The Bucket Foundry

[ken seeber]

More pics. Forgot to say it was an anti clockwise circuit, hence the front tyre pic. Sorry about the upside down pics.

[husaberg]

More pics. Forgot to say it was an anti clockwise circuit, hence the front tyre pic. Sorry about the upside down pics.

Where women throw and men chunda.
yeah i know

[adegnes]

How suitable would EN44200 / A413.2 be for casting a two stroke cylinder?
I can get a bunch locally for cheap...

Edit: can get 43100 too, might be better.

[Frits Overmars]

...Jeff Henise was running his Kawasaki F37 185 cc bike... (http://www.highwaymanbikes.com/the-h...ge-road-racer/ The bike is a real gem, with a really neat triangulated frame, all up weighing around 160 lbs (as you know….72.56236 kg) and relatively skinny tyres 2.5 * 18 on front and I think 2.75 or 3.0 on back. Note the single spring damper unit on the front, nothing in the forks... As I am not sure of the Bucket and Freetech 50 rules so this could be irrelevant, but it confirms my long time thoughts that this frame design/wheel selection would be much more suitable than going for much heavier 125 cc RS Honda style frames.

I don't know about the Bucket rules Ken, but I do know a bit about the Freetech50 rules (I wrote them). Frame design is completely free and I agree that the Honda RS125 frames and wheels are too big and heavy for a proper 50cc racer. Starting with an RS125-frame is the easy way, but I'm happy to notice that more and more people are building their own proper 50cc frames.

[TZ350]

I don't know about the Bucket rules Ken, but I do know a bit about the Freetech50 rules (I wrote them). Frame design is completely free

Frames are completely free in Buckets too. The Restrictions in Buckets are kept as simple as possible. Basically, capacity limits and start with a non competition engine and then make your own horse power without using store brought competition parts. Anything you or a few mates can do with your engine and bike is Ok.

[Michael Moore]

Jeff was familiar with my Honda 216 chassis when we talked about his frame options and of course something that looks veglia like a Seeley frame fits in for a vintage racer.



He was going to use those CB350 forks and fit Emulators etc and I kept telling him that was a waste of money and suggested the DMW-style external damper conversion (though what I hoped he'd do was a leading link fork, which he did use on the LSR TZ250).

We used A365 alloy for casting the cylinders/heads at Jeff's place and I did the T6 heat treatment here at my house. Jeff said the treated castings were very nice to machine and the care we took with the melt/pouring them left them without internal flaws (at least as far as exposed by the machining).

Ken, I'm glad you were able to meet up with Jeff, he was probably ready for a little distraction from the engine failures!

cheers,
Michael

[ken seeber]

Ken, I'm glad you were able to meet up with Jeff, he was probably ready for a little distraction from the engine failures!

cheers,
Michael

MM, did catch up with Jeff a couple of times during the meeting. Nice guy. Didn’t want to interfere with his thinking and concentration until after the final had been run. After all he had travelled halfway around the world to run there, so let’s not distract him.

Yeah, near identical frame design as your pic. Cool.

When at Orbital, we used A356 * T6 for cylinder blocks which were plated and no issues there. I know that Neil/Fletto uses LM13 with good success.

[Flettner]

How suitable would EN44200 / A413.2 be for casting a two stroke cylinder?
I can get a bunch locally for cheap...

Edit: can get 43100 too, might be better.

These cylinders are LM13, nikasil sticks to it well. Plus low thermal growth / distortion. And its easy to cast with the higher silicon content giving it good fluidity.

Added note, the 700 twin went to the NZ national gyro gyro in at Dannyverke, flew all weekend, no holed pistons��, with stella performance. Relief.

[WilDun]

These cylinders are LM13, nikasil sticks to it well. Plus low thermal growth / distortion. And its easy to cast with the higher silicon content giving it good fluidity.

Added note, the 700 twin went to the NZ national gyro gyro in at Dannyverke, flew all weekend, no holed pistons��, with stella performance. Relief.

So pleased to hear that Neil! - I am in Martinborough at the moment at my brother in law's place - missed it all by one bloody week would you believe! - would have meant a lot to me to have seen it go!...……….. congratulations anyway

[adegnes]

These cylinders are LM13, nikasil sticks to it well. Plus low thermal growth / distortion. And its easy to cast with the higher silicon content giving it good fluidity.

Added note, the 700 twin went to the NZ national gyro gyro in at Dannyverke, flew all weekend, no holed pistons��, with stella performance. Relief.

Thanks! Got about 14kgs of AB43100 for free so I'll give that a shot first.
Here's my second attempt at casting a cylinder with "lost PLA".(actually second attempt at casting anything at all)



I think it probably would have been usable if it weren't for the port dividers not forming fully at the bore edge, worst at exhaust/A trans.

Any tip on what to do to fix this? Was thinking about adding a riser connected to the dividers inside the bore, but never seen it done on anything else.

Thanks
Alex

[oxracer]

Thanks! Got about 14kgs of AB43100 for free so I'll give that a shot first.
Here's my second attempt at casting a cylinder with "lost PLA".(actually second attempt at casting anything at all)



I think it probably would have been usable if it weren't for the port dividers not forming fully at the bore edge, worst at exhaust/A trans.

Any tip on what to do to fix this? Was thinking about adding a riser connected to the dividers inside the bore, but never seen it done on anything else.

Thanks
Alex

Hey Alex, nice job!
It looks like you've learnt a lot already from your first attempt.
I'm not an expert, indeed I haven't even had a go at casting yet, however I've been trying to set myself up to do the same as you for the last 3 years although I only ever seem to inch my way towards my goal unlike yourself!
One of the things I have found out in my research along the way is the problem casting thin sections such as the dividers that you're having trouble with. These areas don't have enough mass to hold heat for long enough so they have the tendency to "freeze" too early. One thing you could do to help is increase the mould temperature, I believe somewhere in the region of 300°c, it may also help to alter your pattern to have more mass in this area somehow.
My solution to the mould filling problem is to use vacuum in the same manner as jewelers do when doing lost wax casting but on a larger scale. Time will tell whether the extra effort that has gone into setting myself up with all that additional equipment has been worth it! Hopefully I can let you know soon as I've just got one or two pieces of the puzzle left to put in place before I can attempt my own casting.

[husaberg]

Hey Alex, nice job!
It looks like you've learnt a lot already from your first attempt.
I'm not an expert, indeed I haven't even had a go at casting yet, however I've been trying to set myself up to do the same as you for the last 3 years although I only ever seem to inch my way towards my goal unlike yourself!
One of the things I have found out in my research along the way is the problem casting thin sections such as the dividers that you're having trouble with. These areas don't have enough mass to hold heat for long enough so they have the tendency to "freeze" too early. One thing you could do to help is increase the mould temperature, I believe somewhere in the region of 300°c, it may also help to alter your pattern to have more mass in this area somehow.
My solution to the mould filling problem is to use vacuum in the same manner as jewelers do when doing lost wax casting but on a larger scale. Time will tell whether the extra effort that has gone into setting myself up with all that additional equipment has been worth it! Hopefully I can let you know soon as I've just got one or two pieces of the puzzle left to put in place before I can attempt my own casting.

Why does your user name seam so familar?

[oxracer]

Why does your user name seam so familar?

Don't know why it would Husaberg unless you know me from 50 racing in the UK.

[husaberg]

Don't know why it would Husaberg unless you know me from 50 racing in the UK.

i googled a bit, I think thats what Mat Oxley used to used as a pseudonym.
Ya not hiding any IOM TT wins from us are you? 85 250 proddy TT.

[oxracer]

Ya not hiding any IOM TT wins from us are you? 85 250 proddy TT.

Ha! I wish. 🤣🤣🤣