Pattern Making for the Foundry - The Basics you NEED to Know!

Some of the basics you need to know if you are going to make a pattern to have cast in metal at a foundry along with examples of patterns that I have in my collection made both by myself as well as professional pattern makers. Patterns need:

1 - Draft
2 - No sharp Corners - radiuses and fillets
3 - Scaled up in size to account for Shrink
4 - Be extremely smooth

Check out some molding videos at Windy Hill Foundry:

Make a one time donation to VintageMachinery via PayPal:

Sponsored by:
American Rotary Phase Converters
Use checkout code "Vintage10" for a 10% discount on all AD, ADX and AI converters!

[Oh-oulp]

I feel like I just took a useful course, its School how it use to be were, you know you LEARN something Thank you very much.

[matthewmarkle]

When I graduated high school in 1993 i worked as a Pattern Making Apprentice for at Dussault Foundry in Lockport NY for a year and a half until they closed. I learned a ton about wood working that I still use today. I stil have a couple of shrink rules in my toolbox, havent had a use for them in near 30 years.

[mdouglaswray]

GOOD STUFF! The old skills take TIME and DISCIPLINE. Thanks for helping keep them alive!

[marvinpybus]

Keith, you are a walking encyclopedia of metal working knowledge. Always enjoy your videos.

[mrzon]

Always good to speak to the foundry or machine shop who you intend to use as different machine capabilities can change the way the part is/can be made dramatically and sometimes just adding a hole to help holding the piece or small flats on a round flange can make the world of difference to the machine shop ... and in turn cut your costs.

[horatiohornblower]

I remember from my youth that mould makers were among the best paid workers in the engineering works near by. One of them had his own work shop isolated from the main hall. This was long before 3D-printing and CNC. Professors from the university discussed with him the plans they had designed. More than once the mould maker got the last word. One day my mother asked him to make a table for us. The result was a genuine work of art which became a heirloom.

[mrnate]

Hardly anyone wants to pay for quality patterns anymore in the UK, which is a shame. Most of the work that gets brought into us to mould are architectural pieces that have been sitting in all weather conditions for years. Using “CO2 sand” gets over a multitude of problems when dealing with terrible patterns.

Great video.

[garyrhodes]

olfoundryman has a very good channel on casting and patterns

[karlgoebeler]

Newbie in the house The hidden info I need Thanks for the presentation

[davidstreeter]

My former employment was at the Dodge foundry where they had thousands of patterns along with core boxes, molding machines and core machines. We used oil sand for cores which required baking and chemically bonded sand which set up by chemical reaction along with so2 catalyzed core sand. Our melting capacity for iron was 150 or so tons per day. Keeping track of patterns and core boxes involved several individuals. Everything which you said was spot on.

[nicksayajirao]

Great run through the basics. Took me back. My first job out of University was as a design engineer for automotive brake rotors and drums. Back then we cast them in house, so i had to prepare designs for both finished parts and rough castings. The foundry mainly did high volume but simple castings for flywheels, bearing caps, rotors, drums and similar and used a modern vertical flaskless moulding line to do it. But they also had a traditional green sand line and used it to make all sorts of special castings - everything from repairing older machine tools to casting brake blocks for the company’s switching locomotives. Even in the mid eighties pattern making was a dying art. As you say, casting cylinder blocks was a different order of complexity, great video thoroughly enjoyed being transported back 40 years.

[tomthumb]

I’ve watched this video several times since it was uploaded a couple of years ago and still find the content really interesting. You explain everything so well that, apart from being so informative, it’s really fascinating to watch. I wish there were more people making such detailed and interesting video content. Thanks for a great video.

[anricedeybat]

Keith, I just want to say well done on this video. I used to work as an assistant pattern maker in an iron foundry and you gave a lot of good information here that should be very useful to anybody needing to make a pattern. I especially thought your explanation of cores was very good. I have tried to explain cores and core prints to people and sometimes the concept of how they work just confuses people. "What do you mean you have to add a piece to make a hole? That doesn't make any sense!" Well, yeah it does. Thanks again. DCN

[dennisleadbetter]

Hi Keith,
Great video on a very skilled process. Thanks for that.

I've been watching a series on the rebuilding of a 120 year old gaff rigged sailing boat, the Tally Ho and they have been making the patterns and casting the floors and other braces in bronze. They are quite large casings and odd shapes. That was a very interesting process, and Leo, the shipwright, did considerable explanations on the process, including shrinkage, draft, radiused corners, the pour hole locations, and the relief openings so you get a full casting, and also showed the casting boxes being filled and rammed, split apart and then the actual pour.

[normmcrae]

I bet Clark is REALLY going to appreciate you making this!

[jamesstanlake]

Excellent information. WHILE IN HIGH SCHOOL OUR SHOP CLASS MADE ALUMINUM SAND CASTINGS AS A WAY TO RAISE MONEY FOR GENERAL SHOP MATERIALS AND REPAIRS. I got hired by the local foundry to work part time during the school year and ful time in the summer and enjoyed the foundry process a great deal.

[d.mushroomhunter]

Hey Keith great video I actually watched it twice.!! I worked for 5 years on the pouring line at Cadillac casting in northwest Michigan..(if you look on their website I was one of the spacemen in the silver suit with the green mask) we made and used lots of patterns, mostly to make pig molds.. (molds to put extra iron not used in production) but every year we made horseshoes for the summertime. And huge 20 in iron skillets for deer camp season (in our downtime of course) we made patterns for both and used resin sand to cast them and you had to take them home and clean them up yourself.. we also used a spray on very slick graphite type pattern release. And by the way just because I thought it was funny the second time I watched the video I counted every time you said pattern... 150 times in 50 minutes 😜 thanks for spreading the knowledge I love your videos I really wish I had some machinery to play on!

[artszabo]

I worked at Union Malleable (foundry) in Ashland, Ohio in 1971-72. Everything you said was spot on target. Excellent job of cramming so much knowledge in such a short video and still easily grasped. Wonderful job Keith!!
Art

[mattymcsplatty]

great videos. great channel. oh, did anyone else see the sneaky kitten? haha

[MrArtVendelay]

When I took pattermanking in HS in 1968 we used wax with a heated ball tool to press the fillet into the pattern.