Kickstand for 1949 Ducati Cucciolo

Project:
To make a replica of the broken kickstand off my 1949 Ducati Cucciolo

Process:
When I inherited the cucciolo I noticed that one leg of the kickstand was broken off. A previous generation had drilled two holes through the stub of the broken leg and riveted a bent piece of flat iron to it. It was pretty wobbly but I guess it kept the bike up.


First thing I had to do is take the kickstand off which was easy. Two screws and a spring tied it together then it needed a very serious clean with the parts washer. There was over 40 years worth of oil, grease and dirt stuck to it. The cleaning took a good 15 minutes. Couldn't have done it without the parts washer fluid.


After it was clean and dry, I mixed up some autobody putty together and patched up the holes that were drilled and some of the worn off aluminum from the bottom of the kickstand leg.


Then I used some of the leftover 2 component reo-flex polyurethane rubber (shore hardness 60A) that I had bought a couple of years ago (when I made the concreted stamping pattern for my driveway) to cast a negative of the good kickstand leg. Once that cured for about a day, I removed the aluminum leg and filled the negative cavity with another batch of the rubber to create the positive copy of the leg.


Once the positive copy of the good leg had cured for about two days I cut it to length and glued it to the broken kickstand with some regular polyurethane glue.


With that "fixed" pattern I was able to create a mould of the kickstand. After firing up the foundry furnace and melting about a pound of aluminum I poured it into the mould, waited half an hour for it to cool down and extracted it from the sand.


A little bit of grinding was left and voila! Here's the replacement kickstand for my "bike"!

Pictures:

Right after pulling the casting out of the flask

Originally fixed kickstand leg

The broken kickstand taken off the cucciolo and all cleaned up

Using polyurethane rubber to create a negative of the good leg

Filling the negative with polyurethane rubber to create a copy of the good leg

After I filled in some holes with auto body filler and glued the rubber copy of the good leg to the broken side

Now I could use the "fixed" kickstand to create a mould

Cleaning up the casting after I pulled it out of the flask

Comparing the old broken/fixed kickstand with the new one

Another angle

Tools:
Foundry & foundry tools, grinder, hammer, hacksaw

Materials:
2 component Reo-flex polyurethane, autobody putty, mold release agent, polyurethane glue, foundry materials

Cost:
$3.50 (for 1lb of aluminum and some propane)

Time:
4hr

Savings:
Priceless!

Conclusion:
Success! All the way around. This is incredible!

Loser/Winner Award

Project:
Design a loser award

Process:
The guys at work were joking around and ended up calling me over to ask for my thoughts on a project. They wanted some sort of loser award, whom they were gonna give it to they didn't know yet. Since my home foundry has been an occasional topic of conversation at work, they wanted to know if I could cast a loser award out of aluminum. I told them I'd think about it and over the weekend I've actually had some time to play around with some ideas.

I liked the loser award idea, but I wanted to give it at least an option for a positive slant on it, so I came up with an idea to turn it into a loser/winner award. Enjoy the pics...


Pictures:

Pattern made out of 1/2" melamine, then the mould

After the sprue and risers were cut off

After drilling a hole in the base and polishing the hand

Flipping it upside down for a more positive spin on the award

Tools:
Table saw, jig saw, drill, dremel with sanding bit & hss bit, vise, foundry, grinder, drill press

Materials:
A 1 foot by 1 foot piece of 1/2" melamine and 2 pounds of aluminum

Cost:
$3.00

Time:
1hr

Conclusion:
Undetermined; I'll have to bring it to work and get the guys to let me know if this meets their approval.

Foundry Furnace Cart & Lifting Mechanism

Project:
Create a cart to wheel around the foundry furnace

Process:
For the longest time the foundry furnace was just sitting on the floor but whenever I had to move it, it was a pain in the butt because it was so heavy so I finally decided to build a cart for the furnace. There are two main components that were designed to make my life a bit easier: The cart itself and the lifting mechanism.

The cart was welded with regular 1" square steel tubing, all starting with the base of a isosceles triangle. I then expanded on it until the base was somewhat trapezoidal-ish looking. The wheels are about 25 or 30 bucks each so I figured if i can make the cart so it will take the wheels from my scaffolding unit which I don't use very often I can have some decent wheels without the cost.

I cut three 4" long pieces of 1-1/2" square steel tubing planning to weld them perpendicular to the base but the problem was that the square ends of the wheels from the scaffolding units were just a bit too big to easily slide into the tubing so I used my propane burner (I didn't want to waste the acetylene gas) to heat up the tubing red hot, then I hammered the square end of the wheels into the tubing to expand them. Afterwards I did some good old fashioned blacksmithing to fit it perfectly, then welded them to the base.

The third point of the base triangle (two received a wheel) got a simple removable leg with a pin so if I need to take off the wheels for the scaffolding unit I can take the leg off as well and have the furnace sit flat on the ground.

Next came the lifting mechanism. I took two pipes (2" diameter and 1-3/4" diameter) one fitting into the other and welded the larger pipe to the base of the cart. Then I drilled a hole through the smaller pipe large enough to stick a 3/4" square steel tubing through it, attach the custom cast oblong lifting mechanisms (my neighbor cut the MDF patterns on his cnc machine for me), added a handle to turn the square tubing by 90 degrees and then swing the lid over and away from the furnace body.

Pictures:

Lifting Mechanism of foundry furnace cart

Casting the parts for the lifting mechanism (and the bed of my gingery lathe)

The cart after its base was built

The two oblong lifting mechanisms with a built in set screw

Ring that sits on the larger vertical pipe that lets the above parts slide on them

After the lifting mechanism parts were pulled out of the sand

After the round sliding mechanism was pulled out of the sand

Tools:
Grinder, foundry furnace & molds for casting parts, drill press, hammer, mig welder, bench grinder, tap & die set, drill, socket set, screw drivers, propane torch, acetylene torch, measuring tape, markers

Materials:
Probably about 10 feet of 3/4" square steel tubing, 1 foot of 1-1/2" tubing, 2 feet of 1-1/4" tubing, 2 feet of the 2-1/4" round schedule 40 pipe, 2 feet of the 1-3/4" schedule 40 pipe, half a pound of aluminum for the lifting mechanisms, a couple of bolts

Cost:
$30.00

Time:
10hrs

Conclusion:
Working so far