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Discussion in 'New member introductions' started by KittenGT, Aug 22, 2018.

  1. KittenGT

    KittenGT Lead

    New to metal casting; have 80% of needed items. Plan to work with pewter, mostly sand casting with the possibility of lost wax/lost pla later on. I've done a lot of research, but still have a lot to learn.
     
  2. PatJ

    PatJ Silver

    Welcome.
    I met someone who did small action figures using pewter, at a local craft fair, and talked with him a bit about his process.
    Nice low temperature melts.
    I think he used a centrifuge and some type of synthetic mold material (I am not up on these things, but have seen them).

    I have poured babbitt, which I think is similar to pewter, and I about as pricey.
    I believe the babbitt poured in the 400F range (this is for engine bearings, and small parts/patterns).
    It is pretty dense material, and the grade I got is pretty hard.

    For a little more temperature you can use Zamak, which has a melting point maybe in the mid 700F range.
    It is used quiet a bit for diecasting, and has good mass to it for a given volume.
    I tried Zamak 7, and it melted relatively easily with propane, but I decided not to use it due to a lack of physical strength at temperatures above say 400F.

    I melted aluminum 356 after the zamak, and while it had a melt temperature of about 1030-1140 F, it was no more difficult to melt than zamak.
    Aluminum 356 is not nearly as dense as zamak or babbitt though, and so the pieces can feel too light in the hand, if mass and feel are critical (like for chess pieces, etc).

    I was able to get a good finish with babbitt using very fine commercial sand.

    So in summary, I know nothing about pewter, but welcome anyway. (I would bet there are those here who have used it though).

    Edit:
    I did get to visit a local factory that made pewter action figures (a Brit company located in the US). They had some fantastically detailed figures, and made them in round molds with each mold containing perhaps 10 figures, across multiple molding machines. Fascinating place. Wish I could have taken some photos.
     
    Last edited: Aug 23, 2018
  3. Jason

    Jason Gold

    Welcome aboard.
     
  4. DavidF

    DavidF Administrator Staff Member Banner Member

    welcome to the forum Kitten :)
     
  5. Petee716

    Petee716 Gold Banner Member

    Welcome to the forum. Ive only worked with pewter a few times. I had the best luck with a wooden carved mold and a vertical pour with as much head pressure as i could get. It melted easily in a steel can on a hotplate.

    Pete
     
  6. Jason

    Jason Gold

    What kinda stuff you looking to make with pewter? It's been hot enough here in Texas lately, you could probably melt it in a soup can sitting on the dashboard of your car! :eek::D
     
    KittenGT likes this.
  7. KittenGT

    KittenGT Lead

    Very true Jason. Over 100° every day this week...so glad I work outside...
    Anyhow, I'm looking into simple figures, and jewelry. I got a kit with a small electric pot, some molds, metal, etc. Picked up some kinetic sand, and petrobond. Ideally, I want to do pins and pendants on the spot at renaissance faire, alongside selling premade fantasy figures. I know of one business that does it up in NY, and have seen them (and bought things) many times. Once I learn basic casting, id like to learn how to write sayings in the pins like they do.
    I've been thinking about this since I moved to TX 3+ years ago. And it's time to make it happen.
     
  8. Jason

    Jason Gold

    Good for you. It took me a couple years before I finally poured my first bronze. It's just steps and it starts with taking the first one. It helped me having this group of guys here and over at alloyavenue. They are good at filling in the details and providing inspiration. Youtube has been a big help if you find the little guys and not the clowns doing it for making the bucks. You will want to explore using ultravest from riogrande.com. You'll get those amazing details in your pewter from running lost wax in solid investment. You can spin cast your molds, but I suggest going the way of a vacuum pump. Pumps are cheap (80bucks at harbor freight) and before you know it, you'll be pouring silver and gold. My family has a jewelry store in florida and they CAD a lot of stuff and print on a B9C resin printer. Those prints get invested and burned out. In goes the silver and gold, out comes pieces ready for finishing. Good stuff, lots of fun and endless possibilities.
     
  9. Rtsquirrel

    Rtsquirrel Silver

    Welcome, Kitten
     
  10. Tobho Mott

    Tobho Mott Gold Banner Member

    Welcome to the forums!

    I love pewter fantasy miniatures, been collecting them since I was a kid back when they were still made of lead. It will be interesting to see what you will come up with.

    Reaper Miniatures right down there in your backyard (in Denton if I recall correctly) cranks out 75000 inch-or-so-tall spin-cast pewter orcs, wizards, and knights a day and sells them in blister packs on spinner racks in comic book shops to bearded guys who play Dungeons and Dragons.

    They also sell a bunch of the exact same pewter dragons and unicorns that those guys just spent 45 hours painting to other companies who hot glue rainbow faceted crystal balls at the beaats' feet then sell them to those guys' moms upstairs too, for three times the price out of well lit locked glass display cases in fancy boutiques. :D

    Here's how they make them, minus really only one or two steps:





    There's a sculptor named Talespinner who's done some work for them before who uses a vacuum assisted lost wax investment casting setup to cast bronze sculpting armatures to save himself a lot of putty work. Last I checked in he was working on adding tiny epoxy putty samurai swords, armor, etc. to customize a team of originally identical bronze adolescent radioactive martial arts tortoises that he had bent into a variety of action poses. The completed sculpts ("greens") have probably already been used to make the same sort of vulcanized rubber molds described by ReaperBryan in part 1 above.

    Here's how one other guy made his own spin casting setup to cast pewter miniatures:





    Jeff
     
  11. Jason

    Jason Gold

    AHa! That explains a lot!
     
  12. Tobho Mott

    Tobho Mott Gold Banner Member

    Yeah, they used to be much tastier. o_O
     
  13. PatJ

    PatJ Silver

    I use lead-free babbitt.
    Trying to eliminate the toxic stuff from the work stream.

    There are a lot of videos online about casting pewter, and I saw one that was using petrobond, which is oil-based sand which produces a near-diecast finish since it has a very fine grain sand in it.
    The video calls petrobond something different (like clay something) but you can spot petrobond sand by the red color.
    (Edit: One guy is using "delft clay", and apparently that is not "petrobond".)
    Here is the video:



    Petrobond is the tradename for a good oil-based sand.

    And babbitt does not flow nearly as well as aluminum, I guess due to its lower temperature and higher viscosity, and a mold made for aluminum will not fill when babbit is used, which is why I guess they use different methods to force the metal into the molds with pewter.

    A low pour temperature does give a much better surface temperature, and in general, the metal temperature should be as low as possible while still being able to fully fill the mold.
     
    Last edited: Aug 24, 2018
  14. Jason

    Jason Gold

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