam patterns in loose sand for the lost foam pours... [img]http://www.marksworx.com/furnace/FoamBell3.jpg[/img]

Here are some shakeout pix....I am editing a full build video but its not done yet!! :roll: [img]http://www.marksworx.com/furnace/Bell%20at%20shakeout.jpg[/img]

Closeup of bell at shakeout......... [img]http://www.marksworx.com/furnace/BellCloseup%20at%20shakeout.jpg[/img]

bell with sprues cutoff and the bases and clapper... [img]http://www.marksworx.com/furnace/bell%20with%20sprue%20cutoff.jpg[/img]

The Clapper assembly fits thru the top of the bell and hidden in the wooden top piece... [img]http://www.marksworx.com/furnace/Clapper%20Assembly.jpg[/img]

The clapper installed and shown in the bell interior... [img]http://www.marksworx.com/furnace/BellINteriorwithclapper.jpg[/img]

There were some sand inclusions on the interior and without a lathe or a scaler I couldn't cleanup the interior much... :oops: Drilling the aluminum bases for the bell support.... [img]http://www.marksworx.com/furnace/DrillBasesCLOSE.jpg[/img]

a side view of base building progress... [img]http://www.marksworx.com/furnace/SideView1inProgress.jpg[/img]

a mock up from the front as we assemble and finish... [img]http://www.marksworx.com/furnace/MockupFront.jpg[/img]

I built the bell support from oak and stained and varathaned it nice and thick and semigloss.... [img]http://www.marksworx.com/furnace/FinishingWoodwork.jpg[/img]

I attached the bell to the wooden top piece using brass bolts thru the bell sprue lug and then wrapped with copper wire in a X pattern to hold it tight, the bolts then tightened up to hold secure... [img]http://www.marksworx.com/furnace/Bellwiringclose.jpg[/img]

so here is the assembled bell siting out in the shop...with a tape measure for scale.. [img]http://www.marksworx.com/furnace/bellfinishedinshopfront.jpg[/img]

a closeup of the bell.. [img]http://www.marksworx.com/furnace/closeupbellfinished.jpg[/img]

It was really a labor of...fate...this bugger took many hours to file into shape which makes me want a lathe more then ever... Here is a videoclip from YouTube with the bell ringing test...its so sad for such a effort..oh well. [url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYd-9ou-c-c[/url]

and a final photo on black velvet..and a Happy New Years to ALL. [img]http://www.marksworx.com/furnace/finalbellentry.jpg[/img]

And stay safe!!! And the time out as I hit SEND is 11:33PM...yay I made it!!