Windlass Casting (2022)

Motivation:

This is a group casting project for the Pappalardo apprenticeship program.

Description:

This was a group project where each student in the apprenticeship program was given a few parts of a Herreshoff Anchor Windlass to cast. Due to COVID, there were leftover parts to cast from a previous class. I was responsible for making the pattern, casting, and machining the friction disks. I also was also responsible for packing a stantion leftover from another student in a prior year. The cross bars are water jet and machined steel.

Lessons Learned:

The casting for the friction disk came up a little short on the nubs on top. We ended up deciding to weld on a little more. I got a little too excited to start machining and machined the slot in my part before I we welded onto the top (I didn’t do the welding). This was a mistake since I essentially had to re-machine the outer edges of the slot afterwards.
I also learned that one of the keys to casting is patience, especially when pulling a mold out of the sand. Baby powder is also super important for keeping the pattern from sticking to the sand.
I chose to use the 3-axis prototack to machine the friction disks. This probably should have been done freehanded on the mill and lathe, but I wanted the additional CAM practice. At one point, I did not triple check the tool that the program believed it was using and rammed a drill bit into my foam block (which instantly turned the foam to dust). I now trust the machines even less.