Investment Casting - or 'Lost Wax' Process

[Bigwol]

Some of you will recall that I broke my Injectomatic II wax injector, and fixed it with a new heater element.

One of the test pieces I used was a small doggie charm, and the waxes came out well. I've got one back from the caster and thought you might like to see the results.

From Left to Right - Master with Sprue, Wax copy, casting made from the wax in the as-cast state clipped from the sprue.



Left to Right, trimmed, barrelled and polished cast doggie, Wax doggie, Original Master doggie on Sprue



Investment casting is an excellent process for making multiple copies of a 'master' you have made.

I have the facilities to make silicone rubber moulds from silver masters, and provide waxes from the mould at reasonable rates if anyone is interested.

I can also recommend a caster who will make castings from the wax - all the technical bits like spruing, investment and casting is done by them - you just provide the wax (and optionally the casting grain if you have it) which keeps the cost down

[Mila Jewellery]

Ooh they look fantastic :) I did start a lost wax casting project at Uni - I still have the master somewhere, but I couldn't afford to get it cast in silver at the time, so I might take you up on your offer at some point - not that I can afford it now lol but later in the year I'd like to

[agent_44]

Yes looking great :) I'll definitely remember you for if I need any moulds or masters.

[JasonJohn]

Wonderful Biggie,

I can make waxes myself if I wanted with a tip I picked up from a jeweller who did some laser work for me (not Alan LOL)!

He told me to buy the silicone, which I haven't bought as the OH is an audiologist and got the 2 part silicone for me and then just melt the wax in the microwave and use a syringe to force it into the silicone mould, I haven't tried it yet but he said he used that method for ages before purchasing a wax injector.

[hart-star]

I'm not sure about what that audiologist is doing putting ears in microwaves just to get rid of ear-wax, and I'm staying well clear of any syringes in future.

[Ouisri]

Yes, this process is wonderful, you can produce a lot of copy in one time. But don't forget about quality too, different kinds of rubber or silicone having different percentage of shrinkage. Also same rubber after use for a while, its performance also drop can not give you the same proportion anymore. everything has limit.....