As for our foundry:<div><br></div><div>We have a Johnson Gas 900SS (<a href="http://www.johnsongas.com/industrial/manuals/pdfs/900SSDirectSparkUVSafety.pdf">http://www.johnsongas.com/industrial/manuals/pdfs/900SSDirectSparkUVSafety.pdf</a>) with 2 control boxes. One uses LP gas, the other uses natural gas.</div>
<div><br></div><div>This includes having 6 different crucibles in various sizes, up to and including a gallon. We also scored the tongs, casting boxes (dozens of..), and other steel implements for dealing with red hot graphite and liquid metal.</div>
<div><br></div><div>We've been working with various techniques for making molds. We started with making our own green sand and pressing patterns, then upgraded to petrobond (<a href="http://www.budgetcastingsupply.com/Jupiter_Blend_Foundry_Sand.php">http://www.budgetcastingsupply.com/Jupiter_Blend_Foundry_Sand.php</a>) and are pretty happy with it.</div>
<div><br></div><div>We have also been playing with lost wax and lost foam casting. The surprising secret to lost foam seems to be dipping the foam pieces into drywall texturizer before casting. This stuff hardens into a thin shell of limestone which has been giving us some pretty spectacular results. We've also tried casting foam that is painted with wax to create a smoother texture, which worked out but needs more testing.</div>
<div><br>We are eager to try investment casting ABS parts from a 3d printer, if possible. We don't have access to a printer so we're on hold on that little experiment.</div><div><br></div><div>Our entire foundry operation is mounted onto carts and is mobile, so we hope to be able to take this little operation on the road sometime.</div>
<div><br></div><div>Another neat tool we've been using is a wood block with a steel plate attached as a bit in a palm nailer. This is our ghetto-rigged attempt to create an alternative to a pneumatic shake/jolt machine.</div>
<div><br></div><div>Lots of pics on the FB page of our tools and tests.<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Jun 7, 2011 at 12:54 AM, ryan martin <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:ryan.jason.martin@gmail.com">ryan.jason.martin@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">Ooops, I forgot the goods! We have a facebook group here (<a href="http://www.facebook.com/c7atlanta" target="_blank">http://www.facebook.com/c7atlanta</a>) with tons of pictures. Take a look.<div>
<br>One of our operating principles is to provide semi-daily meals for members. We announce what/when on the FB group. It's been pretty interesting trying to feed our entire membership as part of our space, and our croc pots have become pretty sophisticated. It's definitely one of the biggest draws from the folks that operate out of the commercial space we are in.<div>
<div></div><div class="h5"><br>
<br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Jun 7, 2011 at 12:12 AM, strages <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:strages@gmail.com" target="_blank">strages@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
First off, congrats on starting a new hackerspace! Despite the<br>
growing numbers, there just aren't enough in the world yet. I'm<br>
interested to hear more about your sand casting station and the hot<br>
air balloons! We just moved into a new space that's about ~1000sqft<br>
more than the one you visited us in. We're still working to get it<br>
back into a usable configuration, but making good progress. We'll<br>
likely do an open house style event when it's done, which you're all<br>
welcome to. July 2nd we're doing our annual Retro Gaming & Computing<br>
Night which you're also welcome to attend. We'll certainly do our<br>
best to be hospitable .<br>
<br>
Raymond<br>
<div><div></div><div><br>
On Mon, Jun 6, 2011 at 10:52 PM, ryan martin<br>
<<a href="mailto:ryan.jason.martin@gmail.com" target="_blank">ryan.jason.martin@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>
> Howdy Makers!<br>
> My name is Ryan and I came through Makers Local 256 some year and a half<br>
> ago. I was with Freddy, Justin, and Bethany and we where at the time<br>
> travelling and speaking about the Pirate Party. Freddy and Justin spent some<br>
> time hanging the sign at the old space, and in general we still speak of<br>
> your community there as being one of the most open and awesome spaces we<br>
> ever saw.<br>
> After nearly a year travelling we decided we wanted to plant roots and start<br>
> a space up on our own. We discovered during the tour that most hackerspaces<br>
> aren't as politically interested as we are as individuals, so we decided the<br>
> best bet was to start a new space around us rather than try to join an<br>
> existing space. We scraped and recruited and found enough members for a<br>
> pretty good sized space in Atlanta.<br>
> We've been in our space a year now and we really want to 'step up our game'<br>
> a bit. We have talked about it and we are looking for a sister space to work<br>
> with. We'd like to find a space that would like to do some<br>
> remote conferencing with us; to let us remotely participate in talks and<br>
> classes, and maybe even to do the same back.<br>
> We have an operational foundry and sand casting station, about 200<br>
> firebricks, 2 hot air balloons, and about 14 members. The trip between the<br>
> spaces is only about 3 hours long, so it's totally reasonable that sometimes<br>
> we might even be able to bring most of our membership that-a-ways for<br>
> events.<br>
> Either way, there is a bit of an update to anyone who wondered what happened<br>
> to 'those pirate guys'. Hope to hear back sometime :)<br>
> Ryan Martin<br>
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