Still Lid for Soviet Canteen Part 1: Attempting to Cast a Lid (Learning Curve)

   So, to start with, I've been away for a while due to how busy my job has been, but recently we've slowed down so I have some time to work with. Though I haven't posted on the blog lately, I have been making small projects in my spare time, and have also been posting on other social media like instagram and twitter. Since the last time we spoke I've built a backyard mini foundry and recently built a mini tripod for my phone which has allowed me to start filming builds, I also started a project for my friend Josh based on my Canteen Cup Still.

   Now a bit of background on my current project: I'm working on a still conversion for my buddy who owns a Soviet VDV Paratrooper Mess Kit. The problem with this setup is no one has ever produce an after market lid for the canteen cup, so I have nothing to start with. That means I need to make a lid from scratch and modify that. I thought this would be a fun project to develop my aluminum casting skills and also have a long term project to work on (and generate content for the blog).

    Since I built the foundry a few months ago I have been collecting scrap aluminum and casting it into ingots. My house doesn't produce a ton of scrap aluminum, so it's taken a while to accumulate three and a half pounds of it. Now that I have a reasonable amount of metal to work with - I can't start with too little because some is lost every time you scrap and recast, which will happen frequently - I figured it was a good time to start working on casting the lid.

   While I was stocking up on metal I made measurements and plans for the piece I needed to create, I took these plans and produced some foamcore investments for the casting process, and did a ton of research on the subject of hobbyists aluminum casting. Reading or watching information on a subject and then trying to apply it, feeling it out through trial and error, is my favorite way to learn, and I'm going to be doing this for the entire project.

   I will have more in-depth information on the making of the foam investments and molding process for this project in the coming posts, but for now I wanted to introduce you to what my learning process was like. As with most makers experiences - as well as most times teaching yourself a new skill - the first attempt was not a success, but it was a good learning experience. The failed casting allowed me to make changes to my method and try again, knowing the next time would bring me closer to where I needed to be. My second attempt at the casting (which is the subject of the video below) was also less than perfect. I knew before pouring this one wouldn't work perfectly, it was more to test a few changes from the previous attempt and determine what my next steps would be. Though I only got a very rough and less than half complete cast, I made much better progress than my first try and believe I'll have a usable piece in two or three more castings. I've already taken what I've learned from this and made changes to my next investment process, and also planned what I may have to change in attempt number four.
   I hope this post and corresponding video give you a bit of insight into what I'm working on right now. This project is still fairly young, with lots more instruction and information to come. My next post will be less of a briefing on what I've been doing all summer, and more focused on the foam investment and molding procedure I use for casting. Future posts in this series will deal with casting and finishing the lid, the procedures for modifying the lid into the still, and a finished product summary and demonstration.

   The whole process featured in this video, from setup to teardown, took about two hours. During this time I shot about 45 minutes of footage, and ended up with just under fourteen minutes of video. There's a ton of down time involved; waiting for the foundry to heat up, waiting for metal to melt or cool, sawing your failures apart. I'm also working with a single low-end smartphone for recording, so I'm pretty impressed with how well this video depicts the process.
    Thanks for reading and watching, I hope you enjoyed this post and are interested in this series future posts. As always, until next time: Be Prepared. Be Safe. Have Fun.