Aluminium Cast Belt Buckle

I carved the model out of jewelry wax.

I used a hand milling cutter and small sharpened screwdrivers.

The letters are embossed.

I ground the letters with rough sand paper to get this lines from left to right.

I made my melting pot from an old gas bottle.

The aluminium pieces are leftovers from prior projects.

The foundry was build from porous concrete.

A tube connected to a fan was placed underneath a coal chimney.

I made a two frames from wood with alignment pins.

I filled the fame with casting sand (oil sand), compressed it thoroughly and applied talcum to separate the two frames later.

After that I flipped the frames and filled the second one.

Now a hole for the melted metal and holes for the air going out of the cast have to be applied.

The melting pot has to stand on glowing coals and the fan is blowing into the glow.

Once the aluminium is liquid wait a bit longer....

The melting pot was glowing red.

The aluminium was coming out of the air holes, a sign that the cast is filled completely.

The sand with direct contact to the aluminium is burned and cannot used again.

The loss is very small.

I am quite happy with my first attempt.

I cut of the sprue, polished the letters with polish wax and painted the buckle black.

The paint wasn't drying on the letters, I removed it with a rag and solvent.

I drilled holes into the back and connected the belt with a wire.