Metal Casting Zone Info Blog

Archive for October, 2009

Hi! I am looking for a maker of die casting/sand casting model soldiers about 2.5-3 inches. Ifanyyone has any information could they please leave me a comment I have already purchased from king and country and figarti. The soldiers I would like to be specially made are of modern soldiers. Thank you

Silver is extremely malleable and ductile and as such, it is highly preferred by silversmiths for making silverware and silver jewelery. Silver craft takes years to learn as an apprentice to a silversmith, or in some college or university offering such courses. Perfection comes only with practice. However, the basic techniques can be learned by anyone who has patience, and the right tools!

Piercing: Silver is cut to form a basic shape or to make a decorative pattern with a piercing saw. When creating a pattern, a small hole is drilled in the silver sheet to allow the blade of the saw to be positioned. The blade is then attached to the piercing saw, under tension. Blades can be coarse allowing fast cutting or very fine for detailed work. The blades are delicate and can be easily snapped. As such, work must be done slowly. The blade is held vertically and metal is moved slowly to make curves or corners. Blades are also lubricated by passing them through beeswax, which makes cutting smoother. The work is supported on a bench peg which is screwed to a workbench having a V cut into it so that both the sides of the cut are supported. Small shavings of metal called lemel are collected from under the piercing onto a leather or paper cloth, which are then recycled into new silver.

Soldering: Pieces of silver are joined by soldering. Silver solder, that comes in various alloy mixes but mainly containing silver, is used for soldering. Silver solder melts at a very high temperature and so a blow torch is used. The temperature required to melt silver solder is very close to the temperature at which the piece being worked upon would itself melt. To manage the temperatures, soldering and other torch work is usually done in darkness so that the color of the metal, as it heats, can be used to measure the temperature of the piece. Silver solder come in soft, medium and hard versions having lower, higher and highest melting points. Pieces where multiple soldering is required use hard solder at first, and work down the grades with subsequent soldering so that each addition does not melt or distort the previous one. Lead solder should never be used as its high temperatures cause the solder to run all over the silver, damaging and making it useless.

Annealing: The more a piece is worked, the harder and more brittle it becomes. Repeated annealing keeps silver soft, malleable and easier to work with. It is done with a torch in darkness. Silver is heated until it gives soft pinkish red glow, which is the point just before melting. The piece is then immediately cooled in cold water, which freezes the molecules into the alignment they were in when almost molten, and thus makes it easier to work. However, working with a torch leaves fire stain on silver which is removed by pickling.

Pickling: Fire stained silver piece is placed in acid bath, mostly sulphuric acid, to remove any oxidization before working on it. Pickling salts are used for works done on smaller scale. The pickling solution is kept warm to speed the process. The piece is then rinsed in running water, and cleaned with pumice powder to remove any remaining traces.

Shaping: The work is shaped into finished form in many ways, depending on the desired shape. Tubular shapes like rings and bangles are formed on mandrels that are held in a vice, while the annealed metal is hammered with a mallet of wood or hide. Bowls and other such curved pieces are domed on leather sandbags, wooden or metal doming blocks, using wooden or shaped metal hammers.

Polishing: Polishing is a long process, where a piece is rubbed with progressively finer wet and dry papers to remove any tool marks. It can then be wheel polished, polished with a fine polishing mop on a pendant drill, or barrel polished, where it is soaked in a soap solution with steel shot and rotated for 10 minutes or so. Polishing makes the piece smooth and shiny, free of all marks.

These were the basic techniques of silver craft. Silversmith, however, adopt many other advanced techniques also like hand fabrication, lost wax casting, die striking, and electroforming etc. For beginners, initially its better to work in a base metal such as brass or copper, as they are much cheaper metals to allow for mistakes.

Custom designed jewelry came into existence as far back as the 1800s. In some cases today, some of these old techniques have been modified and are still being used. However, after the introduction of computer technology, and along with a technique called Computer Aided Design, custom designed jewelry has a new standard or level. With the help of CAD and Computer Aided Manufacturing, designs that were not even imagined, can now be created with ease. Along with excellent designs, using these techniques has helped to provide customers with more choices of design and ultimately higher quality products.

Are you familiar with the process of making custom designed jewelry? This process is called lost wax casting. In this process, the experts use small knives and scalpels to make a cut out of the jewelry from the wax to give it its shape. After that, the replica or the model is poured in a flask, and it is filled with plaster that is known as investment. Then it is allowed to dry, and once the model hardens, it looks like the exact model inside the flask. Once this procedure is over the model is burned out of the flask, and all that remains is the crater of the design.

After the burning process is over, melted metal is inserted in the flask by using vacuum casting. Once the metal has hardened and is cool, the plaster itself is broken. It is done to bring out the un-finished jewelry casting, which is then filed, cultured, and prepped for the final stages. This assembling procedure includes the setting of gemstones or setting of other precious metal parts to make a complete jewelry piece. For the making of a custom jewelry design, the jewelers follow this process to give shape to the design.

In the CAD jewelry process, many of these steps are forgone because the software allows the user to create mockups before the item is even made. With the help of computer programming, you are able to produce unlimited designs, and the measurements are so accurate that you do not stand the risk of losing any stone later due to the metal’s weakness.

Now lets have some discussion on Computer Aided Design and it’s usages when making custom jewelry. Computer Aided Design is, basically, an upgraded process of making mechanical designs made with highly developed software.

After making these drawings, they are fed into different replica machines that are known as CNC mills. The work of these machines is to remove the material from the lump of wax to create the jewelry model. This is the main difference between man- made designs, and the design made by a machine. They are far more precise and accurate. With the help of 3D-CAD in custom jewelry designing the designers are able to make changes in a design any number of times. Ultimately, you are able to attain the exact custom-made design with the most efficiency and to the most exactness of detail.

Sand casting is a method, which is used to make or produce enormous parts and equipment made out of brass, aluminum, iron and bronze. The metal is first melted and then gently poured into a mould, which is made from sand.

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The cavity in the sand is made in the following methodology. The desired pattern is made that is of wood or resin in whatever shape that the sand caster wants the part to turn out. In rare cases, the pattern might be made from metal. This pattern is placed in a cavity in the sand. The cavity is generally housed in a flask which is box like. The pattern is then packed into the moist sand. The sand keeps the shape of the pattern when it is removed from the box. The person making the sand cast also will make a reservoir called a riser into which excess molten metal can flow. A second mold is created for the higher part of the sand cast in an analogous way.

The mould is generally made from 2 parts. The higher part is called as the cope and the lower part of the mould is called as the drag. The line, which separates the higher part and the lower part, is known as as the parting line. The sand in part and the core print are the things, which fill in the cope. The gating process and the core are made to be near to the parting line. The higher part is the joined to the drag and the pattern is covered by covering it with sand. The strategies, which help to make the sand compact, are called the mechanical and vibration strategy. Following this there is a separation process, which involves the parting of the cope and the drag. The pattern is also removed with utmost care.

The main idea is to remove the pattern without causing any damage to the mould cavity. The melted metal is later poured in the cup for pouring. This is part of the process of gating, which does the job of providing the molten metal to the cavity of the mould. The gating process has a vertical part, which is connected with the pouring cup ; this is called as the sprue. The runners are the horizontal part and the gates are the multiple joints to which it connects.

There are vents, which supply an extension of the gating process. These vents do the job of providing a route for the gases, which are built up, and the air, which is displaced into the atmosphere. The cavity is formed of a size a little bigger than the desired piece to permit the metal to contract as the metal cools to a temperature where it hardens, which is normal.

Once the metal has had the chance to solidify and cool, the mold is opened and the metal part is removes. If there was a successful sand casting, the new part should be a close replica of the pattern. There may be tiny imperfections at the line that need to be removed with a file or grinder.

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Does anyone know when the casting auditions for The Chronicles of Narnia’s “The Silver Chair” Will begin?
Thanks!

I just poured my first layer, about 1/8 ounce of epoxy casting resin. how long should I wait before adding the cloth Im using for the “background” and pouring the final layer? and I have enough mixed resin left, so can I just use that for the final layer?

I saw this on a show called “How it’s Made”. All I know about the mixture is that the gasses are extremely flammable.

Not all brands of Colloidal Silver are equal or of the same quality. Select a brand which is produced by the electro-colloidal, non-chemical method.

· Look at the ingredients to see it contains only silver and de-mineralized or distilled water. If the ingredients include a stabilizer or any other trace elements, it might be a good idea to research this product well.

· If it is suggested that the Colloidal Silver be refrigerated, this is an indication of another element present that could spoil. Colloidal Silver needs no refrigeration and should always be protected from freezing.

· The ideal color of Colloidal Silver should be a golden yellow, unless it is produced in concentrated form to be diluted, in which case it may be a dense looking greenish gray with an orange cast in the light. (Concentrated Colloidal Silver should return to the clear, golden yellow after dilution) A darker color could indicate larger particles of silver, or that the water used contains minerals… so check the product out.

· Colloidal Silver should be packaged in amber or cobalt blue glass, and the product should be stored in a cool dark place.

· Question the product if the directions state: ‘shake well before using’. Colloidal Silver should not be shaken or stirred.

Colloidal Silver is sold and packaged in a variety of ways. There are sprays and misters; nasal sprayers and droppers; salves and compress solutions.

Colloidal Silver- Particle Surface Area: Other factors to consider when researching a Colloidal Silver product are: Particle Size and Particle Surface Area, if the information is available. Colloidal Silver products which are actually compounds do not accurately reflect the amount of Silver in the product. Also, it is the surface area of the Silver that must be exposed to the bacteria or microbe, and proteins or salts attached to the Silver particle actually block the Silver from it’s environment.

So, Particle size is extremely important, but for a reason you may not expect. When it comes to Colloidal Silver, the smaller the particle the better.

Typically, manufacturers of Colloidal Silver list the Silver concentration in ppm’s- parts per million. This measurment actually refers to weight; the weight of 1 part silver to a million parts water. If the particles are large, the surface area is actually smaller than if that particle were broken down to smaller particles. Picture a Rubik’s Cube. In one piece it has a definite surface area; but take it apart and measure the surface area of the smaller parts; break those down again and so on… and the surface area is multiplied exponentially.

Colloidal Silver Production at Home: There is good reason to purchase a generator and produce your own Colloidal Silver at home. You can control the quality and the price. Colloidal Silver can be made at home for the cost of distilled water and your time. These days Colloidal Silver Generators practically run themselves once they are turned on and will turn themslves off, so your time may not be a factor. There are other generators which may require constant attendance to change the voltage polarity every couple minutes when producing concentrated Colloidal Silver to be diluted into large volumes.

If you have decided you are going to produce your own Colloidal Silver at home, there are some things to consider. If you want to produce good Colloidal Silver, a suggestion is to choose a system that uses silver rods and distilled water as the only ingredients.

You will want to use high quality distilled water in producing the Colloidal Silver. Not tap water, well water, mineral water, purified water or de-ionized water. These waters all have too many chemicals and minerals in them and de-ionized water is not sufficiently conductive. The water is very important if you want control over your production. Choosing your brand of distilled water can sometimes be a gamble. A good rule of thumb: don’t buy the cheapest. You may also have to experiment with brands of distilled water. If your Colloidal Silver turns grey or brownish, the distilled water has too many minerals remaining and will not do. If this happens, you should start over with your production.

If the generator manufacturer suggests adding salt during the process to increase electrical conductivity and lessen production time, be warned that you will be producing a silver compound and not pure Colloidal Silver. Silver Chloride will always form in the presence of any salt. Also, by speeding up the production time with salt, you risk having silver particles that are too large to remain suspended in the water for very long and the silver particles will settle to the bottom of the container. It also takes longer for compounds to pass through the body.

As a sidenote… a typical suggested dose for Colloidal Silver is a teaspoon a day. This topic will not be dealt with here, because that is up to the individual. But start out with a low dose to keep the body from detoxing too quickly. Once the Silver goes to work and the body starts dumping the toxins into the bloodstream to be eliminated, you might actually begin to feel under the weather if you ingest larger quantities. If you are sick at the time of starting to take Colloidal Silver, you still want to keep your consumption rate reasonable.

In Closing: Everything we need was given to us from the beginning. Silver was given to us for a reason, and probably not just for fancy dishes and jewelry. There is an abundance of information available on the topic of Colloidal Silver, both positive and negative. Decipher the information carefully and keep in mind, there are no documented cases of a human being having negative consequences from true Colloidal Silver that has been produced with good water and no additives, stabilizers, salts, or proteins. But don’t stop your research here with this writing. Read more; and then some more, and decide for yourself. I did.