Free 186 More Best Homemade Tools eBook:  
Get tool plans

User Tag List

Results 1 to 5 of 5

Thread: Homemade Cast Iron Anvil

  1. #1
    Supporting Member Paul Jones's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2014
    Location
    Del Mar, California
    Posts
    1,231
    Thanks
    5,810
    Thanked 1,459 Times in 657 Posts

    Paul Jones's Tools

    Homemade Cast Iron Anvil

    This cast iron anvil is a small version that weights 22 pounds and is approximately 11”Lx2.75”Wx7”H.
    I cast this anvil in the early 1970’s as a final project for a mechanical engineering course in casting technology at the University of Washington. I took the class just for fun and the course credits did not count toward my majors in physics and geophysical oceanography. We did most of our casting in aluminum, brass and silicon bronze to test and verify casting techniques but during the final weeks of the course we focused on iron casting technology. Casting in iron is far more difficult and dangerous than the other metals but well worth the effort when making these small anvils. The technique for casting iron anvils includes adding thick iron chills (chill plates) along the inner edge of the mold cavity that forms the flat top to the anvil. The purpose of using chills allows very fast cooling of the molten iron forming the top flat surface of the anvil (the plate also eliminates a mold release seam). Rapid cooling forms a much finer-grained cast iron structure that is considerably harder than the rest of the anvil. The resulting top surface of the casting requires surface grinding to produce a smooth and flat surface. Pouring molten iron by hand using a two person crucible requires special head-to-toe protective gear and doing it is like being at ground zero of a 4th of July fireworks. We were taught to always carry and pour molten metal over dry sand and never assume something is dry unless it is too hot to touch or you can risk an explosion of molten metal from surface moisture. This is very dangerous work and requires working with those already experienced in iron casting technologies.

    186 More Best Homemade Tools eBook

  2. The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to Paul Jones For This Useful Post:

    kbalch (Dec 24, 2014), wrconner (Dec 26, 2014)

  3. #2
    Supporting Member Hotz's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Location
    South of Brazil.
    Posts
    360
    Thanks
    157
    Thanked 75 Times in 51 Posts

    Hotz's Tools
    Nice ...

    2,000+ Tool Plans
    Sorry my mistakes in english.
    to share your tip >>> http://www.homemadetools.net/forum/tool-tips-tricks/ <<<

  4. #3
    Supporting Member Christophe Mineau's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2014
    Location
    France, Brittany !
    Posts
    913
    Thanks
    831
    Thanked 1,705 Times in 481 Posts

    Christophe Mineau's Tools
    Wow, this is really impressive ! You're really lucky to have this opportunity at school !
    I would have dreamt to do some brass castings for small planes, but I forgot the idea, considering it too difficult and dangerous, so casting iron, wow...
    Thanks for the post, very informative, and it's useful hat you insist on the security aspect !
    Cheers,
    Christophe
    Cheers !
    Christophe
    ________________________________________________________________
    Visit my Website : http://www.labellenote.fr/
    Facebook : La Belle Note
    All my personal works, unless explicitly specified, are released under
    Creative Commons BY-NC-SA license.

  5. #4
    Supporting Member Paul Jones's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2014
    Location
    Del Mar, California
    Posts
    1,231
    Thanks
    5,810
    Thanked 1,459 Times in 657 Posts

    Paul Jones's Tools
    Christophe,
    Today, I checked the UW website for the undergrad classes still offered by their engineering department and did not see anything similar to the course I attended. I suspect it now more of a combination of liability issues and an engineering speciality that is no longer something industry is seeking from the graduates. I am glad I took the opportunity when I did - carpe diem.
    Thanks, Paul

  6. #5
    kbalch's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2012
    Location
    Clermont, FL
    Posts
    5,034
    Thanks
    2,275
    Thanked 532 Times in 384 Posts
    Thanks Paul! I've added your Cast Iron Anvil to our Casting category, as well as to your builder page: Paul Jones' Homemade Tools. Your receipt:




    2,000+ Tool Plans

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Tags for this Thread

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •