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SBU
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Course Synopsis
In this Safety and Basic Use class (SBU), you will learn how to create a metal
object using the Lost Wax Casting method. Starting with a wax model, you will
be taken through the steps required to duplicate the wax in alloy similar to silver.
You will become familiar with the basic operations required to create a lost wax
casting; how a wax is made, attaching the wax to a tree, setting up the flask,
mixing, pouring and vacuuming the investment, the burnout cycle and finally,
melting the metal with oxy/acetylene and completing the pour.
The class project will be two or three charms or objects.
Time Required: 5 Hours over two consecutive days
Casting at TechShop
After this class you are welcome to set up and use the casting equipment at any
time you wish. However, it is strongly suggested to cast with a partner, most
importantly during the pour, one person does the melt and the other handles the
flask. Given the amount of setup involved, proper timing and planning is
necessary to accomplish an investment and burnout cycle and that you will be
ready to pour the following day within a few hours of the furnace reaching the
hold temperature status.
General Safety
1.Eye protection is required when working with all machinery and in the shop
area.
2. Closed-toe leather shoes must be worn at all times.
3. Long hair or beards must be protected with a hair net/cap.
4. Long sleeved shirts must be worn when working with chemicals or molten
metal.
5. Never leave a machine running or unattended.
6. Never make assumptions about the equipment. Inspect it carefully before use.
7. Know where safety equipment is located such as fire extinguishers, eye
washers, first aid kits and the burn kit.
Casting Safety
This list discusses some general safety concerns. Much of casting safety is about
using correct technique and wearing properly fitting safety gear. The areas where
safety is most crucial are mixing the investment, anything to do with the furnace
and melting and pouring the metal.
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Shop Etiquette
Never talk to anyone while they are working on a piece of equipment unless the
communication is in regards to the work you are doing together ie: (letting the
casting partner know the metal is ready to be poured).
Specifically avoid startling anyone while they are on the equipment.
Leave the area you are working in cleaner than when you arrived
Report broken tools to TechShop staff, so they can be replaced promptly.
No broadcast devices such at radio, tv, Ipods, etc.
Begin final clean-up and store your project 15 minutes before closing
Tools Required:
Vacuum casting machine and accessories including bell jar, metal disks
and silicone ring/sheet
Alcohol lamp or wax pen
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Gas Cylinders
Compressed gases are under high pressure. Tanks should be kept
upright and strapped or chained, and bottles should be capped or
attached to a regulator. If you find any tanks in an un-secure
condition, please notify TechShop staff immediately. COMPRESSED GAS
CYLINDERS CAN CAUSE SEVERE PROPERTY DAMAGE, INJURY AND
DEATH.
STRICT SAFETY PROCEDURES
MUST BE FOLLOWED.
Only TechShop staff should move or change tanks. Notify TechShop
staff if a tank is empty.
Keep all sparks, heat, electricity and heavy activity away from tanks.
Oxygen is under extremely high pressure in the tank, and can cause
other materials to spontaneously combust and explode. Always make
sure the tank is handled gently and is in a secure position.
Acetylene, while not under high pressure, is very unstable and prone to
explosion. It should never reach over 15 p.s.i. Hose pressure.
Always make sure the tank valves are closed when not in use.
Always wear shade safety glasses when melting the metal to avoid
damaging your eyes.
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Before turning the machine on make sure it is level, all the surfaces are clean to
create a proper seal and look through the site window on the side of the
machine to check the oil level. Low oil will cause damage to the pump unit.
Equipment Controls
The primary controls you
will use on the Vacuum
Casting Machine are the handle that dictates whether you are at the vacuum
table, vacuum release or casting chamber. Also there is an on/off button which is
only used when the vacuum is fully released.
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
Copyright 2005 2010 TechShop Inc. All rights reserved
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For this class, you will be given 2 waxes, a 3 piece of tree wax and 1 troy ounce
of silver mine casting grain (an alloy that looks and works just like silver but costs
a fraction of the price, it is usually used for sample lines in commercial mfg) .
First you will tree up the waxes then mix the investment slurry to fill your flask.
Next you will vacuum the flask to remove any air. Finally on the first day we will
program the furnace for the burnout cycle.
In our second session you will melt the metal, pour the metal into the flask
and finally you will breakout the flask and retrieve your cast object from the water
bucket.
Getting Started
What is casting?
Casting is the method of creating an object by pouring a liquid
material, that later will harden, usually metal, , into a cavity or mold.
There are many ways of creating the negative space for the metal
to fill. Primitive castings were made in chiseled rocks. Sand casting has
also been done for millennia. Low temperature metals can be cast in steel
molds or heat resistant rubbers. Cuttlebone, and even carved charcoal
blocks can be used. The most popular form is lost wax casting.
A wax model is set inside a flask and a special plaster is poured around
it. Once hardened, the flask is placed inside a furnace to melt the wax
and harden the plaster. The melted wax leaves an exact hollow of the
original. Metal is heated to liquid stage and poured into the flask with the
help of the vacuum to pull metal into every little space.
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1. It is important that the wax is placed facing at an upward angle on the tree
(facing away from the base). They need to be downstream from the
sprue button and important that there are no uphill flows required. A part
that is uphill would require a second or third sprue to feed that spot.
When the metal is poured the flask is upside down, so the metal will flow
with gravity into the spaced made by the wax. The connection of the wax
sprue to the tree needs to have a smooth transition to avoid causing
turbulence in the metal flow. A way to think about this is imagine filling the
flask with water (once the wax is melted out) are there any places where a
bubble would form? Once the tree is secure in the flask take apiece of 1
masking tape and wrap it around the top of the flask twice.
Casting
waxes
Weighing
the sprue and the tree.
Once all the waxes are attached to the tree, the entire wax construction needs to
be weighed to compute how much metal is required for the pour. The scale must
have troy ounces or grams. Be sure to record this information for later. I.e Flask
A sprue construction = 12 grams. To determine how much metal is needed for
the cast multiply the weight of the wax construction( your wax on the tree) by the
specific gravity of the metal you are casting with. Sterling silver has a 10.40
specific gravity so if your waxes weighed 1 gram you would need 10.4 grams to
make up the waxes and another 20-25% for the button metal. The button is thick
and stays fluid longer than the patterns, this metal feeds the pieces as they cool
and keeps downward pressure on them. If the sprue and button are too thin
when the metal cools and shrinks they will actually pull metal from the object.
This will result in porous castings.
Now that the wax is weighed, the tree is inserted into the rubber base.
Alternatively there are bases that do not use tree sprues but have a large hole
that is filled with modeling clay. The individual wax sprues are set into the clay.
When cast the large button formed by the clay space feeds the pieces the same
way the tree and button does.
Rubber base
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The furnace we will use is an electric model with a built in controller. A furnace
without a controller will require the user to be present the entire burnout cycle
which is from 8 hours plus preheat time for small flasks up to 31/2 x 4 up to 24
hours for extra large flasks 6 diameter and larger. A manual furnace requires the
user to change the temperatures instead of a controller.
The burnout cycle consists of a preheat, a ramp to wax melt stage, an
intermediate ramp, the wax vaporization temperature, temperature to cure the
investment then back down to the casting hold temperature.
Because the wax is being vaporized the furnace needs to be vented to the
outside in some manner. Also the temperatures reached are incredibly high, so
the unit must be set on a non flammable surface and the surroundings must be
safe with such heat . You must also wear heavy furnace or welding gloves to
protect yourself from the intense heat.
A typical 8 hour cycle is as follows: Preheat the furnace to 300.f. Then program it
for 2 hours at 300.f, 2 hours at 700.f, 3 hours at 1350.f then 1 hour at 800.f and
then hold at 800.f until ready to cast. I prefer to allow at least a one hour hold
after the 1 hour at cast temperature). Some controllers allow you to set how
fast the heat ramps up, say from 300.f to 700.f in 20 minutes, or 300.f to 700.f in
one hour. Others have a built in ramp program that ups the temperature at a set
rate. Raising the flask temperature too quickly can cause the investment to
crack. Going over 1450.f will cause the investment to actually break down. If the
flask temperature is not brought to casting temperature and held there long
enough (at least one hour) the metal will stay molten too long and the castings
will have porosity problems.
The first ramp of 300.f is to heat the water in the investment slowly, steam is
created at 212.f and the steam is released through the pores in the investment.
If it is heated beyond 400.f to quickly the steam expands during its escape and
can ruin the cavities made by the wax. Between 200.f and 300.f most of the wax
is melted out, above that temperature the steam helps to clean most of the
remaining wax off the walls of the patterns. It usually takes about an hour for the
wax to melt out to become lost as the name of this type of casting is called.
The next temperature is a stepping stone on the way to 1350.f. Any wax that
has not already melted and flowed out turns to carbon at 1000.f The carbon is
completely eliminated at 1400.f by mixing with oxygen in the air. For this reason,
it is very important to have your furnace ventilated. Except for very detailed
castings such as filagree, going over 1350.f is not necessary.
The final temperature is the casting temperature. This furnace ramps down to
800.f and holds it for at least an hour. You can choose a hold as long as you
need until you are ready to cast. But instead of holding for a long time, most
controllers allow for a delayed start, so you can have your flasks holding for 1
Copyright 2005 2010 TechShop Inc. All rights reserved
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Bronze..............900.f
thick 900.f - 1000.f
Bronze 1743.f
Brass 1710.f
carbon rod
When you are finally ready to melt your metal for the pour the first thing to do is
get all your tools together. You will need flask tongs and heavy welding or
furnace gloves to take the flask out of the furnace and to melt the metal.
The vacuum machine needs to be on the cast setting, the silicone mat with the
hole for the vacuum flow needs to be set on top of the metal plate made for this
purpose.
The next step is to measure out your metal, gather your torch and safety
equipment and start melting the silver.
For the melt you will need an oxy/acetylene rig, a torch with cutting tip, a flint
striker, a foundry brick for resting the crucible on, #5 shade goggles or shade
face shield, leather apron and welding gloves, heavy leather boots or shoes,
long pants and long sleeves. You will also need sand in case of any small fires.
To melt the metal you will need a crucible and handle, borax flux and a carbon
stir rod to remove slag and up to an ounce of sterling silver casting grain and a
scale to measure it out in. If you were using scrap silver or a button from a
previous cast you would need some fresh grain and some alloy replenisher.
Last thing we need before we can start the melt is the breakout bucket, a 5
gallon plastic or metal bucket with water about 7/8 full.
We will start by measuring out the casting grain. The scale has troy ounces ,
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pennyweights (dwt) and grams which is what we will measure in. A troy ounce
has 20 pennweights and 31.1035 grams. 1 dwt is 1.555 grams.
If our wax construction weighed 2 grams, we then multiply 2 x 10.4 which will
give us 20.8 grams, or 13.374 dwt, a little more than half a troy ounce of silver.
We then add the 10% for the button, 6.687 which gives us a total of 20.1. So we
will use a full troy ounce for a 2 gram wax weight.
So now we begin the melting procedure
1.Put on your safety equipment, apron, gloves, shade goggles.
2.place your metal in the crucible and add a pinch of borax.
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4. Position the torch near the material until is first starts to melt. Move the
flame around the metal to warm it all up, do not stay in one place too long
or you could actually burn the metal. Move round and round in a
continuous fashion, to keep all the metal heating up. With new casting
grain you will not have any slag to remove unless there are remnants in
the crucible, but you still need to stir the metal with the carbon rod to see
if it is fluid enough. About half way through add a little borax or boric acid
to keep it flowing well. When the metal is heated properly it will be
entirely fluid and moving around quickly, not boiling but completely fluid.
When you see it once you will clearly recognize it again.
5. Once your metal is ready to pour, your partner will remove the flask from
the furnace with furnace gloves and tongs. When the flask is removed it
will have the button or pour side facing down(this is where the wax melted
out). Place the flask on a fire brick and then turn it over with the tongs.
Now that it is turned over, pick it up again with the tongs and place it
button side up on the silicone pad, centered on the hole.
6. Your partner will now turn the vacuum machine on and the needle will
begin to rise. When it reaches a steady point it is time to pour. Keep your
flame on the metal until the moment before you are ready to pour.
7. Bring your crucible over to the flask and in one smooth movement, pour
the molten metal into the flask. Leave the vacuum running until the metal
skins over then release the vacuum and turn off the machine.
8. Turn the torch off, first the acetylene knob, then close the oxygen knob.
Remember that the torch tip is very hot so place it down in a safe spot.
With the flask tongs, remove the flask from the silicone pad and
also place it on a firebrick. The flask needs to rest so the metal can
solidify for up to five minutes. When the color of the metal is no longer
red/dark and is looking like darkened silver, it is ready to breakout.
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will boil and spray a bit. We did this outside when possible. With the flask
tongs, hold the flask firmly and horizontal, the open ends perpendicular to the
floor. Very slowly lower the flask into the water, resting the tongs on the bucket
edge, if the water and investment pouring out comes too fast back off a little,
once you are 3/4's of the way in let it rest for a bit. Then lower the flask towards
the bottom and turn it so the button and tree slide out without falling too far. A
tree falling from the top of the bucket could damage or break fragile parts of a
casting.
Give the water a few minutes to cool an then with rubber gloves or the flask
tongs remove your flask and the casting tree from the bucket and dry it off.
If you have ANY questions about any operation or task, be sure to ask your
instructor or another TechShop staff member before proceeding.
Cleanup time
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COOL LINKS
http://www.ganoksin.com/index.htm
http://www.lost-wax-casting.com/index.htm
http://www.metalcastingzone.com/
www.riogrande.com
http://metalliferous.com
http://jewelrymaking.about.com/od/makingcastmetaljewelry/ss/100507.htm
http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/index.php?topic=4816.0
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Craftsmen/dp/0910280053
another good one is http://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Lost-Wax-InvestmentCasting/dp/0935182284/ref=pd_sim_b_2/188-3981578-6622810
WHATS NEXT?
[
After successfully completing this Lost wax casting SBU, you might be
interested in these classes:
basic aluminum sand casting
Blacksmithing
general metal shop
In the future I am hoping to offer classes in rubber mold making , wax carving,
jewelry soldering, finishing and more.
Dont forget to join the TechShop RDU Forum at
http://TechShopRDU.com/Forum and the Group Meet-ups (see the class
calendar for dates). Get ALL the answers!
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