Monday Metal Madness. First ceramic shell pours.

Discussion in 'Investment casting Ceramic shell method' started by Jimmy Cogg, Oct 2, 2018.

  1. DavidF

    DavidF Administrator Staff Member Banner Member

    With brass you can skip the cyanide copper and bright copper plating and go straight to nickel then chrome.
    Silicon bronze should first be etched in hydrofluoric acid before moving to cyanide copper.
    Sorry buddy if you did not know what I meant but you do now :D
     
    Jason likes this.
  2. Al2O3

    Al2O3 Administrator Staff Member Banner Member

    Way to go Jimmy. You're getting very good results and rapidly advancing your knowledge and skill. Well done.

    Best,
    Kelly
     
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  3. Jimmy Cogg

    Jimmy Cogg Silver

    Thanks DavidF, I'll take that on board. I'm still a clown messing with junk and have to up my game a lot!!!
     
  4. Jimmy Cogg

    Jimmy Cogg Silver

    Cheers Jason, I do appreciate all the advice from you and everyone. It is very helpful and thought provoking.
     
  5. Jimmy Cogg

    Jimmy Cogg Silver

    Thanks Kelly, you and the forum are helping me a great deal. It is good to learn so fast.
     
  6. Rtsquirrel

    Rtsquirrel Silver

    Nice work Jimmy.
    Curious about the part for your penny whistle... did you carve it by hand? Or did you use a mold?

    I'm going to look up your band too.
     
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  7. Tobho Mott

    Tobho Mott Gold Banner Member

    Nice castings! That's one hell of a belt buckle.

    Jeff
     
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  8. Jimmy Cogg

    Jimmy Cogg Silver


    Hi Frank,

    It is a part for the penny whistle case, which is a lined copper tube. The dragons head is just an end cap.
    I have a walking stick head which I used as a pattern, but that was the wrong shape. So, I made a mold of the walking stick head with silicone and cast a plaster of paris walking stick head and then carved that up to make the penny whistle case top.

    When I'd finished that I've taken a new silicone mold of that and cast the part in wax. I've ceramic shelled the wax model and then boiled it out and cast with my Heinz 57 brass. I've got a few more already shelled up ready to cast of a slightly different design endcap wise. This one slots over the tube. The others have a spigot that slides into the tube. I'm going to see which one is the best.

    The band is a bit of fun. We play St Patricks night and do a few small gigs. We're on facebook as Pure Potcheen @pureirishmusic

    Cheers.

    Jim
     
  9. Jimmy Cogg

    Jimmy Cogg Silver

    Ha ha, it is! It's the second I've made. The first I made, which I have now was green sand cast, but I'm rather more pleased with the ceramic shell casting, which I've made for my cousin.

    Cheers.

    Jim.
     
  10. Rtsquirrel

    Rtsquirrel Silver

    Nice job with the dragons head. Silicone is great for that. I've got several molds made with the same. Need to complete my burn out kiln. (Lots of inexpensive electrics around, but no floor space.)

    That's going to be a nice case for sure.

    I found you on FB. Surprised they let me look since I shut down my page 5 years ago. You guys covered one of my faves. Whiskey in the jar. (Fave drink as well, after scotch that is.)
     
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  11. Jimmy Cogg

    Jimmy Cogg Silver

    Thanks Frank,

    We love the Irish tunes, and Whiskey!

    I don't use a burn out kiln. I boil out the wax from my ceramic shells using Jason's boil out method. It's quick, clean, I recover all the wax and I've had no problem with any cracked shells yet, not that I've done many! For fusing them I just popped them into my furnace next to the crucible as there is ample capacity in the furnace body. They fired and fused whilst the metal was melting.

    When the metal was ready to pour, I took the ceramics out of the furnace with a pair of tongs, glowing, and put them onto a bed of sand for stability, one of them I had in the furnace in an old crucible so that it would stand upright. Then I poured straight in. It worked a treat.

    Cheers,

    Jim
     
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  12. Jimmy Cogg

    Jimmy Cogg Silver

    Third go today and good results but a couple of heavy inclusions which I am going to have to weld out. That will be another first.

    Though, that does it, I'm resolved to only "cooking" clean metal from now on and giving up the junk brass refining addiction. Too much work and too much to go wrong. It's hard enough without throwing further complications in to the mix. I've learnt the hard way by trying to re-invent the wheel but had some fun too.

    Onward and upward :-D
     
  13. Jason

    Jason Gold

    I'm with ya Jimmy. Poor Zap did a bronze jewelry box over on AA for his woman that came out two toned years ago.... I tried to find the picture for you, but couldn't. When I saw that thing, I said no way and decided right then I'd only pour from certified ingots. There is just too much work and time invested with highly visible stuff to screw with trying to recycle metal to save a few bucks. It's simply not worth it for me. If ya have to pour brass, you should be able to find ingots from a reputable supplier if ya look. Seems to me there is no standard when it comes to old plumbing parts. Some of it is high quality while most of it comes from the far east and is made from only god knows what.
     
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  14. Jason

    Jason Gold

    Now you are going to weld repair and expect it to match and blend in? Get ready for more hair pulling out.
     
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  15. Jimmy Cogg

    Jimmy Cogg Silver

    Yes, I'm going to try and weld in a piece but it won't matter as it won't be seen. It's just on a brass weather cap on a timber finial on the top of a roof :-D, so no fear! But you're right about the quality of the brass, no consistency and heaven knows what's in it. Too much work trying to refine it. The dross I was pulling out today was incredible. I shall weigh in my surplus and future scrap and play with better quality materials...........now to find a project, and a metal supplier.
     
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  16. Rtsquirrel

    Rtsquirrel Silver

    Hmmm... Making me consider taking the payout for my collection of fixtures & buy proper ingots. Might make enough off of the scrap to buy a proper kiln too. My last go-round at the scrap yard netted almost a grand. With today's fuel prices, I might be close to that again.
     
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  17. Jimmy Cogg

    Jimmy Cogg Silver

    Nice one Frank!!!
     
  18. Jimmy Cogg

    Jimmy Cogg Silver

    ....mind you........ I'm still very tempted by clean brass plumbing fittings!!!!
     
  19. Zapins

    Zapins Gold

    Here's the box Jason mentioned before it was sand blasted.

    I alloyed my own Si-bronze and poured from the same melt, it must have separated out because the first item poured was the lid and the second was the box which came out mostly copper. Good idea to ditch the alloying. It doesn't always work out and costs a lot in fuel and time. It's cheaper to just buy premade metal.

    I was thinking of enameling it.
    Jewelery+box+resized.jpg
     
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  20. Jason

    Jason Gold

    I still like that little jewelry box. It's one of my favorite pieces you've done. I would have been sick seeing what the metal did. That makes me want to do another box.
     

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