Hydrogen as fuel, platinum casting, missing post

Jewelry Discussion
1

hi,

dauvit asked me about using horizontal centrifuge for platinum
casting, i sent a reply to the list but it got lost somewhere. alan
revere has since responded.

a few years ago while taking another class, i picked the brain of
ed friedman, the platinum instructor at revere. i have been able to
successfully cast platinum from that brain picking session.

alan, this question is for you: at that time propane was being
used to melt the platinum. because i read and had experienced that
propane can cause micro porosity in platinum melts, i wanted to use
hydrogen. i bought the neccessary regulators and leased a tank that
holds 80 cubic feet of hydrogen. this amount of fuel lasted only
for about 20 melts. has this been the experience with hydrogen at
the academy? i’ve been using the same regulator settings as i did
for propane/oxy.

still using propane in beautiful ventura, ca.

please say hi to (don’t call me master) ed.

best regards,

geo fox

2

In response to your questions about hydrogen vs. propane. We must
have switched to H2 right after you were here, because I can barely
even remember using it for that purpose. H2 is so much hotter and
cleaner, although much more dangerous so be careful and check your
local fire codes.

As far as the other questions, I will pass them on to Ed Friedman
and get back to you as soon as possible. I am glad that you have
had success casting Pt. It really is not as daunting as some people
think. Like a lot of things, once you have been shown how and have
had success, the rest is simple.

Alan