Hello All,
I spend a lot of time at casting shops in Los Angeles, some of which
are trade casters who cater to custom retail shops. As cad cam gets
so
much more common I am seeing and hearing of some specific mistakes
that are cost folks good money. Most of these come down to one
version or another of making the molten metal fill a thick area,
stream through some designed in bottleneck, and fill in thick areas
beyond that.
I’d like to just point one out I have seen lately- Diamonds in
unusual places like the ring shank- When the complete holes for the
diamonds are in the model to cast, the metal has a hard time flowing
past all the tight spots around the holes or into prongs.
An alternative is to merely put a dimple in the area, to drill later
after casting. The dimple will assure you the drill will not wander
about when you start the hole.
When a design calls for a lot of voids, like say the right hand ring
concept, It’s often wise to plan on significant hand fabrication
after casting rather than doing it all in advance in the design. It’s
a balance I guess. Maybe that next call will be asking about growing
the darn model around the stones! Just kidding I hope…
Daniel Ballard
Precious Metals West
National Sales Manager