Constructing A Byzantine Sundial-Calendar - Part 3 (Making The Arbors, Ratchet & Bowl)

A pool treatment called Sparex also works very well and is safe to handle. It works very well with copper, faster if warmed. For brass, I recently learned adding a little hydrogen peroxide to the Sparex accelerates it substantially. This is particularly useful if you have heated the brass to the point that you have boiled off some of the surface tin, exposing the copper. Sparex takes forever to etch down to the brass, while with a little bit of H2O2 it does a bang up job. Just watch it carefully so it doesn’t go too far. FYI, I haven’t found the exact “best” ratio yet. As little as 1 part to 10 of H2O2 to Sparex solution works well, but note the H2O2 slowly degrades to water.

Brad Thayer

Certainly mate - for copper based alloys a dilute sulphuric acid solution works well, approx 5% by volume. Preferably buy it premixed if you can, and be super cautious in handling with eyeware, gloves etc as always. A 10 to 30 minute dip depending on what sort of scale you're dealing with generally takes care of the worst of it, then hand finishing to clean up the rest as required - Cheers :)

Clickspring

Hi Chris, was wondering if you could tell me about your acid pickle? I'm about to silver solder some old brass drawer pulls back together and am pretty ignorant of acid pickles. Cheers, Chris

Chris

Gday Chris, Now I've just gotta get a foundry that was just way to cool not to have a go TFS G :)

Graeme Brumfitt

Hey Tom - For brazing I use standard LPG, with the hand held burner on a hose. I generally make a temporary hearth with some fire bricks to keep the heat somewhat localised, but if the heat isn't getting in properly another thing worth trying is some Kaowool to make simple shroud/forge - It significantly improves the efficiency of the operation, and keeps the heat a lot more localized - Cheers :)

Clickspring

Excellent as always Chris! What sort of gas do you use / recommend for brazing? I struggle to get enough heat with a small propane torch + a butane burner (weed burner! lol). I'm working at a similar scale to you, but in steel usually. Cheers, Tom

Tom Wazny

Ha ha! Cheers Kevin :)

Clickspring

I just got this Patreon notification so I followed it to here. I was supposed to be working out in the shop, but nooooo, there is this Clickspring series of videos taunting me to watch. Well, there goes the shop time...

Kevin Reardon

So pleased you're enjoying them mate!

Clickspring

I'm super late to the party on this one, but wow. Terrific video as always! It would seem to me like the casting method would be easier and better in most ways (besides the need of a foundry ofc.), but then again I have practically no real world experience doing this myself. I am definitively a sucker for a good video with casting of parts, especially if it's made of brass. The angles you capture together with the edits is absolutely wonderful. Your videos are definitively one of my favorite things on the internet. You have every right to be proud of your outstanding metalwork as well as your production quality.

Hey Andreas, nothing has changed - $3+ Patrons get a week of early access to the AM episodes as part of the reward for that level of support, after which the videos are given a general release on YouTube for everyone to access. Cheers :)

Clickspring

Are all future AM episodes only going to be available for $3+ patrons, or are they going to be available on youtube like the previous 5 episodes?

Hey Matthew, terrific to have you on board mate! Yup its a real problem for us in Oz, both materials and tools are so difficult to source, and so expensive - I started shooting the next TGT yesterday which will touch on this and a few other related topics, so watch out for that one in a bit over a week. In the meantime, here is a copy paste from another post, that will get you started on the materials :) "Gage plate: www.hales.com.au - A good range of high carbon steel plate stock, will do over the phone and post orders. Silver Steel (drill rod) - Visit your local Blackwoods to put in the order, they carry everything from 1/8th inch up to about 1.5 inch (and metric equivalents) and ship fairly quickly for an instore pickup Brass: www.georgeweston.com.au or www.georgewhite.com.au - Very expensive material and very expensive shipping from either BNE or MEL, but they carry everything you could ever want including bronze, copper etc Mild steel: www.mesupplies.com.au - Wayne is excellent for the small MS rod stock, small plate stock and other model engineering sized stock. Exotics like Invar etc: www.iantcobb.co.uk - Ian is excellent to deal with, carries a lot of the clock only stuff too like pivot steel, silvering compound, dial wax etc The other thing is to hit the local machine shops to see what they have sitting on their offcuts shelf or scrap bin. If you turn up with some folding, they often will let you have some of the best stuff for very little, particularly if you let them know you're a home machinist. Also find the local aluminium fabricators (boats builders, trailers etc) and do the same. Al is excellent for making adapter plates, stand offs etc as well as simple practice items, and its way easier (and cheaper) to source in our part of the world than steel. And lastly find the local sheet metal shop (ie the folks who work exclusively with sheet metal using a magna bend, spot welding etc to fabricate from sheet metal, not a general machine shop) You will get the 0.7mm to 4mm sheet stock very cheaply for making more substantial structures."

Clickspring

Hiya Chris! New to Patreon and a pleasure to be here! I holler from Geelong Australia, and as you may know we once had Alcoa and Ford factories down here though having troubles tooling myself is an understatement, Uni is taking up a lot of my spare money thus I find it very expensive to even get stock or scrap to make into stock. One of the very few metal stores here only sell; Brass, Al or Mild steel - so my question is, where abouts do you source your metals? Or better yet, get some starting tools to be able to make your own tools?

Matthew Thomas

Hey Mart, I shoot everything first, and then add the overlay later - It usually involves a bit of to and fro between SW and the footage to align the model with the part (ie move the model,check,move it a bit more, check again etc). I generally just run with the perspective that the camera gives me, since its a camcorder with a fixed lens. Although it does tend to be fairly close to true perspective most of the time, providing the part is central to the frame. Occasionally I tweak the perspective of the model within SW to get a better fit, but its not often I have to do that - overall it's very time consuming to get a good match tho! - All the best to you and yours mate :)

Clickspring

Hey Casper, I'm finishing up the edit of the latest AM episode at the moment, so it should be out for $3 Patrons in a day or two, cheers :)

Clickspring

Hey Chris! Great fan of your content! When is your next video coming out? Cheers!

Hi Chris, wonderful videos again and again and again. I did a search for YouTube awards, for content excellence to nominate you, but it seems they don't exist yet... Anyway I have a production question for you. When you overlay your SW models onto your stock to be produced it aligns very nicely. Can you tell us, do you align the real world to the simulation or visa versa. I tried both and its not easy. Are you able to do some kind of warp in your video editing suite? ("we'll fix it in post"). Also did you have to match your focal length settings too to get accurate perspective? Have a great X-Mas and summer.

Mart Hough

Thank you mate!

Clickspring

Absolutely beautiful work! Chris, your craftsmanship and attention to detail astound me, and I've got a healthy amount of OCD myself... I find myself slowly shaking my head, mouth open, watching your videos. Truly inspiring stuff!!!

Terrific work Lars! Regarding heating the part - it can be a bit time consuming to heat a large part to the temperature required to break the superglue bond, so sometimes tapping the part off is a good option :)

Clickspring

Hello Chris. I came up with another method for making the rim. I annealed a piece of brass and then I went to the local School of Technology where they have a lovely manual metal bending machine, and in half an hour and some sweat it was done. It looks OK, but who knows. In the video it seems you are just knocking the big peaces from the aluminium it was bonded to without heating. Is that the case? Are you afraid of warping the metal by heating? Cheers Lars

Lars U. Lamm

HHello Chris.

Lars U. Lamm

Cheers Joe!

Clickspring

The fact that you chose HDPE because it's more fun than wood is the whole reason I watch these videos. Keep up the great work, Chris!

Joe Fisher

OK you got it Marty - I will make this the focus of the next TGT :)

Clickspring

Hi Chris. I have never turned a bit of metal on a lathe or used a mill but tour videos are inspirational.. particularly your videos on making your own tools and tooling... I want to set up my own little workshop. A guide to your workshop and essential tools to get started would be awesome. Buying equipment is a nightmare. Getting the best for your money but making sure you have future expansion options is the bit most newbies could do with hand holding on.

Marty Jones

Thank you Nat! The very first retailer!

Clickspring

Hi Chris! Just got this in my email, very exciting to see you expanding! <a href="https://i.imgur.com/QTgKwoD.png" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://i.imgur.com/QTgKwoD.png</a>

Wobs

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAsWFgpvYhA" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAsWFgpvYhA</a>

Axel

Hey Andrew, the parting powder is Calcium Carbonate - dusting the sprue and riser ensure that the inevitable small bits of sand that drop in there while cutting the filling system are less likely to stick. They can then be simply blown out later - Cheers :)

Clickspring

Hi Chris, excellent series as usual. Can you tell me the purpose of dusting the sprue and riser? Also, what is the parting dust you use? Thank you.

Andrew Pratt

Hey Chris - I'm not really sure mate, maybe its a bit too dense?

Clickspring

G'day Chris, thanks for another fascinating video. I don't know much about home smelting/forging, but it's something I've been keeping an eye on for a while in a few different places online as I think it could be an amazingly useful skill to have! :D At first I thought you were machining the HDPE to act as a form for a "lost plastic" casting process, as I've seen some guys do with 3D-printed forms. The traditional sand-casting method makes more sense for repeatable castings of course, but what do you reckon about a "machined HDPE" lost-plastic process for home-gamers who don't have access to a 3D printer? At first glance, the idea would seem to offer an excellent finish in the cast part, but would HDPE melt readily enough to suit a wide range of metals, or any at all? And would it end up cost prohibitive compared to traditional methods? I suspect I already know the answer to the last part, or lots of people would already be doing it... interesting thoughts though, I hope. :)

Chris Talbot

Thanks Jean-Christian, I've fixed the link :)

Clickspring

Yes heading in that direction Nathan :)

Clickspring

Hi, for some reason the Metric PDF is missing or corrupt (link doesn't work).

Looks like the foundry handled the brass well, cast iron next ;)

Nathan Davey

Hey Brendan, I purchased from here: CAST METAL SERVICES 275 Toombul Rd, Northgate Brisbane QLD 4013 Australia PO Box 22 Northgate QLD 4013 Australia T +61 7 3326 4860 Cheers :)

Clickspring

Hi Chris, Excellent video. Where do you purchase Petrobond in Aus?

Brendan matheson

Hey Glen, you can find it here: <a href="https://www.patreon.com/posts/tools-glorious-3-14136290">https://www.patreon.com/posts/tools-glorious-3-14136290</a> Cheers :)

Clickspring

Thanks paul :)

Clickspring

Cheers Brian :)

Clickspring

Ha ha! Now that would be a stone setting!

Clickspring

where can i find the foundry video mentioned at the end of this one ?

Glen Beestone

This is just excellent!

Brian Ullmark

Just a giant jewelry process ! actally well made, looking forward to see the stone you will set in this lol! Great work , thanks for sharing :)

Ludovic MOUROUVIN

Brilliant.

Paul Busby

Ha ha! You're on to me!

Clickspring

How many houses around your place have no front taps Chris? ;). Great work as always,

Thank you Philippe!

Clickspring

Amazing workmanship AND production, as usual!

Ha ha! Cheers Dan!

Clickspring

Ha ha! That's not a bad idea Harri :)

Clickspring

Cheers Eric!

Clickspring

Cheers Nikolaos :)

Clickspring

Thank you Gottfried, very pleased you enjoyed it mate :)

Clickspring

Cheers Colin, glad you enjoyed it mate :)

Clickspring

Cheers Derek :)

Clickspring

I looked at that plastic part and thought "artillery shell", then saw the casting come out and thought "artillery shell". Maybe sawing the end off one would give you one more method of making that bowl. :) Brilliant video, as always.

Harri Haataja

Beautiful to see something casted and finished. Great work here again! thank you

Eric

As usual, excited for the new video and extremely disappointed to see it end. I think I would feel the same if it was a 24h episode lol Thank you Chris. Excellent work, narration and information as always! Can't wait for the next video.

Just a reminder to those who choose to use salvaged/recycled brass plumbing fittings: plumbing brass of this vintage likely contains lead. Lead was added to the brass alloy to improve machinability of the cast item. Use good industrial hygiene during the foundry and machining processes and you should be fine. If you don't use good hygiene, you could end up worse off than a resident of Flint, Michigan, USA.

Gottfried Schuss

It's a long wait between videos. But, with production values like these and the quality of your craftsmanship, completely understandable and well worth the wait.

Gottfried Schuss

Outstanding work again Chris! Well done!

... and now I need a foundry. Yet one more thing the missus will say 'no' to. Brilliant video, as always, Chris!

Another great video Chris - thanks for showing both approaches to the task, very interesting.

Derek McAllan

Cheers mate :)

Clickspring

Great stuff, as always! Can't wait to see the project completed.

Glebs

Cheers Larry!

Clickspring

Nice work!

Cheers Dean :)

Clickspring

Hey Connor - I'm pretty much brand new to casting, I've been slowly learning and making the tools over the last 8 months - I did a short video on the furnace a few weeks ago: <a href="https://www.patreon.com/posts/tools-glorious-3-14136290">https://www.patreon.com/posts/tools-glorious-3-14136290</a> and would be happy to do a similar video on the other foundry tools if there is interest - very pleased you enjoyed the vid, more casting vids on the way :)

Clickspring

This was amazing. How do you have access to the foundry and casting tools? Are these something you have used a lot in the past? I love this style of video from you.

Conner

Very interesting to see the two approaches. I've certainly turned lots of rough castings, but never made one!

Dean Thompson

Terrific to have your support Nils :)

Clickspring

It's fascinating to see that someone has paid through Patreon for this excellent quality material and craftmanship you give us and give a thumbs down. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion off course but I see no reason to give this a thumbs down. Would be interesting to hear from whoever gave that rating. Regarding my opinion on this amazing project I can only time in with the masses and say I'm equally pleased every time I watch your videos. Fantastic material and craftsmanship! Well worth $3 every month!

Either one is good I think, whatever suits the available tools :)

Clickspring

OK, Chris, so carried in to the 21st Century, what's your best?... Cast or fabricated? I'm for fabricated, judging only of the rest of the other parts so far.

Gordon Burns

Cheers mate :)

Clickspring

That cast was perfect. Thanks for for showing us both methods.

Paul Devey

Hey Jason, a pouring basin slows down the velocity of the metal as it enters the sprue, and (due to the slender sprue) primes it to exclude air. This reduces the turbulent entrainment of air and sand particles - pouring directly into the sprue (particularly if its a wide and high sprue) virtually guarantees turbulence - cheers :)

Clickspring

When prepping your casting mold, why did you scoop out a small divot in the top to pour the metal into, rather than pouring directly into the vertical inlet sprue?

jason black

A rolling machine would be perfect David - yes it would need regular annealing through the process, but I think it would give a terrific result. Cheers mate :)

Clickspring

Makes casting look simple Chris. What are your thoughts on using a rolling machine to generate the circle - need to normalise the brass before cleaning up? Very nice as always - and a second vote for the music

David Paterson

So pleased to hear that mate :)

Clickspring

I will never be able to fully express how fascinating this is. I will never have to time or resources to do these things myself, but the happiness you bring by sharing your work like this is wonderful. Also, I don't think you've ever credited the music you use, but it's quite pleasant.

ViridisCrow

Cheers Mart :)

Clickspring

You make forming that ring look so easy! Another fantastic episode.

Mart Hough

Thank you mate!

Clickspring

Absolutely flawless casting, mate! Extremely impressed with how well it turned out! And your machining is still out of this world!

Cameron Gunter

I agree with you on the sand Gordon - Its petrobond, but its definitely carrying an excess of the bonding agent, so it is indeed very "wet". In fact its almost like a moist clay, so its not great for the surface finish. This is how it came directly out of the drum, so I assume its because its very new. I think it will probably dry out a bit over time as the oil cooks off a bit - At least I hope so, because its currently very difficult to sift!

Clickspring

I'm only part into this video so far, mate but since my last comment I must say that your circling of the quite wide brass strip to an almost perfect circle was nothing short of masterfully executed. Nice one Chris, mate! And there's more... I thought that the green sand (on film) seemed to be a tad too wet but it worked out just fine, so not a problem and probably a video artefact. I was once told (in the late 60s) by an old bell founder, then nearing retirement after 50 years of foundry work, man and boy, that if your green sand is too wet, you risk an in-flask explosion and serious injury (or serious death) to the founder who is, of course, you. Now, having said that, I share your passion for melting stuff. The casting came out perfectly and was machined perfectly. Both end products were equally as good as each other, so up to you which method you will use, mate. My kindest regards, my antipodean friend. Gordon

Gordon Burns

Ha ha! Thank you mate!

Clickspring

Thank you very much Ryan - Mrs Clickspring is hankering for a USA holiday, so it will definitely happen one day :)

Clickspring

Me too Scott! I have so many ideas queued up, I just wish there was a way to get them recorded quicker :)

Clickspring

Hey mate, if there was ever a video taken of an archetypal example of silver soldering, then this video takes the biscuit. I'd have left the piece in the pickle for 30 minutes to dissolve all the borax flux but that's personal preference, although thinking about it, it's all going to be machined so you're probably quite right, given the circumstances and the end result. Keep up the bloody good (nay, precision) work, Chris. My kindest regards, as always, Gordon (your Pommie nemesis).

Gordon Burns

Hey Adam, yes I keep everything that is a practical size, although its really interesting to see the slightly different behavior of the extruded brass (ie the scraps from machining) compared to the cast brass (ie taps etc) when molten - the cast brass is more fluid and pours much better, whereas the extruded brass is slightly more viscous, and doesn't flow as well. So I'll probably continue to use the machining offcuts for making unusual sized stock, but probably not so much for actual part castings with delicate features. Cheers :)

Clickspring

Terrific to hear that Michael :)

Clickspring

Thank you mate!

Clickspring

Hey mate, I got it from Cast metal Services, details below: CAST METAL SERVICES 275 Toombul Rd, Northgate Brisbane QLD 4013 Australia PO Box 22 Northgate QLD 4013 Australia T +61 7 3326 4860

Clickspring

Hey Clayton - The parting powder in the sprue and riser reduce the likelihood of sand that gets dropped inside sticking to the inside. Its a trick I picked up from Martin the Olfoundryman on YT (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC90RoN_IjSRF18jAG0HIA6g" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC90RoN_IjSRF18jAG0HIA6g</a>) check him out, he's the real deal, 40 years in foundry work as a metallurgist producing seriously impressive castings. After speaking with him at length about gating, its clear that a wide conical pourer directly above a huge sprue is not good casting practice - Way too much turbulence, and the metal is travelling too fast when it hits the mould leading to entrained air and sand - A much narrower sprue is required, and the basin idea is a further refinement to slow down the metal velocity on entry to the sprue and (due to the slender sprue) effectively prime it to exclude air - from a text by the master foundryman John Campbell. I will be trying out all of his gating ideas over the next few casting videos, its revolutionary stuff. Cheers mate :)

Clickspring

As always, an excellent and fascinating video. If you should any time in the near future find yourself in the United States and are anywhere near the Mainland Colony (aka Washington DC), I'd love to buy you a beer.

Just received the email and watched the video. Another great way to spend my day. I only wish these were coming every day.

Scott Clausen

Hey Chris, another great video. I was wondering if you save all the off cuts and chips from the brass work you do and smelt them into more stock to use? Do you think that you have enough scrap to make that a viable plan?

Wow, I'll never throw away another brass faucet. I enjoyed the casting and mold making process too.

Michael Lloyd

Awesome video. Those ten minutes fly by!

John Saunders (NYC CNC)

Hey Chris, where'd you turn up PB sand in AU? or was that an international purchase as well?

Jrandom Bob

Hey Jim, I use calcium carbonate - I get mine from a local foundry supplier, but I am told that the white boundary line marking powder used for sports grounds is also calcium carbonate powder. Cheers :)

Clickspring

Great video, as always. What parting dust do you use?

Jim Trowbridge

Hey Chris, Amazing video as usual. I have 2 questions about the casting/mold making process that you used. 1. What is the purpose of the talc in the sprue/riser holes? I've not seen this done before. 2. Why the complex gating? Again i've never seen anyone put a reservoir in the upper side of the cope before. Cheers.

Clayton Firth

Hey Ralph, yes it is - the reason for making the "bottom" thinner is that it makes viewing through the slots to see the silvered node display a little easier. Cheers :)

Clickspring

Chris, finished dial has .08 sides and the "bottom" is .06. Is this correct ?

Ralph McCoy

Thanks Chris, so pleased you enjoyed it mate :)

Clickspring

Fantastic way to start the evening. Thank you Chris. Fantastic as always.

Chris Muncy

Ha ha! Cheers mate :)

Clickspring

omg I don't think we have ever seen Chris's arms before. I thought he was just floating hands and a calming voice. I cant wait for the torso! Great vid as always!

Anthony

Awesome mate, thank you!

Clickspring

Got the notification and dropped what I was doing to watch. Great one Chris!

Terrific to hear that John :)

Clickspring

My day just got better! Great as always.

Maybe one day mate :)

Clickspring

Hey Chris, amazing video as always. Any plans on doing a face reveal any time soon?

Ha ha! Cheers mate :)

Clickspring

My goodness this day just took a good turn, Thanks Chris!

Alice Tyrell