I got the order of operations wrong in my last post but here’s where we sit after day 2/3 of metal work class

My ring is finished and the stone is set in it — I thought we did that after but we do it before we swap out the wax for metal!

You can see my dash dot dash design carved in wax on the left 

Then, you join your finished piece to a sprue — this is the channel the metal gets poured in. Me and @niftynei will cast our rings at the same time so we made a Y shaped sprue

This sits in a bottom of a container that you pour the mold over — it’s called investment 

You have 9 minutes to mix, vacuum out the investment for air bubbles and pour it in the cup over the design 

The molds will be fired for 8hr tonight. All the wax will burn away and we will fill it with bronze and finish tomorrow!

Here is what it looks like to vacuum cast 

You melt the metal in a ceramic cup with an oxygen and propane powered torch

Mix in a little flux right as it starts to melt down

The mold sits on top of a vacuum machine 

Turn on the machine and while applying heat the whole time, dump the metal in the investment

The Farcaster formerly known as Kchamp. Books, beats, bodybuilding, bright ideas and beautiful things.

katherinechampagne.com

Fascinating process combining melting metal and vacuum technology for precision casting