Richard,
Thanks for the suggestions about how to wind the Neycraft centrifuge
without hurting my shoulder. I will see about reorganizing my studio
and give it a try.
You are right about the wonderful casts one gets with a centrifuge.
Never had a failure, a blowout, or any problems, and being able to
melt themetal in the built in crucible is a big plus. Alma
Hi all
The casting machine I like is the one the professional casters use.
They charge me about $6 for the cast plus metal. I am in OZ and use
Palloys.
I don’t do a lot of cast pieces so can’t justify the cost of setting
up for myself.
all the best
Richard.
Thanks Richard, I am in OZ too, so I will be getting in touch with
Palloys sounds like just the joint I need.
Robin, in Melbourne.
Paul- That’s a variation of steam casting I’ve never heard of.
Usually it’s a potato.
Have fun and make lots of jewelry.
Jo Haemer
timtohywgreen.com
Paul- That's a variation of steam casting I've never heard of. Usually it's a potato.
The variation I first heard of, or actually saw published, I think
in a booklet from the now defunct TSI company here in Seattle, was
back in the mid 70s. It involved a “casting machine” that was a
length of broom handle or similar dowel, with a jar lid nailed or
screwed to the end, which would be filled with layers of newspaper,
soaked till very wet. The flask would be invested using multiple
small sprues (like maybe 16 guage wax wire, that would add up to
enough cross sectional area to carry the needed metal to the casting.
Those multiple thin sprues would combine into the main sprue leading
to the model. After investing, one would scoop out the investment
with a spoon to form a bowl shape which would be one’s melting
crucible. The multiple little sprues would look like a group of small
holes at the bottom of this bowl. Their holes would be too small for
metal to flow in without a push, so you could melt the metal with a
torch directly in that bowl. Casting amounted to the usual push the
wet stuff onto the top of the flask, and steam pressure casts it. I
never tried it with a potato though.
the flasks were to be burned out in the kitchen, just on the
stovetop. Either electric or gas worked (I used an electric stove
when I did it). A red clay standard flower pot, lined first with a
layer of furnace tape (It was asbestos back then, something else
now), and then a layer of aluminum foil, with a little of the vent
hole in the bottom of the pot opened up again. The flask went sprue
down on directly on the burner with the pot inverted over it. Turn
on high, come back in a few hours, and that flask would be nicely
glowing. Who knows what the temp actually was, but it must have been
in the right range, because other than a smokey kitchen, this worked
just fine. After the first time, one learned to put a bit of aluminum
foil under the burner to catch the melting wax, so it didn’t make a
mess of the stove, and turn on the kitchen fan so the smoke
detectors didn’t get upset…
Peter
This matches the method described pretty right. (as opposed to my
half remembered translation…)
oh my. I’ll have to mention the potato method to my friend. he’ll
get a kick out of that…
Peter your description of the steam casting you did, made me dig
though my library. Sure enough, I found the booklet copyrighted
1973, "Lost Wax Castinphotos. The copyright is held by Castex
Casting Crafts, Westminster, CA.
Personal story here: in 1964 or 65 I visited the University of
Kansas for aday spent visiting their art program. One grad student
explained how steamcasting was a method used from antiquity. I think
she was writing her thesis on the topic. She described the very
simple process.
A few years later, when I took a jewelry-making course in college, I
steam cast a rather intricate ring for one project. I made my
’stamp’ from a boardwith several layers of toweling stapled to it
and a handle made from a piece of wood screwed to the other side.
The toweling was soaked with water. Iused a piece of iron pipe for a
flask and had a box of dirt into which the completed burn-out was
placed.
As I recall, I used the modern burn-out kiln to eliminate the wax,
then immediately put the flask into its dirt bed. No crucible was
used to melt the silver. Instead, a large funnel-shaped sprue was
attached right above the ring. After burn-out this left a large
place for melting the metal right in the flask. When a molten state
had been achieved, I quickly stamped the wet toweling directly onto
the top of the flask. Voila! Presto! A successful casting.
The ring looked rather like a ladder, so there was lots of negative
space, yet it cast completely.
I have not repeated the process since, and really don’t want to.
Yet, it isnice to be able to say I did it.
Judy in Kansas, where a little more snow overnight means clearing
the sidewalk again. Only an inch or so - not much effort required.
I think it was also necessary to make sure that the excess water is
shaken out of the paper towel lined can. You wouldn’t want to have
water dropping onto a puddle of molten metal, that could get fairly
explosive. Don Norris has an excellent tutorial on Steam Casting. It
was the first method I used and is very effective, I still use it
sometimes when I want to cast something quickly without having to
fire up the kiln and do a lengthy wax burn out.