Hi All,
I would like to take this time to thank you all for the
suggestions on the problem of combining two different waxes. To
Matt the Cat, you caught me. I should have known better than to
use 10 ga sprue wire on a heavier piece. I guess you fall into a
rutine casting smaller pieces all the time for production. To Geo
Fox, the suggestion of investment getting in between the two
pieces saved me on another piece in which I used blue wax for a
channel to set 3 emerald cut 8 by 6. I had carved and cast the
ring and found major perosity all around the top. I sealed the
outside fine but the inside I had neglected. Oh well, live and
learn. Made a mold of the original and tried again with sucess.
To John Henkel, Thank You. I believe you hit the nail on the head
for me. I finally found some free time to experiment. I took a
3mm thick ferris fil-a-wax piece and attatched it to a signet
ring shank of red injection wax. Took a wax bit and engraved a
little design it, just to see if it would break down at all.
Also, I used a heavier top plate of green wax just to push the
odds. I invested in r&r in the evening had the oven timer set to
come on at 4am for 4 hours at 200f. Used a j2 flask by the way.
Transferred it to the other oven with the rest of my work and
walla! Good casting. I had checked the flask after about 30
minutes putting into the other oven and the red had already
flowed out to create an open cavity. There are so many do’s and
don’ts in jewelry making it’s trully and art. You can do
everything wrong by the book and still get good results. Perfect
example, the boss tells me he needs 20 pendants tomorrow. I shoot
30 waxes, split them up in j2s at 6 each invest 30 minutes later
in the oven for a 3 hour burnout, cast by cyntrifical and only
lost 2. I got very lucky on that. I find the wetter the flask at
burnout the more likely I’m going to have problems. In fact,
with all the stones I cast with I never let the oven get more
than 950f. The larger perferatted flasks definately sit over
night and take at least a 5 hour burnout, again never going above
950f. Everybody develops their own way of getting things done.
It’s nice to have a list to find out how everybody else does it.
Thanks again.
Michael B