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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Horoscope Fish" data-source="post: 530662" data-attributes="member: 13090">So the other day I got a chance to get behind the scenes at a big foundry that was doing an iron casting/pour. This is definitely not something I get to witness every day. Being the nice folks that they are, I was able to make a couple 4" scratch blocks just for fun which they then poured for me. On the downside, it seems I brought my good luck with me (and by "good" I mean "bad") because a problem cropped up during the pour that has never been seen before (more on this below). A big thanks to everyone at the Sculpture Academy for letting me behind the scenes to shoot this event!..........Arriving at the foundry I saw these piles of scrap iron, salvaged from things like old bath tubs. These piles are bucket-sized for easy loading into the cupola (the big furnace thing where the iron is melted). .....[ATTACH=full]197446[/ATTACH]...............Here are some of the sand molds ready to be filled. .....[ATTACH=full]197447[/ATTACH]...............Here the cupola is being warmed up... The workers add things like sand and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coke_%28fuel%29" target="_blank">coke</a> (the fuel, not the soft drink). As things heat up, all sorts of science-y stuff starts happening inside that results in clean molten iron......[ATTACH=full]197448[/ATTACH]...............Pretty sure this is more coke being added. They really seem to like their coke around here........[ATTACH=full]197450[/ATTACH]...............The cute blonde mugging for the camera is Ariel, she's one of the team leaders. At this point things are really heating up and we're about ready to start pouring but a problem rears its ugly head!!.....[ATTACH=full]197453[/ATTACH]...............A leak has opened in the bottom of the cupola and molten iron is leaking out. Not good. The iron is supposed to pour out of the spout that has been plugged with some sort of Bondo-like material. This leak is causing a bit of a buzz as no one seems sure what to do about it......[ATTACH=full]197455[/ATTACH]...............A few things are tried but then someone pulls this out their hat! A steel piano stool has been liberated from parts unknown. The plan is to put the stool, with a cinder block supporting a bar-mold, under the leak and then raise the seat up against the bottom of the cupola to staunch the flow... Brilliant!! Except it turns out to be a spectacular failure......[ATTACH=full]197456[/ATTACH]...............The final solution is, essentially, to say, "Screw it!" and start filling from the leak. Hey, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em!.....[ATTACH=full]197457[/ATTACH]...............From here we start filling scratch blocks........[ATTACH=full]197458[/ATTACH]...............At some point a leak forms in the crucible which is also not supposed to happen... Still, it made for a great shot......[ATTACH=full]197460[/ATTACH]...............This is what happens when you sand mold fails... Don't let this happen to you!.....[ATTACH=full]197461[/ATTACH]...............This is another type of mold... I think it's called an investment casting/mold. I get confused over the different types of molds, but hey... I'm just the photographer......[ATTACH=full]197462[/ATTACH]...............Sometimes it feels like pretty much everything is on fire. All at once. I mean, there's so much fire at this place it's crazy......[ATTACH=full]197463[/ATTACH]...............Some more shots I got........[ATTACH=full]197465[/ATTACH]...............[ATTACH=full]197466[/ATTACH]...............[ATTACH=full]197467[/ATTACH]...............[ATTACH=full]197468[/ATTACH]...............finally, when all the molds have been poured, the bottom of the cupola is opened and everything left inside spills out out on the ground where it's hosed down and cooled off. Some of the left over coke and scrap iron will be re-used in the next pour......[ATTACH=full]197469[/ATTACH].....</blockquote>

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