Riser design – issue 4767

[Andy StopfordParticipant @andystopford50521]

I thought the latest issue was very good with a good range of interesting articles, however the link for Luker’s Riser calculator returns a 404 error. Any chance of fixing this?

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

No

Hopefully LukeR will see this and explain why. I took the link down.

[LukerParticipant @luker]

Hi Andy, sorry for the belated reply.  It was my understanding that the article on casting methoding would not be published. It was submitted 5 years ago and was part of a series that included pattern design (these were published). From a technical point of view, as a stand-alone article, I’m not sure it reads very well, and you may run into trouble following it out of context. For example designing the moulds for copper parts require additional steps and my home made inoculant to prevent inclusions.

I have subsequently written a complete book on casting for the home enthusiast, everything from 3D printed patterns (and how to design these patterns for negative draft extraction), to building a furnace and explaining the different refractories (and the most suitable for backyard use), shifting metal chemistry and even a new alloy for cylinders etc. The calculators are part of that package, are novel, the maths is ridiculous, took many years to develop and test and to be fair should not have been placed on a public platform.

For reasons I would not like to discuss on a public forum, I no longer contribute to ME and am no longer a subscriber, so unfortunately I have not seen the printed article. I make it a point to help anyone that takes the time to read my articles and give my ideas a bash; I also have endless fun sparring with the armchair engineers (always done in good humour and never hurtful!), but this time I’m tapping out…

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Unfortunate, in the circumstances, that said article is splashed on the front cover.

Oh well … they’ve just taken my annual subscription.

MichaelG.

[Nigel Graham 2Participant @nigelgraham2]

Luker –

I am sorry to read you have decided to cease contributing to the magazine. Even though not building to your design I have enjoyed reading your articles and picked up useful tips from them.

Good Luck!

[noel shelleyParticipant @noelshelley55608]

Hi Luker, I read your article and found it very interesting, though I have not as yet had time to digest the contents. One only has to see an ali cylinder head as it comes out of the mold to realise that shrinkage and how to deal with it is a science of it’s own. Best wishes. Noel.

[LukerParticipant @luker]

Thanks gentlemen, its the comments and feedback I got on my articles (both negative and positive) which was the most enjoyable. Actually I had more fun with the negative criticism, simply because I’ve never published anything I haven’t tried and tested, built and run, so justifying a novel idea was easy, and normally light hearted fun!

My articles have always been written for the person attempting to make their perfect model, with very little at their disposal, with the ethos of anything can be made or accomplished. I hope I’m remembered for that!

Noel, knowing you’re a fellow foundryman, I think you would agree that an article like this out of context will lead a novice astray. Your comment on Ali is a perfect example. I wrote additional articles that ended up becoming part of the book discussing methoding, and crucible management, for difficult casting alloys. For example Ali alloys requires special attention to gas pickup (i.e cruicible management, sprue and ingate turbulence etc.) which is were the Achilles heel of this alloy lies. Incidentally Ali was a drop down in the calculator resulting in a different solving algorithm, which was tested on a number of components but notably motorcycle risers with an unfavourable casting modulus and difficult split line.

[Andy StopfordParticipant @andystopford50521]

Thanks for explaining that, Luker, I did think it seemed to read like it should be part of a series.

I see you have a YouTube channel with some casting stuff, so I’ll have to give that a watch.

[noel shelleyParticipant @noelshelley55608]

To be only given part of the story is always going to be frustrating, the more so when it is an instructional work. Very few books for the amateur foundryman contain the details that Luker has passed on to us in his work. In fact there is little on amateur foundrywork written of recent times covering the details like metal types, pouring temps, amount of superheat, avoidance of gas absorption, pouring – the list is endless.

Some of what can be found on the Net ranges from poor advice to the downright dangerous. Noel

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