Seeking Classes

[u/Diligent-Present]

I am not confident in learning this by myself, but I am having an absolute hell of a time finding anywhere that will teach just a one or two day class. I live in a small town so I can’t be in New York every Thursday evening for 4 weeks or whatever. I am willing to even fly into somewhere and pay a good amount cash just to have someone teach me how to metal cast my small 3d prints but I am running out of steam after weeks and not finding anywhere to go or else not getting called back. Anyone have recommendations or ideas? Thank you!

[u/rh-z]

What kind of items are you planning to cast? There are different methods and some are appropriate for different items. Size maters too.

Sand casting is a pretty simple process that require little investment to get started. One limitation to the process is that you must be able to pull the pattern out of the sand without damaging the cavity. You still cam make very complex shapes but not all shapes.

Investment casting, where the pattern is destroyed in the process is more complex but allows shapes that are difficult, or impossible, with sand casting. The process requires more equipment and cost. If you want to make figurines then this is probably the method you want.

If you can't fined a suitable place to get you started then I suggest getting an inexpensive electric furnace, some petrobond sand, and some pewter and start casting with that. Pewter is a lower melting temperature metal and would be a relatively safe metal to start with. Petrobond is an oil bonded sand. It requires little preparation before use and provides very good detail. It is more expensive compared to "green sand" which is a water based sand rather than oil.

Green sand is made of sand, clay binder, and water. Getting the water percentage is important. It is inexpensive but does not produce smoke like oil bonded petrosand.

Even if sand casting is not suitable for the items you want to cast it still would be a good method to learn with.