Modern baseburner reproduction

In the old days, us kids would cast iron in High School shop class. Look around, there may be a teacher in the area interested in a project like that. Trade schools too if there is one local.

coaledsweat wrote: ↑

Tue. Feb. 26, 2019 8:17 am

In the old days, us kids would cast iron in High School shop class. Look around, there may be a teacher in the area interested in a project like that. Trade schools too if there is one local.

"In the old days"....

Lawyers have driven that "dangerous" hands-on stuff out of schools. I got all the casting equipment and some power tools from my Brother's school on Long Island when the shop teacher was told to throw it all out because they were afraid some kid's parent's would sue the school if junior got hurt. As my Brother said, shop classes have become only build things out of popsicle sticks and white glue.

Many of the Trade Schools are not all they used to be either.

I tried hiring some of the local BOCES trade school kids. Amazing what little they actually learn. I gave up after a few years because all I was doing was running a school to teach kids how to use tools, and do work, that they should have already known, and I was not getting my work done. One of my workers who left after 6 weeks because he couldn't learn auto paint work - after he had already graduated from the BOCES autobody course - became the BOCES instructor after his instructor there retired. Shortly after, his bank-teller wife became the nursing class instructor and she was never a nurse.

Paul

In Erie PA there used to be a pattern shop but it has closed a few

years ago. Most patterns can now be printed or machined on computer

controlled machines and this eliminates much of the hand work.

The casting process is too expensive for many projects and has been

replaced by using machined parts with weldments.

BigBarney

Kingcoal::::
This is a boiler as you can see but all that would have to be changed

is the heat exchanger section to be able to be a stove or furnace...



Here is the original base burner from 1868....

I doubt if many on this forum have ever seen this patent and detailed

operations of its unique design in 1868 ....



Gives much of the design work details and was followed up by multiple

patents and reworks of this design. There's a lot of similar designs later

with other enhancements and mods but this details the process that

Littlefield drew up and patented in 1868 .. I have followed up on hundreds

of the later patents and came up to the 1940 -1990 ' s with many other ideas,

I have spent 1000's of hours reading each patent and seeing if any real value

is contained in them ,some have promise but the coal stove era is over and

central heat is the norm so very few new items come up.

BigBarney

That book was posted here years ago. I’d venture to say most BB/BH fanatics have read it. It’s old news really.

I was looking back through one of the books I read about the stove making process.
They mentioned these calipers, and it reads like the stove shops made those themselves.
However, I did some internet searches to see if anyone makes something like these or whether there are antiques of these sold. I did not find anything, other than calipers for other industries, such as automotive brake calipers.

Do these calipers still exist?

An old idea still around. Do a search using "outside calipers" in quotes.

Similar ones are still made for the same purpose. Most commonly used by wood furniture makers, carvers, and especially wood turners. Machinist's have their versions, also.

I have several different types I use in my restoration work. Some I've made, some were handed down in my family.

Paul

I use my dividers/calipers pretty regularly in tight or hard to reach areas.

Yep to all shapes and sizes.

They are pretty accurate with some practice using them. Can hold .001 of an inch.

I have 1 inch up to 24 inch. Many,many pairs.

Sunny Boy wrote: An old idea still around. Do a search using "outside calipers" in quotes.
... ...
Paul

Thanks Paul!
I found many searching on that.

mntbugy wrote: I use my dividers/calipers pretty regularly in tight or hard to reach areas.

How and when would a divider be used in stove making/repair?

Dividers can be used to check some inside to inside, or inside to outside dimensions. And during layout work when you need to mark off many distances that are the same, such as the center points to punch when drilling a series of holes. The sharp points of divides scratch a finer, more precise line on surfaces and layout paints such as Prussian Blue than calipers can.

In woodworking, the points of dividers leave holes in the wood to better see where to drill, or cut. They can also be used to scribe cut lines parallel to an edge, or arcs to be cut.

The shapes of calipers can be as varied as the many needs.

I just used a large version of a divider called a trammel, to make patterns for spare tire covers I'm sewing up. Rather than a single hinged joint connecting the long legs of the pivot point and the marking point, the trammel legs are short and clamp on a long bar. It's for doing large circles. In this case 34 inch diameter, which would be tougher to make an accurate circle with a caliper that had long legs that would flex, while the very short legs of a trammel don't. And yes, it's home made, as are many of my measuring and layout tools.

Paul

The books I have read on metal casting, they explain a lot about core support in the greensand mold.
I can't say that I can visualize the process apart from their illustrations, also reading these books over time means I forget a lot of it. Most of the examples that I recall are engine blocks, pumps, and valves.

When I think about how these stoves were made, I just cannot think of any of the parts that would have needed core support.
Were there parts of these stoves, such as for base burners that required core support when being cast?

Have decided on a stove piece I want to create a pattern for as practice.
While measuring and looking the piece over, where the piece connects to the rest of the stove it is on a curve.
If I end up making the pattern too large or not the right curve at this spot, then the cast would need shaved down.
What tools should be used to grind down iron?

I remember seeing someone who had an electric grinding wheel inside an enclosure to capture the dust, but the cast will be too big for that I think (to angle it). Perhaps a dremel tool?

Soooo, you're talkin cutting not grindin!! Measure twice--pour once!!!

gardener wrote: ↑

Fri. Jan. 17, 2020 8:42 am

Have decided on a stove piece I want to create a pattern for as practice.
While measuring and looking the piece over, where the piece connects to the rest of the stove it is on a curve.
If I end up making the pattern too large or not the right curve at this spot, then the cast would need shaved down.
What tools should be used to grind down iron?

I remember seeing someone who had an electric grinding wheel inside an enclosure to capture the dust, but the cast will be too big for that I think (to angle it). Perhaps a dremel tool?

Depends on how big an area you need to grind and what finished shape is needed.

For small areas, yes, a Dremel Tool will work. For big areas it not only would be slow, it is less likely to give an even surface using such small grinding bits as will only fit in a Dremel. That's the reason that grinders come in different types and sizes, such as various sizes of hand held, or stationary grinding machines.

Paul

i think there is great potential in the 3D printing vein for doing solid reusable patterns for casting the problem seems to be in scanning or otherwise preparing a file for the printer to work with.

also I have no idea what can be done at this time with mating surfaces, how is the finish from this process ? I know they are making gun parts so it must be fairly close ?