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[Cannon Foundry] The Dragonfire Gunworks of King's Harbour
Captain Dee posted a topic in Brethren of the Brick Seas
Sir Dee was a man of mystery. His arrival in King's Harbour had been largely without fanfare, and though he had made a few notable public appearances (having assisted with constructing the Majestic Gardens, the Department of Time bell tower, and a portion of the Royal Wagonway connecting the two coastal settlements) he usually kept to his own affairs. He had quietly gone to work at something secretive in the jungle just beyond the edge of the settlement. He spent most of his time there, beyond sight of prying eyes, and finally the time had come to unveil his efforts to the world. And thus the first colonial division of the Dee family's famed Dragonfire Gunworks Cannon Foundry entered into public service producing cast-iron cannons. Overviews: Overview, minus loose barrels and complete cannon: Close-up of the front: Top view, minus roof. On the left is the furnace. In front of it (left rear of building) is the casting pit with two freshly-cast ("poured") cannon barrels pointing upward, cooling. In the left-front is a new cannon on a large sawhorse after having its mold broken up, waiting to have its casting bell/sprue (the grey minifig head piece) sawed off of the muzzle (after which it will be ready for the boring mill, which isn't shown). In the right-front, just behind/beside Sir Dee, is a short breech end mold, which goes in the bottom of the casting pit, facing upward as shown. Behind it, a long barrel mold (which will be vertically mated to the breech end mold in the casting pit) slowly cures over a bed of coals. In the right rear and side room, a single-use barrel-shaped clay pattern (over which a mold will be formed) sits atop its sawhorse supports. In the center of the main room is the post and beam supporting the chain hoist which is used to handle the molds and cannons: The entire chain hoist removes easily for better access and much better views inside: Close-up of the casting pit. This pit is deep enough to stand the molds vertically. The molds are packed into place with sand or damp clay using the shovels and tamping bars in the barrels beside the furnace hearth. The long lever on the left is used to open the furnace tap, and the molten iron flows through channels formed in the sand/clay and into the mouths of the molds by gravity. Excess iron is ladled into cannonball molds (not shown): Another view of the barrel-shaped clay pattern (left) and the mold curing over coals (right). The pattern is precisely formed from clay over a wooden mandrel (smooth tapered rod) which extends out both ends for easy handling. The single-use mold is constructed from a mix of clay, sand, and fibers, and is formed over the surface of the pattern. (Not shown is the series of longitudinal iron bars and hoops clamped onto the exterior of the mold for support and easy handling by the hoist.) The pattern remains encased inside the mold until curing is complete. Then the mandrel is pulled out by its wide end after being hammered several times to break it free from inside the pattern, and the entire pattern is broken up and removed from inside the mold cavity. The mold cavity is then cleaned and brushed with a non-stick material to minimize the amount of mold material that cooks to the surface of the molten iron during casting: Another view of the new cannon with intact casting bell (left), breech-end mold (right front), and long barrel mold: Looking in from a different angle: Here are the major molding components, lined up in the order of operation. Left-right are the bare mandrel, a partially-completed pattern, (Sir Dee and a new cannon), a completed pattern, a partially-completed mold over a pattern, and a completed mold before the mandrel and pattern are removed: And finally, a look at the other side of the building: And that concludes our little tour of the cannon foundry! Game Notes: We finally see my sigfig in his official capacity. This will be licensed as a Medium Artisan property, which means King's Harbour is now a City! Hooray! General Build Notes: Here's the important part, folks. When I discovered the old Classic-Pirates website (which eventually brought me here to Eurobricks) I spent quite some time looking through all the different MOC indexes. Besides the ships, out of all the material I saw, the Community Build-winning Cannon Foundry by long-inactive member @exotrator has always remained fresh in my memory. It's simply a great composition, a bit small perhaps (per the contest rules) but still a beautiful build . It provided the spark of inspiration to research the colonial-era cannon-production process, as described above. (Incidentally, most cannons produced in Europe and the Americas during the 1600s and 1700s were built using this basic method, plus a central core mold that produced a hollow bore that was drilled out fully by the boring mill. Solid casting and boxed sand molding were developed in the mid-to-late 1700s.) I have long wanted to build my own version of exotrator's foundry with a more functional interior, and this is the result. The furnace should be much larger at ground level, and I almost built it that way, but finally decided to stay true to the original with an unrealistically small furnace - basically just a chimney, really. Despite this intentional flaw I'm very happy with the final result. This Episode of "Ridiculously Part-Intensive Roof Techniques" is brought to you by LEGO Batman Movie 70904 Clayface Splat Attack (and other sources.) There are more parts in the roof (small round plates in Medium Dark Flash color) than everything else combined. Comments and questions are welcome. Thanks for viewing and I hope the text was understandable.