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Some advice...
klantz -
Thursday, January 15, 2009 - 11:49am
Casting I am a 2nd year Sculpture grad student currently at LSU. I am working with casting small objects and have been using the investment process thus far. My next step is to work with ceramic shell to change materials for casting. But my process has been to take existing wood materials coating them in a thin layer of wax or shellac then burning them out and gravity casting and sling casting into the mold. I was wondering if anyone had any information on casting stainless or could recommend a book. I realize it is a difficult process and in doing small amounts (4-5 ounces) might not be worth it, however I would like to see the information on it. Also has anyone used the shellspen products? I would like to know their life and how well they actually keep the slurry suspended. So far everything I've read here is great, I'm looking forward to being a part of this community. casting
klantz -
Saturday, January 24, 2009 - 12:39am
I just finished an investment burn out and centrifugal cast bronze of the wood pieces and the piece turned out great. The pieces of wood are actually small tree branches coated in a thin layer of wax. No extra sprues or holes were needed. I have now bought some fine silver to do the same process. The reason I wanted to do the ceramic shell was for several reasons. One is that I waste an enormous amount of investment do to the nature of the objects I am casting which are not very big, but take up a lot of volume. Two I wanted to be able to cast many different types of materials (read: different metals) into the ceramic shell and really test the limits of certain materials. Three, it was a different process that I thought might reveal different results. The burnout of wood is no big deal, that part I have done before with no problems on a larger scale. Now on a smaller scale it worked fine too. We'll see what the next casting holds in store and I'll be sure to post some pictures when I finish my pieces. » reply Hey there- welcome to
Nathan Logsdon -
Saturday, January 24, 2009 - 8:29am
Hey there- welcome to Artmetal. I noticed you're at LSU. I have shop in Baton Rouge doing mostly forged and fabbed steel for res and commercial. I would be more than willing to help if I can, but I do know someone who used to work at LSU sculpture and I know he could help. If you're interested, give me a ring. » reply |
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My thoughts relate to the
My thoughts relate to the original wood pieces you will be using. Yes it can be done but there will be very different change results between the types of wood used. A balsa wood with a light body will burn out better than any denser hardwood item but will probably still need a good introduction of oxygen or oxygen rich air to remove the last parts and to eat up the charcoal core that will otherwise result. Make sure the investment has both an air access and air egress that helps it flow naturally through during the burnout and beyond and then seal the lower hole after it is fully cleaned out and before pouring. I am not sure ceramic shell is the best for this unless you are counting on doing long and continuing burnouts to give it more time than usual to remove the wood and ash. I have done the same process a number of times over the years but used the plaster based investment and the mold included a small pipe shaft into the kiln that went to the lower hole so I could actually introduce oxygen from my gas welding torch. I would start it out with the flame established and slowly cut off the gas flow. To just introduce oxygene could be very dangerous and even cause an explosion so be careful with that and basically only do it at the end of the burnout cycle. There are other points to be considering here but I assume you are already familiar with both types of investment systems. Good luck bpfink