Any answer except "hire a skilled moldmaker" is welcome!
How does the moldmaker make the mold?
Is it a lost wax process? Is it cast? or machined?
(I can’t imagine machining a toy soldier or action figure)
I don’t know if this totally answers your question, but it’s definitely a neat site anyway:
http://manufacturing.stanford.edu/hetm.html
I will cast my vote against any incumbent running for reelection in my district who voted for providing 700 Billion in taxpayer funds to recapitalize private investment firms and others who made bad investments.
We, the people, must remove those congressional schemers who support the internationally-coordinated doctrine of corporate totalitarianism.
And preserve the Document that defines what it means to be an American!
I’m with you! Change really starts with CONGRESS. Unfortunately, its a game of chicken. Despite the low approval ratings…everyone seems to love their own. We need to start over…tomorrow we get a chance.
I’d rather see a new congress than anything.
I use them for ‘cold casting’ effects, but coming to Perth I’ve been unable to find it in craft stores and it is expensive to ship from the East.
I’m south of the river. Most craft & hobby stores have metallic paints, but not powders. There are a couple of online stores interstate, but they charge more in postage than the cost of the powders. 
Where is Perth? If you can’t find them at your local hobby shops, you might try online.
If I have a row of cast-iron plants in an area that gets morning shade, but lots of unfiltered afternoon sun, will they be OK?
They are a relatively low light plant and like moisture. You will have to be very careful. It’s really considered a shade plant. Cast Iron Plant’s common name came from its ability to survive despite adverse growing conditions. Just wait and see and be prepared to move them or create some shade for them.
I wish I had the problem of too much sun. I can’t get enough!
Brass engines have a problem – they are hard to modernize with the new digital controllers, as the wheel power has to be isolated from the frames. If you intend to run them on some of the radio-controlled layouts, they can be a pain to convert. But it can be done.
Plastics and diecast metal has advantanges in that they’re cheaper, and if you make an Oops, it won’t cost you as much. Plastics are easy to chop and modify for different engine revisions and changes, which happen over time in the 1:1 world. Brass, while it has plent of detailing, is more expensive and you could ruin them if you don’t know how to work with metal properly.
Most all the "serious" club "runners" in my HO club, not modelers, prefer the plastics, as they can run them with radio control, and make mods as needed. While there are a few serious rivet-counters out there, it’s safer to say that most of my club members prefer the easy to fix, and cheapest, engines. All depends on what you want/like.
- The Gremlin Guy -
Does it make it better by adding decomposed matter or is it just bad to used old worm castings?
Please help!
All About Worm Castings and Their Use
Worm Tips ‘N’ Tricks (click here)
Using Castings and Casting Tea
Compost Teas: Brewing a Sweet Blend
Understanding the Value of Castings
Castings added to the soil carry to the root zone a rich compliment of soluble plant nutrients and growth enhancing compounds, a diverse and populous consortium of microbial life and a substrate of organic matter harboring a storehouse of nutrients that are not lost to rain and irrigation. The plant is delivered an ongoing, reliable food source when bacteria and microscopic fungi feed on the organic matter, releasing some of the nutrients to the soil and storing others for their own energy and reproduction. When nematodes and protozoa in turn feed upon them, the nutrients stored in the bacterial and fungal bodies are released to the soil in a plant-available form.
According to Dr. Elaine Ingham, Director of Soil FoodWeb, Inc. of Corvallis, Oregon, when soil, compost or castings support protozoa numbers on the order of 20,000 per gram of solid matter, 400 pounds of nitrogen per acre are released through their predation of bacteria. When we feed organic matter to the soil, the soil life feeds nutrients to the plant.
Further, unlike soluble plant fertilizers, the nutrients stored in organic matter and the bodies of the microbial life are not lost through irrigation to contaminate ground water. Hair-thin fungal tentacles, called hyphae, wrap about soil and organic matter particles in their search for food, forming aggregates that are the basis for good soil structure. Thus, both the fungi and the organic matter are held in the soil. Bacteria exude sticky glues that enable them to cling to solid particles of mineral and organic matter, ensuring they too remain in the soil and, like the fungi, aid in the formation of aggregates.
Nutrient retention and cycling are not the only benefit to castings use, however. By inoculating the soil with the rich, diverse, microbial life present in good worm castings, the plant root is protected from disease and attack by root-feeding organisms. Because the diversity of organisms aids in ensuring everyone present has a predator, no one organism in the root zone is easily able to reach populations sufficient to cause significant damage. Plant roots exude foods that encourage colonization by microbial life beneficial to the plant, reducing the number of possible infection points. Many micro-organisms exude compounds inhibitory to pathogenic organisms, further reducing the chance for pathogen blooms sufficient to cause plant damage.
When we add castings and the microbial life they support to the soil, we aid in increasing the complexity and diversity of organisms in the root zone, thus aiding in disease and pest suppression. It may not be in the root zone alone where worm castings demonstrate the ability to suppress pest attack, however. There is a growing body of research suggesting that castings derived from a feedstock of plant materials are rich in a compound called chitinase. Chitin, a component of the exoskeleton of many insects, is damaged by chitinase, leading some researchers to believe its presence in the castings may be inhibitory to some insects. Research being conducted in California is demonstrating suppression of white fly and ambrosia beetle in some tree species when castings containing chitinase are applied at the root zone.
From Castings to Tea
So, "why tea?" one may wonder. With compost and worm products demonstrating such tremendous benefit to soil and plant life, why take the extra steps to generate a liquid from this already understood and easily applied solid material?
Leaf surfaces, like plant roots, harbor a rich microbial population that protects the leaf, and thus the plant, from infection and attack by pathogenic organisms. When the microbial consortium present on the leaf surface is reduced by pesticide use or environmental damage, it exposes leaf surface, opening infection points. We can reinoculate the leaf with the diverse com-munities of microbial life found in compost and worm castings by applying a tea made from these materials. Further, teas can be applied as soil drenches and root washes after pesticide use, to reintroduce to the soil microbial communities that may have been damaged by the pesticide. The microbes can then continue to provide protection from pathogens to the plant as well as aiding in breakdown of any pesticide residues in the soil, thereby preventing ground water contamination.
Teas also carry the soluble nutrients and beneficial growth regulators contained in the solid matter used to make the tea. Many of these compounds can be absorbed through the leaf surface, feeding and enriching the plant.
Tea or leachate?
The microorganisms present in an aerobic compost or vermiprocessing system require significant amounts of moisture in order to break down the organic materials present. They use the water in b
I want to have them cast by a foundry that is not too expensive, and near the Boston area. If that is not possible, is there any other way to cast them? What materials would I need, and how would I make the molds? I am working with middle school students ages 12-13.
this is a tough question. i dont know if you will get many replies so i’m going to give you my thoughts altho this is not really my area… i hope you get a better response than this later on…
i suspect casting those pieces may be an expensive project.
look in the phone book or online or both for foundries in your area – private and commercial and at schools/universites. you’ll probably have to call them and ask if they’ll do something like what you are wanting.
i suppose it’s possible that some foundry in the country "might" cast on demand – for a fee. there may be significant guidelines to it tho… you can only try and see what you can come up with. even mailing these becomes an expense and then return shipping as well…
i suspect if someone will do it, it may not be cheap. ask if there is someone there at the foundry who would be willing to guide you through the process.
in case you do not find a foundry willing to accommodate you in the way you’d like (which is a cool idea), you might ask if they’d be willing to give your students a tour – that in itself might be an eye-opener for them to see how the process would be completed if it were to be done… with that age group it might be challenging. you might even consider a number of small groups one at a time if a tour is available and you opt for this option.
there probably are less expensive ways to cast these in some other material. however it might also be easier to know how you will do this end of the project before you start. that way you’ll be able to work in appropriate ways at the get-go (from the beginning).
i hope you get to do this exactly as you’d like. that would be awesome. it would be terrific for these students to have their work for ever cast in a great metal, imo.
good on you for trying. good luck.
Im revising the process for a product design exam, there is just one bit I dont get.
You have each sides of the moulds on seperate boards, and you have put "green sand" (whats that??) and recycled sand around them.
You then take away the moulds and fixs the two halves together, one has a runner and rinser.
I don’t understand how the sand stays in shape after you have taken away the mould,,, would’nt it collapse? or is green sand special stuff that glues to itself into the shape?
Sos, i ment, put sand around the original pattern that you start with, made from wood, metal, whatever..
sand casting is the mold
Sand Casting: Introduction
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I have an engine make of cast aluminum and a steel bolt stuck in it. I drilled the bolt out but i cannot remove the shell with the threads. Is there something i can use to cause the steel bolt to rust/dissolve but not attack the aluminum block?
Yes. Dilute sulphuric acid will dissolve the iron (steel) but won’t touch the aluminium.
I have a small item, which I’d like to have it casted in stainless steel or other metal. Anywhere in S’pore provides such service?
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