Sunday, March 12, 2006

The Casting






















The furnace used to melt the aluminum. It works by running high current through coils inside the furnace. The electromagnetic field inside the furnace causes the aluminum to vibrate so violently, the aluminum begins to melt.























The liquid aluminum drying in the plaster mold after it has been poured.























The pouring setup. The mold is placed onto a shaker table that vibrates the molten aluminum down to the bottom. A vacuum is also applied to the bottom of the mold to suck down the aluminum.



The gating system (extra metal) is being sawed off by a ban saw. The rest of the manifold has to be machined to size. Next, milling the ends flat and boring the critical holes to the right size. Posted by Picasa

Getting ready to cast the aluminum version of the intake manifold
What the intake manifold should look like after all sensors and accessories have been installed.



The plastic model is placed into a steel cylinder in order to recieve the plaster that will be the mold.























Steve seals the bottom of the cylinder to a rubber base that will be removed after the plaster has dried. The purpose of the wax seal is to prevent plaster from leaking out the bottom.






















The plaster has been mixed and poured. Now all we have to do is let it dry and then put it in the kiln. The purpose of firing it is to remove all the excess water from the plaster. Posted by Picasa