Reply With QuoteBoiler / steam engine ????
ChatterBox
SubscriberI need a thick piece of plate for a project I am working on, I picked up a block of cast iron 18" square and 3" thick from the scrap metal bloke.
square casting 1.jpg
I need a piece about the size of an A4 page to start with so I set this up in my bandsaw to cut it in half and then cut one of the halves again to get my blank for machining. I was able to cut to slightly more than halfway from each side to get through the full 18". When the casting came in in half, it turned out to have a bunch of holes through it.
square casting surprise.jpg
square casting surprise 2.jpg
Cleaning the holes out with my shop vac, I discovered that they are in fact one continuous zigzagging bore that goes back and forth through the plate and communicates with the outside world via a threaded port at each end.
square casting string through port.jpg
So it seems to have been some kind of heating or cooling matrix. I haven't yet decided whether this makes it useless for my purposes, but I'm curious as to what it might have been used for originally. There are a number of identification markings stamped into an edge of the casting, one of which appears to be a 1953 date, either November 4 or April 11 depending on what part of the world it came from:
square casting date stamp.jpg
Anyone know what it was? Points for the most creative answer but glory is reserved for the person who actually identifies it.
Master
SupporterBoiler / steam engine ????
Super Moderator
Are you sure it's cast? It looks like rolled plate in the pictures.
If you don't like trucks, stop buying stuff.
Looks like cast inside the holes?Originally Posted by V8Ian
Spark test time.
Could it be part of a weight set?
ChatterBox
SubscriberIt is grey cast iron. Would be something of a challenge to weave a bore back and forth through a piece of rolled steel plate. whatever fluid ran through it would have been used to either heat or cool the plate, rather than to heat or cool the fluid. Perhaps a heated work surface, or a cooled one- the 1950s version of 'cold rock' icecream perhaps.
ChatterBox
SubscriberOops double post.
Master
Could it have been used in a stamping or process related purpose?
Could it not have had fins because they wouldnt have suited the application?
Master
It's a platen from a heated press.
Typically used to make anything that needs heat and pressure to cure. Plywood , rubber, melamine products.
Here's one that's a bit larger than yours - YouTube
This one is electrically heated but you get the idea, - YouTube
Usually heated with steam, but can be hot water or oil, depending upon what temperature and how much heat you need.
The 200lb is the pressure rating so its quite low pressure.
I'd say your was used in rubber but to make something pretty small like shoe soles, but that's just a stab in the dark.
Cheers Glen
ChatterBox
SubscriberSounds like you are on the money Glen.
Master
Sorry to be so dull about it.
Cheers
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