How to separate wax from rubber?

I was testing my new wax injector, I didn’t notice the termometer was not
working it was marking 60 deg C who was Ok. The thing is that the wax real
temperature was around 150 deg C The point is that while I was trying to
fill my mold the super hot wax burn my hand and splash all the interior of
my mold, that I dropped instantly. After a few minutes while I cured my
injured hand, I tried to take the remaning hard wax off from the mold but
it is stick in the rubber and I dont want to damage the mold. Do any one
know how I can deattach easily this wax ?

Gustavo

Dear Gustavo

Sorry about your burned hand! The jeweler who trained me, said as he
showed me how to use a knife edge burr (looks like a bonesaw!): ‘Now don’t
slip and hurt that ring! Your hand will heal, but the ring won’t!’- so
hopefully your mld is okay.

About the wax to be removed from the rubber. Naptha is a common solvent
that dissolves wax. I don’t know if it effects the rubber, but you could
try submerging a little piece of rubber in the solvent to see if it will
attack it or not.

When handling Naptha, avoid breathing the fumes and skin contact. Use
ventilation. It is not the most dangerous of solvents, but it is more
dangerous than acetone.

Good luck, Tom Tietze
-The Artisan Workshop
Jewelry Creations & School

Try freezing it as the wax will contract from the rubber and it should
release. Did you apply any sort of release to the rubber mold before you
injected it??? What type of rubber are you using? Silicons tend to need
little or no release,many/most other rubbers need some sort of release
and you will have to try different ones and find one that works for you.
Many folks like powders, others like “dry” sprays and others like "wet"
sprays. I use all of the above for different rubbers and different
situations. Corn starch is an easily available release, dust it on, blow
or bang the excess off and shoot your waxes. You will find that you can
usually inject a number of times before you have to re-apply the release
(the waxes start to stick).

Hope this helps.

John

John and Cynthia/MidLife Crisis Enterprises
Maiden Metals/C. T. Designs/ Bloomin’ Wax Works. etc.

PO Bx 44, Philo
CA 95466
Ph 707-895-2635 FAX 707-895-9332

The playfulness of the Universe
is reflected in the dance of the stars!

Hi Gustavo

How about giving it the big freeze in the frig. This should harden the wax
and make it come away from the rubber quite easily.

Major Boyce @pyramid

Dunk it in warm water – I mean warm, not hot – and peel it off after it softens.
Another approach— put it in the freezer and let it get hard and
brittle. It should break and crumble out easily.

P.S.-- Don’t do that again!!
F.E. Knight, Inc., 120 Constitution Blvd., Franklin, MA 02038 |
508/520-1666 FEKnight@ziplink.net |

Hi,
Most waxes can be solublised in White spirits (also known as petroleum
spirits or mineral spirits). This should not affect the rubber but you
might want to test a small section before hand. Testing can be done by
casting a block of known dimentions, soaking this block for 1, 2, 5 and 24
hours and noting any change in dimentions afterwards.
You could also try heating the mould and getting the wax to evaporate.
I am not sure if this would be the best way to go about it as I do not
cast jewellery pieces (yet anyway - I’m still building my kiln). Good luck
and I hope that your hand was not too seriously burned Eileen

denatured alcohol is an agressive wax solvent, eucalyptus oil will work
more slowly but smells nicer.

best regards,

geo fox

I am still just looking from the sidelines to learn about working on fine
metals. In just this first couple of weeks I have picked up a fantastic
amount of from this newsgroup and also from the product
webpages.

One subject I am interested in is making rubber molds. I missed the start
of this thread on removing wax from rubber molds. My question is, is the
rubber mold used to make multiple wax positives for lost wax casting or is
a wax positive used to make the rubber mold?

Its easy to carve a wax positive but will it stand curing
temperatures and pressures for making a rubber mold.

Kelvin Mok (klmok@shaw.wave.ca)

Home: (403) 463-4099 | Home FAX: (403) 430-7120

All you can do is sit down & spend the time removing every little speck of
wax by flexing the mold to get it to release and carefuly picking away.

From now on you should use talkum powder sewen into a piece of thin cloth.
Simply pat the mold lightly with the talk and blow it out before each use
ant your stickey problem will vanish. BTW…try not to breathe the dust.
Not too healthy. Hope your hand heals up soon.

Best;
Steve K.
Sadly devoid of impressive credentials.

Didn’t mean to just send one line and yelling at that! You need to get your
mold as cold as possiable and scrape it with something semi sharp with out
cutting into the mold its self. It should clean up pretty easily. If you
can help it DON"T use any kind of petrolium product, as it will breakdown
your rubber. Try to find some mold release made for rubber spray some on
then shot some waxes!! clean it up as good as you can, then use some mold
release powder. Good luck!!

Matt the Catt

Hi Kevin

The rubber mold is made from a metal master for injecting waxes. The wax
will not withstand the heat and pressure of the vulcanizing process. You
can use an RTV mold compound (a plastic system) to replicate waxes
directly. By the way, someone had a suggestion on the forum to build a
vulcanizer from an adjustable temp. waffle iron. I’m building one right
now and will let you all know if it works as well as a commercial unit.

Tom Tietze, The Artisan Workshop

Hi Kelvin,

You need to cast your object first. You may want to look into a product
by Ferris for making molds. It is first poured around your object, then
placed in an oven (even your home oven will work}. The baking step
produces a clear mold that enables you to see where it should be cut.
I’ve found this product to be useful when I don’t need to make large
numbers of impressions, say 50+.

I’ve found it available at most jewelry making supply sources.

Good Luck,

Joyce in Colorado

Hi Kelvin, Rubber molds are used to make waxes for the lost-wax casting
method. A mold will,over a period of years,make thousands of waxes. Rubber
molds are made many ways and from many materials. One common method is
vulcanizing. This requires heat [300deg.F] and pressure. A metal master
must be used. Some mold are made of liquids that reguire heat to cure.
These also require a metal master model. There are other liquids that are
2 part compounds or simple air drying rubbers that may be used for mold
making. As these last 2 types do not need heat, a wax model can be used.
Confusing, isn’t it? I hope this helps. Tom Arnold

denatured alcohol is an agressive wax solvent, eucalyptus oil will work
more slowly but smells nicer.

Hi Wax Messers, CitriSolv, available at your local heath food store, is
the best wax solvent I have found. J.A.

Hi Injecters, If your wax is sticking that much to your rubber mold your
wax is probably too hot! Silicon spray will help and corn starch will
build up and get messy. Talc is not good to breath and did you know it is
minerally related to asbestos? Try Arrowroot powder, found at your local
heathfood store. It won’t cake up on you. Take a piece of old bed sheet
10" square and put a tablespoon of the stuff in the middle. Put a rubber
band around it to make what we call a powder “ghost”. Use it sparingly.
J.A.