Thread: casting advice...

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Hi gang...
I've made a cast for some club plaques today using plaster of paris.
I'd like to make the plates out of cast alloy or lead if possible( or some sort of Low melting point alloy i can smelt on the stove) do any of you guys know if the alloy will destroy the mould i've made or have any suggestions about how to go about this...or am i best leaving it to the professionals and take them to a sand casting facility?

Hope y'all are enjoying your weekend so far

Plaster will not resisit the heat and hold it's form, especially if any fine detail is in those plaque faces. Even pewter will be hot enough at smelting point to hurt the cast plaster.

I used to make Armies out of lead using molds.

We would use the original in clay and pout in the lead. Like a household sand casting.

To make a good a product you will probably need to sand cast it IMO.

Kitz

Excellent link Denny. I was gonna suggest going to the local monument outfit and aquire some sand. I get mine from there because it's cheaper. Evil, read as much as you can. You'll need to build your split boxes (quite cheap and easy) and learn to pack it right. Use just enough release agent and Play. It will give you results that are very satisfying and lot's of fun for therapy's sake.

Thanks... I'll read up on it...
Let ya know how i get on..

If you only need to cast features on one side of your part (the back side being flat), you can make an easy mold using RTV. Here is a link;
http://www.eagerplastics.com/castingpewter.htm

If you can pull a vacuum on the rtv before it cures, it will help to remove any bubbles.

Next, there are a lot of jewelry casting metals that melt a really low temperatures....some as low as the low 200 deg F. Cerrocast is one that melts at about 300F. These should be sufficient for your part...they dont have much strength so cannot be used for structural stuff.

mike in tucson

You can mold with RTV and cast with liquid plastic. We cast with PolyTek on a daily basis and it does great plaques, with good detail.

Falconstien, wanna elaborate a bit more? Inquiring minds want to know. A process I personally am not familiar with. I cast Cub Scout and Boy Scout trophies all the time. I wish to learn more.

There is a model of CerroCast that melts at 117F...a tad low

Go to McMaster.com and search for cerrocast

It is a tad pricey for heavier parts

I guess it was a bit vague. Try this http://www.polytek.com/ . We are using the Poly 15 series liquid plastic. They are more than helpful at Polytek. We make plaqes for restraunts, enter, exit, restroom signs. We have a very good sucess rate. Hope you find what your looking for.

That stuff from polytek looks pretty cool falconstein...
i'm def gonna give them a holler about some moulding supplies...



go steady and have a great week folks

If you want them made from Aluminum; let me know. i can help. maybe send or post a pic.