Making wheels by casting in the spokes

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

All this talk of wheels in the Countryman’s steam thread reminded me of these videos which show a newbuild full size traction engine wheel being made with traditionally cast in spokes.

 

Enjoy.

 

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

[Martin WParticipant @martinw]

Jason

 

A cracking set of videos thanks for the pointer. Elf & Safety seemed a bit relaxed considering what they were handling and pouring .

 

Cheers

 

Martin

[colin hawesParticipant @colinhawes85982]

Excellent video set Jason. Thanks, I enjoyed watching.

 

Colin

[Martin WParticipant @martinw]

Hi

 

Just a quick question for the experts out there. From the videos it can be seen that the spokes have keyed ends which will be within the cast hub. So the question is during the casting process do the spokes actually fuse/weld with the cast metal or do they remain just enclosed by the cast metal?

 

Cheers

 

Martin

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi Jason, very interesting videos. Would be very dishaertening if after all the work involved it ended up pear shaped when they pulled it from the mould, but I suppose they have done this type of thing many many times and have a lot of confidence in thier work.

 

Regards Nick.

[VersabossParticipant @versaboss]

Well, me too I have a question or 2! 

In one scene we saw how they ‘painted’ the mould with a liquid and then set it on fire. In all the many articles about casting I never saw something like that. Can someone explain?

What surprised me was that they melted down concrete rebar. That’s not cast iron, is it? From the point of the machining, this is usually considered as ‘terrible stuff’.

Or should that be some kind of steel casting? I thought these hubs were cast iron. It is a pity that the oven was not seen in detail. The steel melting ovens I have seen were electrically heated.

Greetings, Hansrudolf

[John OlsenParticipant @johnolsen79199]

Well, I wouldn’t put myself forward as an expert on iron founding, but to answer some of the questions above…The spokes would not fuse to the iron, it would chill when it hit them.

 

It is possible to make cast iron by melting down miscellaneous scrap and then adding carbon to bring the total carbon content up to what is desired. I have seen an article on this somewhere, I think it may have been ME but I can’t remember the details. They could also be doing cast steel I suppose, the same applies in that you can add alloying agents to the melt to get the desired properties.

 

As for who is going to do this when these guys have gone….well, you have seen the video, now you know how to do it. I would suggest purchasing a leather apron, leather trousers, gloves and so on myself if you plan to emulate them. I’m told that iron founders used to wear boots with the tongue outside, covering all the lace holes because molten iron is so fluid that it will run in through the holes and down inside the boot.

 

regards

John

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

I assume the steel was added to give a more malable iron thats less prone to fracture

 

The liquid that is set on fire is termed “mould wash” its a slury containing things like graphite and fine silica that gives a finer surface finish.

 

Foundry men would have worn gaiters with integral spats so no spills would go in their boots

 

As to who will do this work when these men are gone, look at the age of most of them, even the boss in teh purple shirt would not have been around when this work was being done, they are reviving a method thats not been used for years.

 

Jason

[Howard JonesParticipant @howardjones35282]

the videos are excellent. however one thing has me quite puzzled. the video shows two separate pours, I thought, into the one mould.

was there an obscured detail there or something I missed because a successful casting only occurs when the pour is uninterrupted. two pours, or an interruption to the pours means a ruined casting because of a cold shot?

[Keith LongParticipant @keithlong89920]

Hi Howard

I saw two pours as well, but the first looked as though it was from a small ladle held by two men. I wonder if they were casting a sample piece from the same batch of iron or if it was a smaller separate part of the wheel. I think you can get away with an interrupted pour if the time delay is small as otherwise very large castings wouldn’t be possible due to the ladles not holding enough to do it in one shot. It will take a reasonable while for a large casting to start to solidify, it won’t be instantaneous.

Keith

[Howard JonesParticipant @howardjones35282]

keith

the method I’m aware of involves frenetic activity just toward the end of the first ladle.

the second ladle commences to pour while the first ladle is still going. then takes over the pour.

the second bit of frenetic activity is involved bringing the third ladle to pour just before the second ladle completes and so on.

 

nevertheless the foundry work involved in making the hub casting in situ was quite impressive. it looked to me to be a seamless combining of greensand technique with resin bonded sand for some tiers of the mould.

howard

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