I made a tutorial on how to make a simple wire ingot.
Check out
http://www.ganoksin.com/gnkurl/ep825m
Seems like a lot of work… I get the same results by carving out
a depression in a charcoal block, which has the added advantages of
a reducing atmosphere and not requiring all the heating up of a
steel mold…:-)…
Janet in Jerusalem
I do the same thing with pieces of common steel rod in different
lengths. I arrange them on top of a flat piece of steel and hold them
in place with magnets. Pour the ingot, take away the magnets and the
mold comes apart.
You can also make irregular shaped ingots such that the shape and
thickness can be uniform as you roll or forge to the desired final
shape. Lots of fun. Rob
What’s wrong with poking a hole into sand-casting sand and pouring
into that?
Noel
As follow up to my original post, the rod is square, not round. Rob
What's wrong with poking a hole into sand-casting sand and pouring into that?
In matter of fact nothing.
After reading articels concerning sandcasting rods it’s even better
and creates a better grainstructure and less grainstructure problems.
James Binion acknowledged this process a longer time ago as far as I
can recall.
Best regards
I do this with delft clay. It’s a little more involved than poking a
hole in the clay. I partially pack a piece of pvc pipe with clay.
Insert the rod of choice (usually a straightened length of 6 or 8
gauge copper wire). Pack more clay and then ram it with a piece of
pvc molding cut round to fit inside the pipe with a hole to fit over
the wire. I ram by placing another piece of smaller pvc pipe over the
exposed wire striking the end of the small pipe so that I can pack
the clay with the piece of wire still inside the pipe. Once packed, I
carefully remove the wire, make sure that there isn’t a hole all the
way thru so that the melted metal doesn’t just run out (yes, I have
done this), cut a reservoir and cast. As carefully as I remove the
wire, the ingot still has a little irregularity on the end that was
deepest inside the mold. I imagine that this is a result of the wire
not coming out completely straight and making that end of the mold
misshaped.
It also may disturb some clay that then falls to the bottom of the
mold. I have also made a large frame and then use the wire as the
model and cast in the usual way. It takes a lot longer than the pipe
method, but produces a better ingot. I am not sure if the quality of
the ingot is any better than using a steel wire mold; I know that,
for me, it is better than using an open mold as the ingot is a lot
more regular in shape. Pictures if you want them. Good luck. Rob