Do you know a good foundry?

[Bill StarlingParticipant @billstarling10428]

On behalf of an expert model engineer friend who manages to live without an internet connection, may I ask whether anyone can recommend a reliable foundry that will undertake small jobs in cast iron, aluminium or brass/bronze?

My friend makes all his own patterns and has been successfully using a particular firm for some years. Unfortunately this foundry seems to have lost the ability to make small parts in cast iron – up to, say, a 10 inch flywheel – that can be machined. Whether this is due to chilled castings or something more fundamental, we can’t say. The only option seems to be to find another supplier.

He lives in the midlands, but will be happy to find a good foundry anywhere that the postman will go to.

If UK members would like confirmation that this chap does know what he’s doing, have a look at the classifieds in the January edition of ‘Old Glory’. He is raising funds for his next project by selling a cross-compound horizontal mill engine, which is pictured there.

I’m still very much a beginner, so I don’t have much to contribute yet, but would like to take this opportunity to thank all those whose contributions I enjoy and learn from.

Happy Christmas and best wishes for 2011 to all of you.

Bill.

[Bill StarlingParticipant @billstarling10428]

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

Get him to contact John at Manor Foundry at Ilkeston, Nottingham.

 

http://www.manorfoundry.co.uk/

 

Ace firm, will do one off’s or short runs in cast, bronze and alloy.

 

John S.

[Keith LongParticipant @keithlong89920]

Hi Bill

If someone in the Midlands (I was born and brought up there) is having difficulty finding a willing foundry then heaven help the rest of us!

John – many thanks for that lead – only hope that the chap doesn’t get so snowed under with enquiries for small orders and runs that he has to pull out of that side of the business.

Seriously the lack of the small “town” foundries now could be a major problem in the future to the continuation of this hobby. Yes I know you can cut just about any shape from bar or billet given enough time and the will to do it, but virtually all of the designs of engine, machine tool and accessory that we all know and want to make are casting based and, in a a heck of a lot of cases, those castings are no longer available, and a pound to a penny the patterns have been lost as well. If we can find suitable suppliers of castings then it would be worthwhile re-creating the patterns or re-visiting the old designs and, if necessary, bringing them up-to-date, and getting the new patterns made and the castings available.

I know this will be a lot of work but with so many of the hobby’s participants being into cad and 3d modeling it should be possible over admittedly a large number of years to get the designs drawn, documented and archived, and the parts once more available. Perhaps this could be a long term project in which ME and MEW could lead the way and provide a central point of contact to help steer the effort forward.

I feel that if something like this doesn’t get off the ground that a large part of the engineering heritage of the country will be lost, as it will, in a lot of cases, be too difficult for the newcomers to get into the hobby simply because a lot of the semi-finished raw materials will not be available. It’s starting to get very expensive to carve things out of billet and throw 50% or more of the raw stock away as swarf.

Just my 2d’orth (for those old enough to remember pre-decimal currency!)

Keith

ps I don’t mean this as a hi-jack of the thread, PLEASE do continue it with details of amenable foundries both ferrous and non-ferous we NEED them!!

Edited By Keith Long on 19/12/2010 22:29:15

[Ramon WilsonParticipant @ramonwilson3]

Hi Bill,

Guess this is Paul eh.

I know its a way from where he lives but have you tried East Coast Castings just down the road at Watton? – Just a thought

 

Ramon

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

RGS are Model Engineer friendly

 

http://www.rgsengineering.net/

 

Jason

[TerrydParticipant @terryd72465]

hi Bill,

 

I’ve just checked Yell.com for metal casting and found dozens of Midlands foundries from the Black Country through B’ham and Coventry through to Leicester.  Many will be large foundries but many look like small jobbing foundries.  Surely a few phone calls ould find someone.  Even if you look at the addresses for a clue, for example there is one in ‘Fishermans Cottage’. That sounds like a small business to me.

 

Terry

 

P.S. the same entries will be in Yellow pages so there is no need for an Internet connection.

 

T

Edited By Terryd on 20/12/2010 07:56:21

[David Clark 13Participant @davidclark13]

Hi There

I don’t think Model Engineer should get involved with castings.

Advertisers would not be too happy.

However, what about a pattern bank that one can borrow from?

You borrow the patterns, pay postage both ways and replace if lost?

 

It would be good to get old designs redone but only where they are not available comercially.

regards david

 

[Bill StarlingParticipant @billstarling10428]

Less than 12 hours after I asked the question and you’ve provided some really helpful answers. Thanks very much, I’ll pass them on. (Yes Ramon, it is Paul.)

Thanks for your comments Terry. I appreciate your point about Yellow Pages, but I think the personal recommendation aspect is quite important.

Best wishes to all.

Bill.

[KWILParticipant @kwil]

Don’t be put off by the size of foundry, Swan Foundries, Banbury is large, but they are amenable to any approach, they also run a lost wax foundry for small boat propellers [model ones]!!

[Sub MandrelParticipant @submandrel]

cOver and again I can’t help thinking there is a real market for someone willing to make a go a specialising in castinmgs for model engineers. At the very least enough work for a semi-retired foundryman to occupy some space withina larger foundry.

 

 What is needed is a service that give advice freely, will comment and advise on patterns, will give reasonable estimates of cost in advance and is able to use a suitable iron and heat treat the castings to ensure freedom from chill spots and a dgree of malleability.

 

I have to wonder if such a service might be available from the far east – PCBs can be ordered that way?

 

Neil

[Phil PParticipant @philp]

I know this is an old topic, but I am looking for a suitable foundry to make me a small quantity of iron castings for a model I am building.

Preferably within visiting distance to where I live in West Yorkshire, has anyone got anything to add.

Thanks

Phil

[Brian WoodParticipant @brianwood45127]

For those of us further North than the Midlands, google William Lane Middlesbrough, they offer small runs in various metals.

I have not used them, but the website looks very professional and I have heard good reports

Brian

[alan smith 6Participant @alansmith6]

Finding a foundry is difficult, even though many advertise in Yellow pages, when you phone them, after you have got past the secretary that wants know your life history, the boss will say that they don`t do small jobs!

A lot of foundries only do lost wax castings which cost an arm and a leg to have done as they will have to make a special mould for the part.

One foundry in Warwick took six months to produce some bronze and aluminium bronze castings for me and the other small foundries in the area use the same foundry to obtain their bronze castings as they only do aluminium castings.

As suggested in a previous post, personal recommendation is the best way to go. If you have a friendly machine shop in your area then ask them. Of course they will probably want a piece of the action and you will have to order through them.

There are a couple of foundries in Coventry that do cast iron and aluminium, I haven`t used them yet but will do next month and will report in if they are worthy.

Neil`s post was very helpful but shouldn`t we be nurturing our homespun industry so that it doesn`t die a death.

Alan

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

I only suggested Monor Foundries as I use them and in my work, emergency repair it's all one off's, very rarely a run.

I have found John at Manor to be very helpful in advise on the best way to go about patterns and the casting itself.

[Ex contributorParticipant @mgnbuk]

I used this company for one-off iron castings at my previous employment :

http://www.hdowns.co.uk/

I think the owner was Nigel Downs & I found him very helpful. The castings we had made were rather larger than the sizes quoted above, but the the company does all sorts – they were featured in a TV program where they cast a scale replica of the original Iron Bridge that was erected by the means originally employed.

Nigel B.

Forgot to say that they are in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire

Edited By Nigel Barraclough on 18/01/2013 10:57:49

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