r/MetalCasting

Yesterday I was sand casting these hearts and on this one the spruce disconnected its self. My mind is blown🤯

I'd like to invite you to our Iron Pour in Lamberton, Minnesota on September 11-12.

It will be the 22th annual city festival centered around the Saturday Afternoon Pour and the historic Hanzlik Blacksmith Shop. There will be Blacksmiths demonstrations through out the day Friday and Saturday. Visiting Smiths are also encouraged to bring a portable forge and set up onsite if they wish. There will be sand mold shops running both Friday and Saturday as well. We welcome everyone from artists pouring museum quality pieces to children to the farmer making pieces to restore their tractor.

We encourage anyone to participated in the pour and can provide all the necessary safety equipment if you wish to try your hand at pouring.

In addition to the pour there will be a craft market, sand volleyball and various food vendors, an antique tractor/car show, and blacksmithing demonstrations.

Feel free to ask any questions you may have and I hope to see you there.

Here is a link to the Facebook event.

Hey first time I’ve ever tried to sand cast. Trying to make a little acorn. I’m an experienced blacksmith and woodworker. Capable of pattern welding via hammer, and comfortable working around high heats. Having made cutlery and tools, furniture and the like. I thought I’d have my hand at metal casting since I have a forge and I could see it complimenting some of those other crafts. Well as I’m sure everyone here knows there is quite an art to things. Even in trying to set up a sand cast flask I’m struggling to get it to cooperate. I think it is my sand? Can I get some help? I’m just messing around and will give the final product to my wife as an anniversary gift. I might eventually try lost wax instead with some refractory cement. Unless y’all would advise against that. The goal would be to eventually cast it in either copper or Bronze(aluminum alloy).

Thought this .9999 piece one came out pretty nice!

Disclaimer: I am very new to casting. Done maybe 4-5 pours. My wife suggested I try casting some ear rings but when I tried the aluminum never made it to that part of the mold. Is there a minimum flow diameter for casting? I’m wondering if anyone has any advice for what I did wrong / tips for small parts in general. Thanks in advance!

Cast this from 95/5 Bronze in Petrobond. After the casting I textured it with a die grinder then added a patina. In the past I had done finishes like this with a hammer but I like how the die grinder could go deeper with more control. If anyone can suggest a good lacquer I would like to know as this patina isn't super resistant to rubbing and I have always left my work unlacquered

Finally a ToAuto (or Vevor) Kanthal furnace which uses a standard clay-graphite crucible. It is advertised for melting aluminum but when the guy dumps the hot aluminum ingots into water the narrator talks about 'copper ingots' while it is clearly aluminum. Moreover it is advertised as '8kg aluminum' which requires a crucible of 8 / 2.3 = 3.5 liter (almost 1 gallon) which does not fit in this furnace. And where are the Kanthal heating element wires ? Inside the Kaowool insulation ?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfYUHEdHW6U

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Hi everyone, I’m having a problem with getting a rough surface finish when casting jewelry printed with BlueCast X-Wax Filigree. After printing, I wash the pieces in 99% IPA for 5 minutes, dry them completely, give them a second IPA bath for 2 minutes, and cure them for 10 minutes. I’m using Infinity Premium casting powder, initially at a 40:100 powder-to-water ratio and also tried 38:100. I vacuum the investment for about 2:30 minutes, pour it into a 2.5 × 7 inch flask, then vacuum it again for another 2:30 minutes and let it set for around 3 hours. For burnout, I’m following the BlueCast cycle of 150°C for 2 hours, 450°C for 2 hours, and 730°C for 3 hours. I’m casting 925 silver and have tried different flask temperatures of 580°C, 600°C and 650°C, as well as silver temperatures of 980°C, 1000°C, 1020°C and 1050°C, but the surface is still coming out rough. The printed pieces look smooth before casting, so I’m trying to figure out where the problem is. Could the issue be the investment ratio, washing/curing, burnout cycle, flask temperature, silver temperature, silver quality, or something else? I’d really appreciate your advice on what I should change first.

This has been my second attempt pouring and I feel like I am so close! The tip of the head looks perfect but the broad side looks terrible.

I made my mould out of refractory cement and it was heated to 500⁰C before pouring in the 90/10 aluminum bronze. Central pouring sprue and vents on every corner. Was there to much turbulence? What would cause those massive pits on one side but not the other?

Hi everyone! I work at a bronze foundry that exclusively uses ceramic shell molds and recently we have been getting this strange casting defect. Raised bumps have been appearing on the majority of our pieces that are inconsistent with the normal boogers that you would get from air bubbles in the slurry. They are forming on both high and low texture/relief areas, on the face and inside of the piece, as well as on the cup and sprue bars. We burn out in a flash kiln and there are no visible defects on the interior surface of the ceramic after they come out of the kiln. We thoroughly blow out the molds and they are properly preheated prior to pouring. This issue started maybe 3 months ago, before that we had pretty flawless surface texture aside from the occasional burn in or cold spot. But apparently this problem has happened several different times before I worked here and nobody seems to be able to tell me how it was fixed, just that it eventually went away. We use Ransom & Randolph Primcote Binder for 2 primary coats and Customcote Binder for the 8-10 backup coats. We stay on top of the PH and the mixers are on an automatic timer. We pay special attention on the primary coats, making sure to brush away excess sand and using tools to lightly scrape any crevices to make sure air bubbles don’t get trapped for the first few dips. I am personally convinced that this is an issue with the structural integrity of the primary coat breaking down when the molten metal hits the mold. I feel like I have tracked down every other variable but I would really appreciate any advice I can get. Has anyone else ever had this problem?

Coins I made for a good friend's birthday, sandcast in tin bronze

He designed the coin, I printed it with a resin printer and did the casting and post processing

Can anyone help me figure out why this is happening to my castings ? S925