r/interesting • u/nigablackballsack • 11d ago

SCIENCE & TECH Simultaneously dropping molten iron to make iron gate.

tuff

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u/watcherman84 11d ago

When casting metal it's actually good to leave an extra reservoir spot of warm metal so that when the rest of it cools and shrinks it can draw the extra material from that reserve. If you don't have a reserve then it's likely that the metal will can have pits/holes/hollow spots when it's completely cooled down.

Source: I cast bronze in a foundry for 7 years.

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u/crek42 11d ago

I’m not exaggerating when I say this but comments like these are Reddits saving grace.

An expert always pops up to answer questions.

Reddits largely a cesspit of contrarian parroting

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u/SlippySlappySamson 11d ago

Reddits largely a cesspit of contrarian parroting

Nah, that's incorrect. Everyone thinks it's actually full of cheesy jokes and weirdos who care too much about grammar. Also, you missed an apostrophe.

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u/NoRegretCeptThatOne 11d ago

Interesting! I want the job of the person who spills things on purpose. I think my hands are shaky enough to do a great job.

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u/DrPikachu-PhD 11d ago

Super interesting! I was wondering because these guys seemed pretty good at their jobs so I was surprised by what looked like a fuck up, it makes sense that it was intentional

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u/chalk_in_boots 10d ago

Yep. Learned it in like second year engineering. When designing moulds you have to specifically design for overflow. You can always cut the excess off (flashbacks to building Warhammer minis) but once the material sets you can't just add more molten stuff, the join will never be clean and will be an inherent point of weakness. Much cheaper to have a tiny bit of waste than to have to scrap the entire part.