School me on foundries

[Hoof]

On any of my searches, articles, youtubes, etc., there is usually some link to homemade foundries. Melting aluminium and casting ingots.

Without a machine shop, I fail to see the need.

What am I missing?

[gnihcraes]

Power failure and civil unrest? LOL

[lasinvegas]

I do a lot of blacksmith work, and honestly can see a lot of uses for cast projects and a foundry that wouldn't require a machine shop.

Smiths I know have melted down various scrap steel into ingots that they could then form into new projects. The foundry predates the machine shop by quite a number of years

[bogie]

Google "investment casting" for other ideas.