The Bucket Foundry

[WilDun]

This might help Will
Attachment 331094Attachment 331095Attachment 331096Attachment 331097
Thats that railway line Neil was talking about earlier in pic one.

Thanks Husa, - well it's all very detailed (also senic and pretty) of course, but I still don't know the details of what it is, whose it is or what it's about! - or perhaps I'm a just a little bit thick, I dunno.

[husaberg]

That looks familiar like serious power in the making.
By the way, nice carpet.

Cheers they match the drapes, but no thats actually a table cloth. I have young kids and an oak table.

Thanks Husa, - well it's all very detailed (also senic and pretty) of course, but I still don't know the details of what it is, whose it is or what it's about! - or perhaps I'm a just a little bit thick, I dunno.

Frits is onto it Will. I will give you a clue, its not a copy of a Honda cylinder, but it is a copy of one of the worlds most successful GP bike engines cylinder.

[ken seeber]

Fletto,
Got the ingots all done. Where shall I have them sent? Hamilton?

[WilDun]

Cheers they match the drapes, but no thats actually a table cloth. I have young kids and an oak table.

Frits is onto it Will. I will give you a clue, its not a copy of a Honda cylinder, but it is a copy of one of the worlds most successful GP bike engines cylinder.

Ok, there is a blank space where my interest in bikes got suspended (too knackered trying to make a living) and anything new in the motorcycle scene between 1975 and 2000 was missed, so I'll just have to keep asking!

Fletto, Got the ingots all done. Where shall I have them sent? Hamilton?

Hard work Ken! no wonder you haven't been on much lately!

[lodgernz]

This stuff? http://www.hobbycraft.co.uk/shesto-c...ml/611780-1000
I'm finding Vinamold at less than £10 a kilo/litre in England so nearly 4 times more expensive!

I got my red vinamold from Tiranti in the UK.
email: Caroline@tiranti.co.uk

[husaberg]

Ok, there is a blank space where my interest in bikes got suspended (too knackered trying to make a living) and anything new in the motorcycle scene between 1975 and 2000 was missed, so I'll just have to keep asking!

Will, Fettner was playing with with RSV aprilia copy cylinder patterns.

[WilDun]

Will, Fettner was playing with with RSV aprilia copy cylinder patterns.

Thanks Husa, I loved bikes and had a lot of fun with them, but never really got into the finer details of tuning etc. and as I said, there was a gap, so I don't recognize all this stuff when I see it. I was always into making stuff from scratch as a fitter & turner and even inventing ideas (not only bikes). In fact I was never much of a mechanic or tuner, which was the real reason why my racing career didn't really take off (I think I did have some ability there and a little courage - or was it blind optimism?) - still not within a country mile of the standards set by my compatriot and namesake Joey of course! but........ a good running bike might've helped!

I got my red vinamold from Tiranti in the UK.
email: Caroline@tiranti.co.uk

Lodgernz, that is mighty expensive stuff! I bought some of the softer stuff from The Fibreglass Shop in Hamilton but they were just selling off the last of it.They said that they were getting alternative stuff from somewhere in Europe but I don't think that ever happened.
I see that there is another brand for sale in Sydney & Melbourne (Gelflex) but I haven't found any prices as yet.

[Flettner]

I give up, this is the way to make patterns. Stick your reed valves up your bum, rotary valve is where it's at. 125 variable rotary valve Engine, 52 bore, 58 stroke. Fuel injected, with variable port hight cylinder. 134 dia disc valve. Water cooled crankcase. Same cases will go out to 175 and will be a much better fit for the epicylic crank.

[husaberg]

I give up, this is the way to make patterns. Stick your reed valves up your bum, rotary valve is where it's at. 125 rotary valve Engine, 52 bore, 58 stroke. Fuel injected, with variable port hight cylinder. 134 dia disc valve. Water cooled crankcase. Same cases will go out to 175 and will be a much better fit for the epicylic crank.

Thats a big disc, same size as the bighorn?
I finally found something decent out of china

Paulownia wood is very light, fine-grained, and warp-resistant. It is the fastest-growing hardwood. It is used for chests, boxes, and clogs (geta). Its low silica content reduces dulling of blades, making it a preferred wood for boxes to hold fine Japanese edge tools. The wood is burned to make charcoal for sketching and powder for fireworks, the bark is made into a dye. The silvery-grey wood is sliced into veneers for special visiting cards

Paulownia is extremely fast growing; up to 20 feet in one year when young. Some species of plantation Paulownia can be harvested for saw timber in as little as five years. Once the trees are harvested, they regenerate from their existing root systems, earning them the name of the "Phoenix tree."

[WilDun]

I give up, this is the way to make patterns. Stick your reed valves up your bum, rotary valve is where it's at. 125 variable rotary valve Engine, 52 bore, 58 stroke. Fuel injected, with variable port hight cylinder. 134 dia disc valve. Water cooled crankcase. Same cases will go out to 175 and will be a much better fit for the epicylic crank.

Flettner, that really is a great way to make patterns - most people are not as fortunate to have the machinery you possess of course, but a relatively cheap CNC router would do the trick (seeing it's wood).
Quite frankly though, the 3D printer also interests me, but because of the lines on the pattern I'm not so sure about withdrawl from the mould, but the "lost plastic" method could be used by burning out the plastic in the complete plaster/sand mould and blowing out the ash with an air gun, then pouring while still hot (has been done). This is good for small parts, which I would want to do. I have actually been looking at cheap end 3D printers, their acrylic structural components and general flimsiness doesn't thrill me at all, nor do the printer type toothed belts. would like to use the software, printer heads screws maybe or rack and pinion instead of the "wallopy" belts and use aluminium and steel"overkill"on the non-moving parts. - It could also be the basis for a router (probably too small though).

Will your rotary valve be adjustable in both opening and closing (ie variable in duration as well with individually adjustable outside "lips" or what?

[Flettner]

Yes valve cover has both open and shut adjustment, separately. Cylinder moves so as to shut transfers down completely, or nearly for idle. Crank case not throttled as such. Base of the exhaust is fixed in relation to crank case and piston so when the cylinder shuts down (timing wise) the exhaust also largely shuts down too but transfer inertia stays high. As the fuel is intodintroduced at the transfers, this can be delayed for good fuel trapping. Injectors can be staged so probably only use B port at lower engine speeds. In fact below say 1/4 cylinder throttle, might just use injection only to control engine speed, miss a few shots then one big bang, then miss a few more. Hit and miss principle. A bit like me really

[Grumph]

Will - if you use the right foam plastic for your male and encase it in the usual refactory material, no burn out required. Pour and it vapourises.
If memory serves, Chevy made a big thing of this when they introduced the Cosworth Vega.

[WilDun]

Will - if you use the right foam plastic for your male and encase it in the usual refactory material, no burn out required. Pour and it vapourises.

Polystyrene or similar foam they say will work well but if - and I mean IF I got (or built) a 3D printer, then it would have to be solid PLA or such like, whereas, if I used foam, then I'd probably have to carve it to the shape required, by hand, router or hot wire.(or all three).

Neil I know it's cheating, short cutting etc. by using a "complete" sand/plaster mould but It's a little less labour intensive for me.
However, it'll probably get me a reasonable (small) one- off casting, such as I will be making, without a helluva lot of work.
It's a bit like having all your info on PDF and just printing out what you need and it will be identical to the one you did last year and without actually having to store it. - space is at a premium for me now! - that's my theory anyway!

What you are telling me about your upcoming engine makes a lot of sense and no doubt we will hear more on it as you progress.

[WilDun]

I finally found something decent out of china

Looks like handy stuff to have, where would you find it here? (packing crates/boxes I guess). - Maybe I should give it a go before getting a 3D printer!

[ken seeber]

Greg, the lost foam method was taken up by various companies, one goodie being Mercury for their I3 & I4 2 strokes. From the crankcase face up to the cyl head, I think they had 5 or 6 or so horizontal biscuits, that located & glued to each other, the split lines being sensibly placed at port top/bottoms. So, instead of having separate head and exh cover castings, it was all in one piece, completely eliminating head gasket issues. Obviously had blind bores, but wasn’t really a problem with cast in CI liners, even the honing.

I did see it ages ago, I think the styrene assy was dipped, dried and then back filled and totally immersed in loose sand, hot metal poured in, vaporising the styrene, creating the odd volume of noxious black fumes.

We did try some time ago to 3D print in both PLA and some wax style filament and invested this as a “lost print” process. Sort of worked, more as an experiment for a particular job. I reckon with some of the newer filaments that claim to be better, it could be made to work. Even after the printing, the sprues, ingates, vents etc need to be added.



However, to actually get this far requires lots of things:

1. The ability to draw, or really ”create” , the solid model of your target design, one has to be proficient at some 3D package eg Solidworks. Something like a water cooled 125( 3+5) cylinder is far from a trivial exercise.
2. Access to the Solidworks package. I couldn’t see anything like Google Sketchup being sufficient, although I am far from an expert to really comment on this..
3. The 3D printer, the correct filament or consumable AND the patience to wait for many hours to print something like a total cylinder, hoping that it isn’t interrupted/aborted and then to see it shit itself for whatever reason during the casting stage
4. The gear to both invest the print and then to melt/burn out the print
5. The foundry

Don’t want to hold you back Willy, but I reckon a wooden pattern and a bit of sand is the way to go initially. If nothing else, a good way to test out your neighbours.