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** Tech Week** Casting a metal nameplate for your car

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by Smokey, Sep 3, 2012.

  1. Smokey
    Joined: Aug 23, 2001
    Posts: 56

    Smokey
    Member

    cactus1- I haven’t really noticed a shrinkage issue with the pewter I have used.

    Alchemy – Good question, and yes, you have to buy it at a good price to weight ratio. For example that pitcher in my very first photo weighed 2 ½ lbs and I paid 20 bucks from an antique store in Mo on the way down to the Hamb drags. So in that case with pewter at $16 a lb. it worked out well. Also, if you are buying it online you will have the extra cost of shipping on top of the per lb price. Then there is always the factor that you find a pewter piece really cheap but it has a greater value as that object, I can’t justify melting it down so I just resell it and use that money towards more (less valuable) pewter. One last thing on that, if you have an antique dealer/flea market person you know, tell them to keep an eye out for bent up worthless pewter pieces and offer them a like $5 a lb or less for the stuff, works well. That is usually the stuff pewter collectors don't want anyway.

    Many places online to buy pewter ingots. One place that we use at work for other metals like pewter is http://www.rotometals.com/Pewter-Alloys-s/23.htm and they are fine to work with.

    As far as the weight of the nameplate, probably a 1/3 of a lb. Just a guess without taking it back off the car and weighing it. Pewter is heavier than you might think. Not as much as lead but not far off.

    Hope this is helpful.

    Smokey
     
  2. Dan
    Joined: Mar 13, 2001
    Posts: 2,384

    Dan
    Member

    I used to buy pewter from a place called Iasco...
    might try a search and see if they are still around??
     
  3. Marty McFly
    Joined: May 10, 2005
    Posts: 359

    Marty McFly
    Member

    A perfect solution for a couple ideas I have had. Awesome tech, thank you!
     
  4. Mike Moreau
    Joined: Sep 16, 2011
    Posts: 291

    Mike Moreau
    Member

    Great tech. Considering the low melting point ,how would pewter work using the lost wax process or a sacrificial styrofoam core?
     
  5. Good question, aluminum does shrink when casting.
     
  6. Smokey
    Joined: Aug 23, 2001
    Posts: 56

    Smokey
    Member

    Glad that this has people thinking about how they could put this to use.

    Will work good with the lost wax process but I wonder if you would have enough temp to do a good burnout with the Styrofoam method. I haven’t tried so I can’t say for sure.

    I did a quick search that said the shrink rate for pewter is 1/32” per foot. Very insignificant for most things you cast, I would think.

    Was out in Des Moines Saturday afternoon and stopped at the Brass Armadillo and I took this photo. It shows a shelf of so called pewter. Only the four darker pieces in the middle left are actually pewter. The rest are an aluminum alloy and worthless for what we want.
    They incorrectly label them as pewter but it isn’t hard to tell the difference.

    [​IMG]

    Smokey
     
  7. :D:Dhaha now you can all have "streetrod" name plates on your cars:eek::p:D:D
     
  8. oldpl8s
    Joined: Apr 11, 2007
    Posts: 1,487

    oldpl8s
    Member

    I made a car emblem in high school using aluminum and it came out great. I'll have to start looking for pweter now, thanks
     
  9. jaxx
    Joined: Mar 22, 2008
    Posts: 402

    jaxx
    Member

    super kool - great tech - jaxx
     
  10. NextLevel
    Joined: Sep 1, 2012
    Posts: 23

    NextLevel
    Member

    This is great!!
     
  11. 5-4Belair
    Joined: Aug 13, 2012
    Posts: 53

    5-4Belair
    Member

    That is so cool! I want to melt something!
     
  12. Dang...this is the kind of tech I could pull off. Thanks, Smokey! (and none of grandma's priceless Jefferson cups will be sacrificed...promise)
     
  13. griffincat
    Joined: Nov 6, 2009
    Posts: 35

    griffincat
    Member

    Great info. I started looking at the local thrift stores and already found 7 pcs priced from 50 cents to $1.50, so I can already see that this will work great!! In my learning curve I also bought some of the aluminum allow pcs, but the price of the education was cheap enough.
     
  14. thechopperguy
    Joined: Oct 27, 2007
    Posts: 149

    thechopperguy
    Member

  15. wow some on with access to a water jet can do some tricky stuff

    also the high temp RTV sounds like a way to make 3D items..item put at the bottom of a shallow box with short sides then squeegee in silicone out of a caulking gun any air bubbles will be ez to removed

    my parents were antique dealers who tossed plenty of smashed pewter pieces
    dang it

    okay. plate,anodize, powder coat the final piece?
     
  16. TrannyMan
    Joined: Dec 3, 2005
    Posts: 473

    TrannyMan
    Member

    can you use a coffee can to melt it in?

    I was lazy and bought some off the internet....
     
  17. iammarvin
    Joined: Oct 7, 2009
    Posts: 1,196

    iammarvin
    BANNED
    from Tulare, Ca

    Anyone try this with hi temp silicon yet?
     
  18. Aluminum is too hot for Silicone, Pewter is OK.

    I use Silicone from Smooth-On.
     
    Last edited: Dec 29, 2012
  19. cw
    Joined: Jul 13, 2008
    Posts: 105

    cw
    Member
    from Midland

    Thanks for sharing. Speaking of Smokey, any worried a out gases released during melting?
     
  20. Smokey
    Joined: Aug 23, 2001
    Posts: 56

    Smokey
    Member

    Haven’t been on the board in months and I just happened to log on and saw this.
    CW – You shouldn’t have much to worry about with the metal out gassing unless you start reaching temps that cause the metal to start vaporizing and then you have other problems anyway. Even zinc is fairly safe if as long as you just melt it and don’t vaporize it. That’s where you start getting the dangers of metal fume fever. Never had it and don’t want to. At work I sometimes cast prototype parts using Zamac and never had problems. That’s a zinc, aluminum, magnesium and copper (alloy).

    Unkl Ian has it right, Smooth On has a great selection of silicones and they will give you a lot of application possibilities. Something along this line that I saw on another site and have been messing with is silicone caulk in a tube. Take 100% silicone caulk 2 parts and 1 part cornstarch and mix together sets up rather quickly. The cornstarch will make the silicone cure clear through and not just on the surface. Vary the amount of corn starch and you can vary the cure time from 5 min to an hour or so. A little mineral spirits helps to thin it out from a paste form. I think you will find, like I did, that it is a cheap alternative in several situations to the more expensive offerings out there. Tail light lens mold anyone?
    You just have to be willing to experiment a little and it is very useful stuff. I have even thinned it down to the point of shooting it through a syringe into some old prototype plastic injection molds and it worked quite well.

    Well I hope this is of some use.

    Smokey
     
  21. iammarvin
    Joined: Oct 7, 2009
    Posts: 1,196

    iammarvin
    BANNED
    from Tulare, Ca

    Tried to use rtv silicon, it never set up. Melted aluminum and tried to pour in a wooden form, the aluminum set up to quickly so the pour did not form good around the whole form....if that made any sence.
     
  22. julioortiz
    Joined: Dec 12, 2013
    Posts: 15

    julioortiz
    Member
    from Florida

    thank you guys for the tips.
     
  23. julioortiz
    Joined: Dec 12, 2013
    Posts: 15

    julioortiz
    Member
    from Florida

    very good tips thank you guys.
     
  24. Bump this for those of us not on the board the first time around. Cool tech - my thanks to @Smokey.
     

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