I’m trying to adhere soft flexible blue wax half round (Rio Grand’s
Modelers Wax Wire) to a green wax ring. Using a heat pen causes quick
distortion of the blue shapes at low heat. Would rubber cement be
suitable? Any advice on how to work with this stuff would be
appreciated. Thanks, Charley
It takes gentle handling and patience to get it done correctly.The
wax wire as you know can take very little heat.Adhere it to the green
wax first with sticky wax. If the sticky wax is too rigid I’d add a
small amount of petroleum jelly to it and mix thoroughly, it works
well.Apply the sticky wax to the green wax in the area where the blue
wax wire will be laying. Press firmly but gently to make a good
connection with the two waxes. Now, take a small sable hair
paintbrush and gently swipe the wax wires to remove residue.This will
show you where your gaps are too. Finally, you can try what I call a
finishing touch step for the brave. Dip your sable hair brush into
very small amount of goo-gone and “paint” the seams.
Don’t use too much goo-gone. Don’t handle the wax and keep it away
from dust and dirt. Sprue it yourself so that you know where the
patterns will end up after casting. This way you have no one to blame
but yourself if the wax wire is disturbed.I’ve done this many times
with good results through the patience of Saint Eligius!
Margie Mersky
mmwaxmodels.com
I'm trying to adhere soft flexible blue wax half round (Rio Grand's Modelers Wax Wire) to a green wax ring. Using a heat pen causes quick distortion of the blue shapes at low heat. Would rubber cement be suitable? Any advice on how to work with this stuff would be appreciated. Thanks, Charley
I have used PVA in castings, and have had plastic models cast (lost
plastic toy casting :-D). CIA
Try sticky wax. When stuck keep your waxes in the fridge. I would
steer clear of rubber cement, you will get too much of a residue
when burning out and sulphur rich deposits which will react with your
metal.
Nick royall
Charley,
From your description of trying to mount a half-round wire on top of a "green wax ring", I'm wondering if you'd be further ahead by actually working with metal wire and sheet stock instead of wax. Depending on the complexity of your design, often working directly in the metal and soldering the components together is the fastest, and cleanest way to do it.
Don’t forget that by making your wax model, spruing, casting, and
then cleaning and polishing that cast model, you are in effect making
it twice… once in wax, and then the filing, sanding, and polishing
the entire casting to finish it.
In our studio, we don’t use very much soft wax ( it’s such a pain to
work with, and impossible to hollow out) but use mostly carving
waxes. Casting we generally save for projects we cannot fabricate in
metal.
Back to your original question though. To adhere the soft waxes
together, I’d try either a wax solvent or super glue.
Jay Whaley
www.whaleystudios.com
If the fist are reasonably close, super glue can work in a pinch.
Also you might think of some speciality wax or a wax that is made to
be used to “glue” things together. Peck’s Purple was one such wax
but I haven’t seen it available for years now. There is a blue dental
wax that is available that is very close to Peck’s, you could ask
your (a) jewelry supplier or a dental tech if you could try some if
they had any. The tech mostly likely will NOT be in the dental
office. “They” are most often in a dental lab somewhere.
john dach
Any advice on how to work with this stuff would be appreciated. Thanks, Charley
Super glue.
Charlie, get yourself some what is called “Sticky Wax”. It comes in
little…well, sticks about 1/4" in diameter. The melt point is
really low. just use an alcohol lamp and a pick or a little wax pen.
It works well for spruing, sticking parts together and a zillion
other uses at the bench. Rio Grande has it…
http://www.ganoksin.com/gnkurl/ep7zfw
Buy the smallest box you can, it lasts forever! It will stick the
blue to the green quite easily.
Good Luck. Dan.
Pecks purple inlay wax melts at a much higher temp than the blue wax wire, making it impossible to use.Any inlay wax used to attempt a 'fuse' of green carving wax and blue wax wire will result in damage.
Sorry, just from experience many many years ago I know this is not
the answer.
Melting in 92 degrees in the Twin Cities. MM
Kerr makes a product called Disclosing Wax that comes in a small
jar. It’s made for use in dentistry (I got a jar from one of my
students whose husband is a dentist).
It’s wonderful stuff, remains soft and can be easily manipulated.
It’s sort of like paste wax. In addition to holding parts together
it’s great for filling a deep scratch or nick in the hard green wax-
you can just smear it on with your finger.
How long should a Foredom quick change flexi hand piece last? Mine
is 4 years old and has about 600 hours use. It has developed a major
problem running hot, bad vibrations, and does not spin all the time.
I for safety sake stopped using it. I got out my old really basic
Italian made flexi/buffer combo still working fine after 15 years
use. I bought the Italian one after my first Foredom developed
problems i.e. running hot bad vibrations, returned to the seller for
a full refund. I bought the wizz bang Foredom model as a treat for my
self, variable speed foot control etc. Do these hand pieces just wear
out? I can live with that. Or have I just got a bad one that should
last longer. I followed the care for guidelines as per Foredom. I
think I will replace it with the H 30 hand piece.
TTFN
Richard
Dear Charlipee:
I have never been successful at melting two pieces of wax together.
Sand or file your wax until the two pieces of wax have a tight fit
and glue the two pieces together with superglue. Yes, superglue
works with wax!
People who do carve hollows into wax pieces should always use
superglue. It doesn’t wreck your model or make a mess like melted
wax does. Furthermore with two tightly fitting pieces, it’s stronger
than a wax seam.
I sculpt models in Supersculpy, make a silicone mold of these with
Sorta-clear 18, pour wax into the mold, and cast the wax pattern by
the lost wax method. This is about half the price of PMC and much
less aggravation than melting an ruining wax. You can see how this
works on Etsy Tiny Worlds Jewelry or Pinterest.
Sally Parker
The bearings in the hand pieces take a terrific beating, so most
likely the bearings need replacing. you can send the hand piece into
Foredom and they will do it, or you can buy the bearings from them
and do it yourself or you can get bearings on line or from a bearing
dealer and do t yourself. Bearings will not last forever and todays
"made in China" bearings will last a much shorter time than good old
USA, Japan or German bearings… A set of bearings, even with install
labor if that is your route, should be less than a new hand piece.
john dach