Devon Sinsley said:
Kevin I believe has our drawing done for our tire. Would you need the master to be wax or could I have it printed in plastic and then have you make a mold of it for casting the wax. Also, and I think I know the answer, how precise will the castings be, will they be reading to go or require milling like sand casting them. I am assuming they would be ready to go. Email me and we can talk price and logistics.
Also not sure if it would be helpful or not but I have a rather easy access to bronze. They are water meter bodies and would need to be cut up and melted down. Wouldn’t be shot, but if that’s doable I will supply the material for mine and a great deal more if your interested in working a deal (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif).
Excuse me friend, but prices? Way too soon, I’m still working out the logistics and to see if you can use what I can offer. My budget is so tight I’ll need to know what running the oven, furnace and vacuum pumps cost electrically. I won’t know that until the shop is wired … er a line run to the shop, I wired it years ago.
Regarding a mold, the only ones I’ve made were vulcanized rubber, baked under pressure. Plus a pressurized wax pot and all the accessories it adds up and I would have to add the cost to you because I have no desire what so ever to do production jewelry. That was the UNFUN part of my work. Truth be told I have an aversion to repeating that experience. Cutting a mold can make or break it, warm wax distorts if the mold doesn’t pull away easily. A flat tire would be relatively easy. For me to add those items… New prices for example; waxpot $315, Econo Vulcanizer $445, rubber $50 accessories. ++… How many wheels to pay this off?
I’m not expecting to pay off my present equipment, I just want to use it. My time and costs are all I want, because Trains Matter!
You may have missed this part, I think we can burn out the plastic prints and forgo the wax all together. Also learned that you can get wax prints. My oven hits 2000 F, most ash incinerates at this temp. We will need to look at plastic properties for clean prints and burnout. To fire the investment (plaster) it will sit at 1950F for a couple of hours and then be ramped down to 900 for casting
Way back when, I geared my Unimat down so I could turn wax, too fast and instead of cutting it would melt! If you know a CNC router you could have your waxes milled in this;
https://www.riogrande.com/Product/matt-green-wax-block/700556
Might be cheaper and truer than prints.
I’ve never seen a casting come out shiny, Sterling had Firescale, 75 lousy parts of copper out of a thousand units created a Grey layer on the surface that was harder than the silver, a bright boy took it off (an abrasive impregnated rubber wheel). Gold was pale yellow that could be planished to shiny, but also looked better with a fresh surface. We will learn together what finish we like. I’ll share techniques and steer you to the tools you’ll need.
Sprues have to be cut off and cleaned up. I like to place them where that is easiest. I’ll do the spruing.
A quick casting Primer. Metal shrinks as it cools, a sprue fatter than the thickest part of the model and attached to it will continue to feed metal to the casting as it cools, with out it the model pulls away as it cools and porosity forms and ruins the casting. Casting trees are built with each next part lighter than the feeder; trunk to branches branches to twigs and the nuts
No, reading your mind, my 4 jaw chuck is only 1 7/8" wide and there is too much movement, it’s plastic and aluminum modules bolted together. Ok for my fussy small items…
My email is slower than … truth be told with out a life, I’m here more than looking at it. Oh my phone has a hinge … it’s a leash I wear for my sister… (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-undecided.gif).
Gave peace o mind when I was actively exploring abandoned mines.
John
