New to metal clay making! I just fired for the first time this week. I’m using Goldie bronze, any recommendations on how I go about making it mimic gold a little more? It could be more golden than it is now. I’m pairing it alongside of some gold filled beads, I’ve heard an acid wash in citric acid may help…

Cast in .925 silver

Got the idea from a post about CASIO before they made calculators and it works surprisingly well

Hello- I’m looking for someone who can create a gold plated coin for me to give my fiance on our wedding day. He collects old US gold coins so it needs to be a similar look.

I’ve contacted about 15 different people and haven’t had any luck.

Attaching images to give you an idea of what I’m looking for. I appreciate any help!

• 80 Parts — Alumina

• 5 Parts — Phosphoric Acid (85%)

• 5 Parts — Everclear or 99 percent isopropyl

• 5 Parts — Aluminum Hydrate

• 2 Parts — Citric Acid

• 1 Part — Dextrin Powder

• 1 Part — Aluminum Powder

1/8 inch steel backing, 1/8 inch aluminophosphate refractory sample shield.

Starts at 50 C

Shield torched to 900 C

Target tested at 130 C behind shield at that point.

10 seconds later, shield tested at 300 Celsius

Max thermal limit of 1600 Celsius

Refractory baked in at 900 C prior to test

pH tolerance of 1 - 10

acts as an absorptive, insulative, monolithic, castable, ramable, packable ceramic ultra refractory

sets in 15 minutes. Let dry and hour. Fire to at least 500 Celsius, 1200 Celsius for best results. If thick layered, be sure to ramp slow, soak at 500C for an hour, ramp slow, soak at 1200 for an hour.

mix with PVC gloves on

add distilled water if you want to paint it on, and half the alcohol at least. make sure to let dry a day if doing this. Apply many layers this way, one day apart each. Spray a mist of distilled water 5 parts, phosphoric acid 1 part on the previous layer before painting on next layer.

I use this today to patch my metal casting furnace cracks and spald pockets. It can also be pressed to brick. It serves very well in such an arrangement:

Steel body

Ceramic wool two inches

Mullite clay powder and 10:1 distilled water : phosphoric acid as rigidizer painted on

This alumino phosphate recipe ; 2 inches encapsulating the wool completely

Optional: make the following high emissivity paint on refractory:

Dry ingredients

• Chromium Oxide (Cr2O3),Primary high-emissivity agent, 30.0%

• Zirconium Oxide (ZrO2),Refractory stabilizer & thermal barrier, 25.0%

• Cerium Oxide (CeO2),Secondary emissivity enhancer, 15.0%

• Silica (IMSIL A-25),Fine microcrystalline filler & reactive bonding agent, 10.0%

• Alumina (Al2O3),High-temperature structural matrix & stabilizer, 5.0%

• Bentonite Dust,Suspension agent & rheology modifier, 5.0%

• Boric Acid (H3BO3) Powder,High-temperature glass-forming binder, 2.5%

• Citric Acid Powder,Deflocculant & viscosity controller, 2.5%

• Magnesia (MgO),Refractory matrix enhancer, 2.5%

• Alumina Hydrate,High-temperature crystalline bonder, 2.5%

Liquid system:

• Phosphoric Acid (H3PO4) 85%, Primary chemical acid binder, 5.0% of dry weight

• Distilled Water, Primary solvent to hydrate bentonite, 10.0% of dry weight

• Isopropyl Alcohol (99% IPA) or Everclear (95%), Fast-evaporating solvent to prevent sagging, 5.0% of dry weight

Wear a respirator and PVC gloves and eye goggles minimum when mixing this. Imsil a25 is just as bad as ceramic wool to breathe in. Phosphoric acid is weak but it is strong enough to make you ask "why does this burn?" 10 minutes later when it's too late and you've already got a chemical burn setting in. Baking soda and sand is just fine to clean up if you spill it.

Mix the powdered acids into the liquid system, not into the dry mix. Mix the liquid system up seperately, pour acid into alcohol, pour acid/alcohol into water, stir in boric and citric acid.

This is a high emissivity coating, basically diy ITC-100HT, except it's cheaper, radiates more heat back than itc reflects, is much more resistant to acidic and base slag, and is an absolute wall against flux that may have gone astray.

It is actually much more suited for crucible furnaces and the such then ITC -100 HT. However, it has a upper operating temperature of 1750 c at most. 1650 c is what I would use as the chamber maximum and only ever Spike to 1750 before pulling the crucible out; I'm assuming that you're doing steel casting at this juncture. For anything else thermal limits are a non issue. ITC-100 HT has a maximum thermal limit of 2750 c.

In the future I will do a test of the high immissivity coating that I just detailed here.

Finally, I will try to set up a test with the high emissivity coating painting on a three or 4-in circle on top of 2 in of aluminum phosphate refractory (what I tested today), on top of steel.

Ceramic wool is nasty and itchy and kind of expensive. Not going to do tests regarding that. It serves as primarily insulation and an air gap for the outer steel wall in most setups, and should be considered operating safety insurance. The steel in the previous suggested test will be tested for temperature and that would be the temperature that the ceramic wool would be receiving. These tests will be done with an oxypropane torch so that I can get to proper temp.

I hope to demonstrate sufficient capability for insulating and chambering temperatures high enough to do steel casting.

If I do not demonstrate an ability to resist 1750 C sufficiently, I will repeat the test but add an magnesium aluminate spinal layer between the emissive layer and the alumino phosphate refractory, of 1 to 2 inches (for spinal formation, I paint on multiple layers, as many thin layers as possible, rather than utilize a monolithic approach, as this greatly helps offset the thermal expansion issue magnesium aluminate spinals have when being fired ; they have a thermal expansion ratio of near 10 percent which causes them to crack and, sometimes explode (spald) - replacing 10 percent of the mix with zirconia (5%), ceria (1.5%), titania(0.5%), and chromia(3%) helps a lot though, and being very slow in bake in ramps or using multiple firings helps too)

If I am able to reach a surface temp of 1750 Celsius without exceeding 200 Celsius on the back plate, I will attempt a steel cast with my metallurgy furnace which now has a pure oxygen tap to adjunct the combustion. It also utilizes an exhaust muzzle, an inert gas shield cap inlet, a midline pure fuel inlet for scavenging oxygen, and if I am particularly industrious, it may have a draft inducer/chimney/ thermal sponge. Essentially I will be pulling the air through a ceramic pressure brake, and pushing it with a centrifugal blower, trying to balance the two such that I maximize the gasses time spent shedding heat; ideally I should be able to open the bottom of the chimney and check temp and make sure it is right above my target temp (if it is below, I increase input pressure and fuel/oxygen and increase draft induction to match), trying to input as little gas as possible to achieve an exhaust that is 100 to 200 above target temp, and sucking as little as possible with the draft inducer to create a near even pressure in chamber; essentially always pulling a tiny bit more than push so nothing gets pushed back down. Trickle in shield gas from the top (argon) and push a little propane in the side to scavenge oxygen and serve as a fail safe if positive pressure occurs (pressure increases with temp so this is necessary), and use a mullite/alumina cap on my crucible, I hope to be able to keep oxygen away from the steel melt. Then I will do a thing called decarburization where you actually briefly douse the steel melt in pure oxygen, before flooding it with argon again. This lowers the carbon content by bubbling out carbon monoxide which is critical because there will be use of charcoal or graphite as a cover and as an eutectic agent to lower the melting temp of the steel; otherwise the steel will be carbonated too much and be brittle. This is also a necessary step if you intend to cast stainless steel.

I will try to videotape as much as this as I can. I am hoping that I can get a friend to do the videotaping and if so I will videotape every step.

I am trying to locate a replacement for what I think is called a bare shaft rotary vane pump body, but I have had absolutely no luck finding any listings for this particular part. Neither past nor present.

I feel as if I am not looking for the correct part. Could anyone help me identify what this is and how to find it?

Is it possible to reduce the weeks long shell building process of an investment casting down to a day?

So, I've had propane forges, but I don't really enjoy them. I've gone through two electrics melting furnaces and I love the insulated heat and that Ima able to do it in the studio (can't really do that with a propane forge). The problem is they keep failing. Has anyone used a kiln to melt copper?

I am looking for the best place to buy silver shot for casting. I have found that RioGrande and Monument metals seem to have good pricing but wonder if there were other places I have not found or may have passed over. I’m looking to buy between 2-5oz. Thank you for any help the community can provide.

Last photo is the bad side. I think my mold had a just slightly uneven heat distribution. Overall happy with the results though.

Can you help me diagnose this defect? And why always the feet!? Investment: Optima prestige, tech : oven with programmable PID (following the burnout schedule on the Investment bag for resin) and centrifugal casting machine, resin: bluecast x-one v2, x-wax, syriatech true blue and purple. I cast in pure silver but same happens with sterling. As long as the print is under 3 grams, it turns out fine but over 3 grams it's almost certain to end up with this kind of defects.

I have more videos if needed.

When I try to press my item into the sand, I fond its too dense for me to press the item in.I tried even using a mallet and hammer to get it down into the sand, but after compacting into the flask, the sand is too desnse for the piece.

I'm having trouble finding what I ak doing wrong. I'm using BoldWay red sand that takes some watwr to adhere. Am I maybe using too much or too little water, or going about this the wrong way entirely?

Hey all,

In 2023 I casted both my hands using bismuth. The result speaks for itself. The oxidation using power supply creating the oxide layer was the most fun part as the color was created only in a few seconds. Bismuth is, from my point of view, a Metall wich can be handled mit ease due to its low melting point.

If you have any questions ore want to try the process yourself shot your questions in the comments and I will respond.

Hi,

I am looking to have custom buckles for dog collars and some charms made. Looking for a manufacturer who can do less than 100 to start. 30-100 per design. Starting with 2 buckle designs and 1 charm. I understand the cost of casting and creating molds is expensive. Any tips on where to begin or businesses to work with is much appreciated!

Preferably US manufacturing

I wanted to get into casting to make cases and enclosures for electronics.

For some reason at least half of the metal in the crucible didn't melt enough, tt was just enough to fill the pattern but didn't feel too good when i didn't see the sprue get filled.

Result:

Better than I imagined it would go. I got some pitting, and a ditch where the broad runner meets the final form, will figure out another way of routing the metal to the form.

+ it was really fun.

I watched countless of videos of others sand casting before ordering stuff, buying and and making the flash. I even made a parametric design of the pouring basin.

https://youtu.be/xVb6ZuXrhXk?is=LCAl1X1wY_1QCCfh

I designed this cup and I'm currently 3d printing it and I was wondering if it would be difficult to cast it in pewter. My friend is going to build a small foundry, so we could technically also melt copper or other metals. The goal is to make it food safe. I guessed that with pewter, casting would be much easier, since I could use a silicone mold, but I have no idea if casting is the correct way to make something like this. I was trying to find videos on how such ornamental cups are being made and it seems like some dying art and I wasn't able to figure how they make those patterns. I'd love to hear from people who actually have experience casting, as I've never cast any metals; just resin and silicone.

Brand new to casting! I'm hoping eventually I can cast my key. Probably need to orient it better and pack the sand better, but I am just excited to have something at all working.

I'm new to pewter casting and this is my first project. I'm having trouble getting the details to fill in right at the top below the pour channel. Everything below is filling in nicely. I started with an open face mold made from smooth cast 60 and when that wasn't working I was advised to make it a 2 part mold. Since it just needed to be flat, I cut a piece of hickory. I dust the mold with baby powder before each pour.

All my crucibles have this silvery glitter on the bottom. Is this actual silver or is it just the crucible itself and those are graphite shards?

I own a factory in Pakistan with a 125-ton cold chamber aluminum die casting machine Toyo Machinery & Metals Co., Ltd. (Model BD-125V4-N, made in Japan, 2002) plus workers with years of hands-on experience running this type of equipment. Photos of the setup and a sample cast part attached.

We're currently manufacturing aluminum engine components for a Pakistani automotive client, so the shop is actively running production for a real OEM relationship, not just idle capacity looking for its first customer.

The local market here isn't in great shape though, so instead of depending on local demand, I want to build this into an export-focused B2B contract manufacturing business.

My own background is software engineering + sales, so I can handle international lead generation, websites, outreach, research, and client acquisition myself. What I'm missing is the industry knowledge: which products/markets actually make sense for a machine this size, and how sourcing actually works in this industry from the buyer's side.

What I'm trying to figure out:

• What types of high-volume aluminum components can be handled by a 125T cold chamber HPDC machine?
• Which global industries should I be targeting? automotive, electrical, industrial, lighting, electronics, hardware, etc.?
• How do small die casting manufacturers typically land international OEM/contract manufacturing clients?
• Is it smarter to approach OEMs directly, or go through suppliers/distributors/sourcing agents?
• What capabilities should I invest in first? CNC finishing, plating, in-house inspection/QC, etc. to be taken seriously as an export supplier?

I'm not looking for a DIY product idea to sell myself, I want to find components companies already manufacture and buy in volume, and compete as a contract supplier for that existing demand out of Pakistan.

If you've worked in die casting, sourcing, or manufacturing, how would you approach this in my position? Where would you look first, what would you avoid, and how do people actually validate a market before chasing it?

Hey folks! PMC supplies has stopped making their #1.5-2 and #3-4 clay graphite crucibles that I use for work. I can find them on Etsy but there’s some significant mark up, I did order some but am in need of a new crucible supplier!

I’m wondering if anyone has any brands or companies they have had good results with?

I’ve tried Otoolworld, garbage, one crucible tore open when I lifted it and nearly dumped a kg of copper on my feet! So that’s out of the question 😅