Dear All, This is still about the double metal casting. Doug Zaruba
and som e other explained how this is done to me (many thanks -
you’re great). However, everyone gave Gold and Platinum as an
example. I would love to try out the “porcupine method” of which Doug
was talking about (sticking platinum wires into the wax ring, right
through the wax, cast in gold or silver and filing the wires
smooth). I wonder whether this can be done with Palladium instead of
with Platinum (much cheaper than Platinum these days). The problem is
that I do not know anything about this metal. I am safe for what
concerns the first rule (higher melting point), as Palladium melts at
2831B0F (1555 B0C), while the melting point of all gold alloys are
much lower . Do you think that Palladium might be a good choice or
are
there serious cons? Thank you for reading. With best regards, Will
Will, Palladium can easily be cast in place…but with one small
problem: palladium LOVES to oxidize! It will not come off in the
pickle, so you will be stuck with a black wire that is impossible to
solder, should you wish to have a very tight bond. When you file it
flush to the surface of the cast metal, it will look white, like
platinum.
Perhaps you can use this to your advantage, by creating a way to
lock the wires into the casting. Just putting a crimp in the wire
(that is imbedded in the wax) will do the trick. File the wires
flush after casting and heat the whole piece until the palladium
oxidizes. Now, you have black “dots” on the surface of your casting,
instead of white ones. Flat wire will give you black “lines,” etc.
I think that the beauty of casting platinum in place is that you can
pre-polish the platinum, and it will remain polished after the cast.
This can give you some interesting texture contrasts…
Try everything…platinum, palladium, copper, steel, titanium,
pebbles, whatever. Try glass, if you wish. The worst that can happen
is that the glass shatters, and tiny bits of colored glass are
sticking out of the cast metal. Practice with a silver test cast.
You may discover something the world has overlooked…
Doug Zaruba
What’s going on guys? I cast all the time using ordinary 18ct wire
and silver and silver with 18ct gold. The flask never gets hot enough
to melt the silver wire and the flowing gold never melts it either.
It seems to work with both centrifugal and vacuum casting methods.
What am I doing WRONG?
Tony Konrath
Key West Florida 33040
Will-- I can’t tell you anything about palladium, but if there’s any
doubt about your metals sticking together, just tap the center of
each wire (where it will be inside the gold or whatever) with a
chisel or cross peen hammer. The little change of dimension will
lock it in. HTH! --Noel