Office of Steam Forum for Model & Toy Steam Gas & Hot Air Engines

Does anyone know if Jensen's cast iron castings are/were done in house?

Daniel what do you think they would have used for moulds? Would they have been green sand moulds and needed to be formed for each pour or some type of permanent/reusable mould?

I've  been to Jensen mfg. There has never been a foundry there,  as stated prior , they're not now & never have been set up for that. As Steve Tyner told me a few yrs ago they're one man foundry supplier died & they were behind until they could find another. At 15-20 units of the #20 & #55 each a year...foundries aren't exactly knocking at their door. Also the occasional #50.

I've  been to Jensen mfg. There has never been a foundry there,  as stated prior , they're not now & never have been set up for that. As Steve Tyner told me a few yrs ago they're one man foundry supplier died & they were behind until they could find another. At 15-20 units of the #20 & #55 each a year...foundries aren't exactly knocking at their door. Also the occasional #50.

Thanks Bruce.

Having done some casting i know a little bit
 My Jensen engine with cast base certainly looks like sand casting . And yes Jim a former is used and the sand packed around it then the former removed .

The workshop tools look very smooth so either die cast  or sand cast then finished ( ie sand paper or file )
 Die cast could be a simple as solid graphite blocks ( two halves )
I have played with this and you get  a smooth finish and better detail than sand

Cheers
Dennis

Jim, the pattern piece could be made of many different materials. Wood is perhaps the most common, but metal and clay are also used. Do realize that several impressions can be made into one sand casting frame, so that when you pour, you can get more than one piece out of the process each time.

Dick H. ( a long time Jensen dealer) told me he had the workshop #100 molds at one time @ found one guy who had the old type of machine that could still accept these dies and had a few NOS parts made from them , there was some kind of issue (I think he kept them to long) @ made Jensen a little nervous and they demanded them back. I assumed they were metal molds , Anyway he sold me nearly all his stock of workshop #100 drive pulleys and I have them to this day. These pulleys are not strong enough in they're own right to turn as is (the spokes break) I had to make a jig that would clamp down on the outside rim and machine them that way , there are 4 different size #100 drive pulleys.

Those machine tool castings are pretty smooth for a mold. You can see the sprue from the seams of the mold.
Some times castings get tumbled to clean them up. Now companies use lost wax castings.