How do you melt wax?

I need to get setup for wax melting.

What do you guys do? I'm thinking of just a small crock pot + temperature controller like this: https://www.amazon.com/Inkbird-Max-1200W-Temperature-Controller-Greenhouse/dp/B01HXM5UAC

Is that a good way to go? Anyone have a better option?

Thanks!

 

I wouldn't use that thing personally. I use a cheap steel pot from goodwill on a portable induction cooktop. The correct way is a double boiler setup, but it's not really necessary if you are careful and don't burn your wax. Open flame under a pot also works, just be careful. The stuff isn't really THAT flammable, but the potential does exist.

You'll see it here.

 

Because you don't think it's necessary or because you don't think it will work?

 

BOTH! It's not necessary. If you use a crock pot, you'll figure out real quick what to set it on. You certainly don't need this kind of accuracy for pouring wax.
I wouldn't bother with a crock pot. Some like them, I don't. It wont be as easy to clean out as if you used a cheap pot. You'll practically never need a full pot of molten wax either.
With tricky pours, I appreciate a light weight pot for pouring easily. I can heat up a small amount of wax in a couple of minutes instead of trying to melt a pot full of wax. Which brings up another issue actually. Sometimes I might get some trapped water on the bottom of my pot. Well, as it melts from the bottom can cause it to explode straight up as pressure builds under the top layers of the wax. W H O O P S! If I was out in the garage, I'd post a photo of the ceiling above where I work. You guessed it, covered with wax spots.

 

It comes down to what you want to do, if you want to do it a little more "consistent" (Best word I can come up with) there is other ways to skin the cat.

Jason is VERY correct, ditch the crock pot, that is an accident waiting to happen.

Get a SS stock pot about the size you want a little on the large size is better, (mine is 3 gallon?) and a separate electric element type heating element plate thing. Some people use a all in one roaster (Amazon). Must have a good lid AND a thermostat!!!!!

If you go the SS pot route you will need to wrap it with a little insulation, keep it stable better, roaster is easier, but the stock pot is deeper. everything is a trade off. no matter what, get one with a lift out pan, makes cleaning easier. The roaster is somewhat a popular option, you'll find them here and there in investment foundries. (Until the insurance guy or OSHA shows up )

The Inkbird setup works well, get the PID with a separate thermocouple, one that goes down in the pot a little. gets a more accurate read, plus that included thermocouple, that is a question mark.

My pot is a Wagg, it's a little different, a little more safety, plus it weight a lot and has insulation and such. I rewired it from 220v to 110v, that calmed it down quite a bit, which is good for wax.

So my pot has 3 thermostats, first is the Inkbird, set to 91C which is 195f (about in the middle of the pot vertically, but to the back), the thermostat on the pot itself is set to 220'ish, and that I have a safety thermoswitch set to 250'ish.

So what happens...
The Inkbird turns on the power, pot gets hot, but the wax doesn't conduct heat that fast, so the bottom layer reaches 220F and the pot itself cycles OFF, inkbird is still on. and it will continue this way SLOWLY raising the temp of the pot until the entire mass reaches 91C and the inkbird shuts off and begins cycling normally. The safety thermostat if it reaches 250F for any reason shuts down the pot and it will require a manual reset to resume operation, generally bad to rely on the safety shutoff.

If you don't set the pot to a lower temp and just have it on HI, you'll burn the bottom, scorch the wax and then it gets bad, because you may create a vapor pocket on the bottom that might get trapped, and that is very bad.

I turn my pot on and it takes at 24hrs to come to temp but then I'll leave it running for months at a time, so it's always ready. For pouring I have a ladle and a small pot thing, they both have a hook so when I'm pouring I put them in the wax in the morning, they come to temp pretty quickly, pour all day, and take them out at night, refill the pot and put the lid on.

I attached a pic, you can see the thermocouple mounted going into the wax, It's easy to remove to clean the pot.
And then the whole pot with the lid.

I'll take some better pics tomorrow.

Good Luck

 

That's a great setup if you are running production work. For a beginner, I would think that's a bit overkill.
Zap uses a canteen cup and a propane torch. I'd show you his high tech method, but the video is listed private. Maybe he will list it as public???

 

I've used a rice cooker with some success. No need to say it was very amateurish but it was doing its job of melting the wax.

 

Zap here demonstrates simple and elegant methods for melting and working wax. Also known as the K.I.S.S principle.

 

I see your point, my setup was about $450, bought the pot used. A nice consistent setup could be had for $120'ish 6Q roaster, Inkbird, and thremocouple probe. That would hold the wax plus one minus a degree or two, pretty good place to start.

Just so you can see my little world I included some pics, more of a studio setup than a professional setup at this point.

Pic 3 is the whole area, cheap plywood covers the wall and I use those big cookie sheets as catch trays.
Pic 4 is the Inkbird controller, I printed the little box.
Pic 5 is the pot showing the knobs.
Pic 6 The wax is cool, look at that shrink.
Pic 7, the shrink is about 4 inches, that's a lot.
Pic 8, ladles and such, they work best if you give them a good pinch so the wax flows better.

Something to look at.

Good Luck

 

How do I melt wax you ask?, why with a wax melter, $10 from the recycle shop and a good solid clean up later:

 

Subject to down-stream refinement, my setup couldn't have turned out much simpler.

A family member had an unused (and virtually brand new) induction hotplate lying around, and I bought a little wax melting pot off of Amazon.

So for a total investment of $20, I've got this:



So far, I've used it to pour two molds. Initial results are encouraging. This is my first test:

 

Perfect! No reason to make things harder than it is when starting out.

 

That's a good looking wax.

 

Got a link for that pot??

Funny thing with induction, ya cant use SS or aluminum pots. My induction cooker was the same way, brand new garage sale find for 8bucks. Funny people didnt use them. They bought them, but didnt use them.

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08BYHF2CG

I've never used an induction burner before, and would have thought stainless was no good. But the description said it would work, so I decided to give it a try. Heats right up.

 

The basic rule of thumb for induction cookware is if a magnet sticks to it, it will work. So, some types of stainless steel work but many will not.

 

Yeah, I bet I look pretty strange testing junk at goodwill with a magnet.

I have a 1/4" steel plate I lay on top of the induction top. It works good for assembling wax sections. The steel gets the thing to turn on and the flat plate does a great job melting the ends of wax.
Super handy when spruing, attaching cups etc.

 

What I want to make is a wax warmer. Like a small cabinet that I can adjust the temperature to so I can soften wax and make it easier to sculpt and manipulate. Something like a towel warmer with programmable temperature.

 

zaps I've seen guys use something as simple as a tinfoil lined shipping box with a trouble light in the top. the set it over the wax and timed it.
But keep an eye out for a second hand petri dish incubator (I forget the technical name).