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cast iron in Victoria? Anybody?

jaydag71

jaydag71

Member
This is an off the hip question so I'll accept whatever comes of it but I'm curious if anyone knows where some cast iron chunks could be found in Victoria, or better yet if theres somebody with a small home foundry setup that takes on small projects? Ive got no clue what the cost of something custom cast may be but I'm interested in knowing!

Also curious whether theres anyplace local that sells scrap cutoffs, small pieces of thicker cr or similar? many thanks, J
 
jaydag71 said:
anyplace local that sells scrap cutoffs,
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Last time I was at Metal supermarket in Keating I asked about offcuts and they said they have a barrel out back. You need to tell them what you're looking for and they'll go see if they have it.
 
YotaBota said:
Last time I was at Metal supermarket in Keating I asked about offcuts and they said they have a barrel out back. You need to tell them what you're looking for and they'll go see if they have it.
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Blaaaaa……. gone are the days of pulling stuff out of the offcuts bins and placing them on the weight scale. I miss that. Could weight out your max spend for the month LOL. Now you have to have each piece evaluated and priced just to say no thank you, I'll pass.
 
I actually find our local
Metal Supermarket to be competitive.
 
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haha lovely responses! ive heard about trying weights out and certainly will keep my eyes out for some of those oldies, but yup, only ones i own are those crappy mortar filled plastic cheapos. i actually used to have a fair sized set of the good ones but i gave them away because i never used them, years back of course...

I actually havent been out to the metal supermarket yet- not sure how the covid has affected them yet either but i have browsed their site...though I'm inexperienced enough to know better, their stock seemed quite limited and the prices were just shocking for the few pieces I looked up quotes for.

You had me for a moment with the scrap bin out back,,,,thats about what I'm looking for as a beginner, not keen on spending a fortune on materials if possible...i was thinking of trying a scrap place, just going in with my cutoff wheels and asking if i can cut out a selection of pieces from their piles of scrap...anyone tried this approach or am I going too ghetto here? hehe. thanks again everyone.
 
id like to find something fairly substantial, around 5 or 6" l & w and 2 or 3 " thick if poss, would also like to find a piece similar to what one of those weights would offer,has to be a 6" diam min...ive heard mixed reviews on using those old weights too, some apparently not decent specimens...still, I'll be keeping my eyes open next time im at value village!
 
im also saving for a tig atm so will be needing a decent supply of scrap to play with....cant wait to start messing with that.
 
ye
YYCHobbyMachinist said:
You're living in an apt? Where are you going to do that???
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yep its a small one too- well the tig im shooting for runs on both 110v and 220 i believe, so i technically could do a bit of welding here if i had to but prob wouldnt, ill more likely take it to a buds and just leave it there for practice until I move in a few mo...im getting a bit of a deal on the machine and its shipping otherwise would prob wait it out...
 
jaydag71 said:
ye

yep its a small one too- well the tig im shooting for runs on both 110v and 220 i believe, so i technically could do a bit of welding here if i had to but prob wouldnt, ill more likely take it to a buds and just leave it there for practice until I move in a few mo...im getting a bit of a deal on the machine and its shipping otherwise would prob wait it out...
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What TIG machine are you looking at?
 
jaydag71 said:
id like to find something fairly substantial, around 5 or 6" l & w and 2 or 3 " thick if poss, would also like to find a piece similar to what one of those weights would offer,has to be a 6" diam min...ive heard mixed reviews on using those old weights too, some apparently not decent specimens...still, I'll be keeping my eyes open next time im at value village!
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I'm no expert but AIUI if cast iron is cooled very quickly, it becomes VERY hard. If it is intended to be machined, it should be cooled quite gradually. When casting weight plates, I doubt they would go to the extra bother of cooling slowly. I believe you can anneal the metal by heating and then slowly cooling. I think I've read that tossing the pieces into a bonfire will get them hot enough and the ashes will cool slow enough. Never tried it.

Craig
 
if your in a bind for C.I.... Urban municipalities leave thousands of chunks just laying around in the streets...might want to be careful whose watching when your picking some up tho....
Just to look like an authentic city employee, you might want to put on a hardhat and fluorescent red "target" vest and let 3 or 4 empty "timmies" coffee cups roll out of your pick-up.

actually, in all seriousness now, lots of manhole covers get damaged & chipped over the years and a city yard probably has a pile of them just rusting away.
 
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David_R8 said:
What TIG machine are you looking at?
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hiya, good question and one that took a whole lotta research since itll be my first tig machine (have a mig and some gas torches currently, but have always wanted a tig!)...im going for the primeweld tig225. wasnt able to find anything in Canukada that came close in spec, price AND positive reviews. After some back n forth with the owner and some brief whining about the state of our trade situation with the states vs china, he offered me a couple of discounts that just sweeten the deal... im just "resaving" my sheckles after an expensive xmas....
 
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