Amaya Blackstone (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
special_rabbit) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fandomhigh2024-02-06 05:07 am
special_rabbit) wrote in fandomhigh2024-02-06 05:07 am
Entry tags:
Shop Class; Tuesday, Fourth Period [02/06].
Amaya was actually looking forward to coming into class today, not only because they would be working on one of her favorite projects this week, but it also meant getting to take a break from mushy holiday orders and that was very welcome right now. If it weren't for that siren call of the shiny gold coin that she loved so much, she'd probably try to find ways to stick around well after class, too.
Or find some other excuse not to return to the shop, anyway. A-hem.
But for now! Class! And an exciting one at that, because....
"It's mini-foundry day, everyone!" she announced when everyone had gathered around. "One of my staple lessons for every shop class, mini-foundry day is the day we move from talking about the equipment we use in this class to actually making some equipment that we'll use in this class! This is a handy little project to build something that'll help us melt metal for other projects, which is always a good time when we get there. Now, the project itself is pretty involved, though, so let's just get right into it.
"We'll go through the steps together and stop me if you have any questions as we're working through it. For your mini metal foundry, you'll all find a bag of play sand, a bag of plaster of paris, some steel wool, and a ten pound steel bucket. We've also got a small bucket for measuring that we'll use again, too, and a larger bucket for mixing. We're going to ahead and pour one and three quarters buckets of the plaster of paris into the larger bucket, one and three quarters buckets full of sand, and one and one quarter buckets of water, but once that water hits, we've only got about fifteen minutes before it starts to harden, so get ready to get in there and start mixing it up. If you'd like to use a mixing stick, I've got 'em, but I really recommend using your hands for this one, as it's the best way to make sure all the dry materials get fully mixed. It's also one of the few projects we'll work on where gloves aren't recommended for that exact reason, though if you're a little squicky about the squishiness, latex gloves should do just fine."
Once everyone had gotten in there and gotten their mix on, Amaya had them wash their hands before moving onto the next part. "Now, when you transfer your mix into the steel bucket, you'll want to pour it nice and slow, don't rush it too much, don't want it to splatter every where. Should be getting the bucket full except about three inches from the top. Take that little bucket we used earlier, fill it with some water for some weight, and we're just going to slowly push that into the center; you'll notice the mix'll rise up and fill up the rest of the space from the displacement of the bucket. Press it down a little bit to help keep it level, and once it looks good, you're just going to hold the bucket for three minutes while the plaster hardens. While we wait, you can take some time to consider how you might want to spruce up your bucket when it's done, or just talk a bit amongst yourself, ask questions. Three minutes seems like a long time if you're just waiting, but it goes by a lot quicker if you've got something to do."
When the three minutes was up, Amaya called time, and told everyone to release their buckets. "It should stay firmly in place now. It's got a bit longer to really set and solidify, so take a few moments to clean up your spaces, wipe down the bucket, run a damp rag over the top of the plaster to give it a nice smooth texture up top. While we're waiting for that, we're going to make our crucible for the center with some old steel tanks. You want to make sure it's steel, by the way, not aluminum. You can always test it with a magnet. Let's head on over here and strap these babies into some vices, and we're going to cut in half with a hacksaw. And then we'll move onto our blower tube, which will help act as our bellows to get the fire inside our forge nice and hot enough to melt the metal we'll be working with. We've got a ourselves a steel pipe and some PVC couplings...amazing stuff, this PVC, we've got nothing like it where I'm from, but you can bet I'm going to be using the heck out of it here!, and a PVC pipe. These couplings should twist right onto your steel pipe, and the PVC pipe right into the coupling's other end. Simple as that. We'll drill the hole into the forge for the tube once it's set a bit more, but in the meantime, one more piece to complete, and that's the lid to help keep in the heat.
"Back at your stations, you'll find some U-shaped bolts and a shallower bucket. We're going to do half the mix we did last time...so that's about ten cups plaster, ten cups sand, and about seven cups water, mix it like we did before, then pop in your U-bolts for handles. We'll let that sit and dry, too. Now, those'll take a bit longer than we've got time for today, so I'll remove them and we'll drill the vent hole pour the water from the buckets, use a pair of pliers to grip one end of the bucket and pull it loose. Grip it with two hands and twist until you get that bucket out. You'll see a nice clean interior, perfect for the crucible we just cut, but first, we've got to get that vent hole in. We're going to use a cutting drill for that; center it with the top line of your bucket, that's going to be just about right; once you get through the metal, lift your drill to a thirty degree angle to burrow into the plaster to get a tight, downward sloping hole for the blower tube. You want to make sure it's a pretty high from the bottom, because if your crucible fails, and that tube's down toward the bottom, you're gonna have a bad time.
"And that's pretty much it! Good work today! If you'd like, I've got some metal spray paint in a few different colors if you want to give your buckets a little personal touch before you leave; we can leave them to dry so they're good and ready the next time we get the chance to use them. Any questions before we go?"
Or find some other excuse not to return to the shop, anyway. A-hem.
But for now! Class! And an exciting one at that, because....
"It's mini-foundry day, everyone!" she announced when everyone had gathered around. "One of my staple lessons for every shop class, mini-foundry day is the day we move from talking about the equipment we use in this class to actually making some equipment that we'll use in this class! This is a handy little project to build something that'll help us melt metal for other projects, which is always a good time when we get there. Now, the project itself is pretty involved, though, so let's just get right into it.
"We'll go through the steps together and stop me if you have any questions as we're working through it. For your mini metal foundry, you'll all find a bag of play sand, a bag of plaster of paris, some steel wool, and a ten pound steel bucket. We've also got a small bucket for measuring that we'll use again, too, and a larger bucket for mixing. We're going to ahead and pour one and three quarters buckets of the plaster of paris into the larger bucket, one and three quarters buckets full of sand, and one and one quarter buckets of water, but once that water hits, we've only got about fifteen minutes before it starts to harden, so get ready to get in there and start mixing it up. If you'd like to use a mixing stick, I've got 'em, but I really recommend using your hands for this one, as it's the best way to make sure all the dry materials get fully mixed. It's also one of the few projects we'll work on where gloves aren't recommended for that exact reason, though if you're a little squicky about the squishiness, latex gloves should do just fine."
Once everyone had gotten in there and gotten their mix on, Amaya had them wash their hands before moving onto the next part. "Now, when you transfer your mix into the steel bucket, you'll want to pour it nice and slow, don't rush it too much, don't want it to splatter every where. Should be getting the bucket full except about three inches from the top. Take that little bucket we used earlier, fill it with some water for some weight, and we're just going to slowly push that into the center; you'll notice the mix'll rise up and fill up the rest of the space from the displacement of the bucket. Press it down a little bit to help keep it level, and once it looks good, you're just going to hold the bucket for three minutes while the plaster hardens. While we wait, you can take some time to consider how you might want to spruce up your bucket when it's done, or just talk a bit amongst yourself, ask questions. Three minutes seems like a long time if you're just waiting, but it goes by a lot quicker if you've got something to do."
When the three minutes was up, Amaya called time, and told everyone to release their buckets. "It should stay firmly in place now. It's got a bit longer to really set and solidify, so take a few moments to clean up your spaces, wipe down the bucket, run a damp rag over the top of the plaster to give it a nice smooth texture up top. While we're waiting for that, we're going to make our crucible for the center with some old steel tanks. You want to make sure it's steel, by the way, not aluminum. You can always test it with a magnet. Let's head on over here and strap these babies into some vices, and we're going to cut in half with a hacksaw. And then we'll move onto our blower tube, which will help act as our bellows to get the fire inside our forge nice and hot enough to melt the metal we'll be working with. We've got a ourselves a steel pipe and some PVC couplings...amazing stuff, this PVC, we've got nothing like it where I'm from, but you can bet I'm going to be using the heck out of it here!, and a PVC pipe. These couplings should twist right onto your steel pipe, and the PVC pipe right into the coupling's other end. Simple as that. We'll drill the hole into the forge for the tube once it's set a bit more, but in the meantime, one more piece to complete, and that's the lid to help keep in the heat.
"Back at your stations, you'll find some U-shaped bolts and a shallower bucket. We're going to do half the mix we did last time...so that's about ten cups plaster, ten cups sand, and about seven cups water, mix it like we did before, then pop in your U-bolts for handles. We'll let that sit and dry, too. Now, those'll take a bit longer than we've got time for today, so I'll remove them and we'll drill the vent hole pour the water from the buckets, use a pair of pliers to grip one end of the bucket and pull it loose. Grip it with two hands and twist until you get that bucket out. You'll see a nice clean interior, perfect for the crucible we just cut, but first, we've got to get that vent hole in. We're going to use a cutting drill for that; center it with the top line of your bucket, that's going to be just about right; once you get through the metal, lift your drill to a thirty degree angle to burrow into the plaster to get a tight, downward sloping hole for the blower tube. You want to make sure it's a pretty high from the bottom, because if your crucible fails, and that tube's down toward the bottom, you're gonna have a bad time.
"And that's pretty much it! Good work today! If you'd like, I've got some metal spray paint in a few different colors if you want to give your buckets a little personal touch before you leave; we can leave them to dry so they're good and ready the next time we get the chance to use them. Any questions before we go?"