The "Tuckelite"

Rick Aiello · Post by **Rick Aiello** » 12 May 2014 4:34 am

Fresh outta the sand ... Born on Mother's Day

A356 Aluminum alloy ... 13 lbs

Next up ... The "Luigifier's Cast aluminum cabinet"

Ken Campbell · Post by **Ken Campbell** » 12 May 2014 5:10 am

Dude,

Much awe.....

Tom Pettingill · Post by **Tom Pettingill** » 12 May 2014 6:23 am

Very cool

Stephen Abruzzo · Post by **Stephen Abruzzo** » 12 May 2014 6:29 am

Wow.......cool. Nice to see the barbell weights can be used for alternative tasks.

I bet the Tuckelite could double as an "attitude adjuster".

Chris Templeton · Post by **Chris Templeton** » 12 May 2014 6:58 am

Very nice Rick!

Fred Kinbom · Post by **Fred Kinbom** » 12 May 2014 8:12 am

Very cool Rick!

Jonathan Lam · Post by **Jonathan Lam** » 12 May 2014 9:03 am

amazing.

Ron Mielzynski · Post by **Ron Mielzynski** » 12 May 2014 9:17 am

Nice!

Andrea Tazzini · Post by **Andrea Tazzini** » 12 May 2014 10:07 am

Sci-Fi! Back to the future!

Ron Bednar · Post by **Ron Bednar** » 12 May 2014 10:19 am

Amazing...
You are a true alchemist, turning base metal into gold.
Golden sounds for one blessed individual.

Mark Roeder · Post by **Mark Roeder** » 12 May 2014 10:40 am

It is alive!

Rick Aiello · Post by **Rick Aiello** » 12 May 2014 10:56 am

Mucho Mahalos for the kind words ...

I am very pleased with the outcome ... I was way out of my "comfort zone" with this prototype ... But other than jets of flames and black smoke shooting a foot out of the sprue and two risers ... Scaring the $%£t out of me ... It all came out as planned

Larry Phleger · Post by **Larry Phleger** » 12 May 2014 12:29 pm

Great job Rick! I can't wait to SEE and HEAR the finished product.

Michael Greer · Post by **Michael Greer** » 12 May 2014 12:49 pm

Rick

amazing skill and innovation.
Cant wait to see and hear the finished product.

Mitch Druckman · Post by **Mitch Druckman** » 12 May 2014 2:10 pm

Fantastic. Great to see you casting again. I love the integrated cast nut and saddle.

Curious how much heavier this design is when compared to the Dustpans?

How do you expect the new shape will affect the tone?

Rick Aiello · Post by **Rick Aiello** » 12 May 2014 3:06 pm

It's lighter than the Dustpans ... I just cut the sprue and risers off this afternoon and now it weighs only 11 lbs ...

As far as the bridge ... I decided to cast in a string "anchor" behind it ... thought it would look cool when strung up ...

As for the sound ... I'm hoping the chambers will add something

Andy Volk · Post by **Andy Volk** » 12 May 2014 3:36 pm

Can casting a car be far behind this latest accomplishment?

David Matzenik · Post by **David Matzenik** » 13 May 2014 4:17 am

This will be one to watch as it progresses. Rick, what type of pick-up are you planning to drop in?

Rick Aiello · Post by **Rick Aiello** » 13 May 2014 5:35 am

One of my Airstream units ...

Bob Hickish · Post by **Bob Hickish** » 13 May 2014 5:53 am

Rick
you never cease to amaze !
can you offer any details as to your method on casting - did you make casting patterns ? is it a wax mold ? ect. I have done just enough of this kind of project to know it aint easy to do , especially with limited foundry equipment and or shop

Rick Aiello · Post by **Rick Aiello** » 13 May 2014 6:40 am

I used a method known as "Full Mold" casting ... Which is a combination of "Lost Foam" and traditional bonded sand casting ... I used oiled sand (Petrobond) ...

The pattern was made out of XPS polystyrene (extruded - pink, green) and EPS polystyrene (expanded - white beady) ... The important areas were XPS and the back, sprues and risers were EPS ...

I drew out all the parts on a CAD program, printed them on card stock paper ... Cut them out ... Pinned them to the styrofoam sheets and cut them with a hot wire cutter using Rene 41 wire ...

Once the pieces were all cut ... I assembled them with low temperature "Hot Glue" ... And sanded everything up to 400 grit ...

I then built a wood flask ... Filled it with Petrobond and rammed it down to 1" ... Then I filled the chambers with Petrobond ... And riddled in ( passed sand through a mesh strainer) 2" of Petrobond ... Inverted the foam pattern ( fretboard down) and pressed it in ...

The I added the sprue to the back and risers to the headstock and bridge area ... And filled the flask with Petrobond ... Lightly ramming it down * ....

I put a sprue extension on (Dole Pineapple can w/ top and bottom removed) and mounded more sand up and around it ....

Melted the A356 to 1600 degrees F .... And poured ... The molten aluminum rapidly melts then vaporizes the polystyrene ...

The process is destructive ... A new pattern will have to be made for each casting ...

I made a set of plates with an English Wheel ... But it was so labor intensive ... I'll cast a set using the above procedure ... Might as well keep " all things cast"

For the "Luigifier" cabinet ... I will use the more traditional " Lost Foam Investment" technique ... Making the pattern with XPS and then coating it with multiple layers of drywall mud (joint compound) ... Drying it completely ... Then burying it in a flask of "Playsand" ... Vents will be needed also, since the investment isn't permeable to gas like the Petrobond is ...

Since there are no intricate details ... No need to spend the $$$ on oiled sand ...

* The only thing I will change on the production Tuckelites ... I won't use EPS for the back ... When I 'gently' rammed the sand ... It left dents in the EPS which translated to dents in the back of the steel ... No biggie, since this is going to be mine ( I keep my prototypes) ... And I can just sand them out ...

Rick Aiello · Post by **Rick Aiello** » 13 May 2014 7:03 am

Before the pour ...

Oozing out the front and rear risers ...

My foundry men Tucker (8 yrs) , Luigi (3 yrs) and Max (5 yrs)... Dusty (10 yrs) was off trying to form a "Union"

Bob Hickish · Post by **Bob Hickish** » 13 May 2014 7:12 am

Now I understand your comment

But other than jets of flames and black smoke shooting a foot out of the sprue and two risers

thanks for your narrative - very interesting

Keith Glendinning · Post by **Keith Glendinning** » 13 May 2014 8:23 am

That looks fantastic. I'll bet it sounds amazing when it's finally finished.
Keith

Tom Pettingill · Post by **Tom Pettingill** » 13 May 2014 4:32 pm

Cool to see the casting pics

Once upon a time in the long ago I did some investment / lost wax casting of small objects like jewelery etc. Can't help but imagine backing a tractor up and hooking up the PTO to some monster sized home brew centrifuge .. LoL ..

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