Interesting youtube series about ceramic shell

Came across this guy in my youtube feed recently, you shell guys may find it interesting. Latest one is about customizing his slurry mix.



Jeff

 

I saw the comments.. Shellspen?? REALLY?? I've seen it! It's nothing more than repackaged suspendaslurry. They are down in sw florida ripping off the old farts. I'll happily sell a quart of my slurry for 89bucks and 2 little ziplock bags of silica for a 20. I'm completely happy with buying a 5gallon bucket of SS every couple of years and throwing out what I don't use. Still cheaper than sending stuff of to a foundry. Barry in Baton rouge does way more casting than I could ever hope to do at this point in my life. He buys the 55gallon drum every couple of years. He's done the math of mixing your own. Yes it's cheaper as Zap will tell you, but we feel the convenience of ready mix slurry and less aggravation is worth the extra few bucks. I'm sure the big foundries don't run suspendaslurry.

The "stucco" as this guy calls it is dirt cheap. I buy 2 bags of silica, that's over 100lbs and I'm out the door for 80bucks. big deal.

 

Yeah, I pretty much had you and your suspendaslurry in mind when I left him a comment asking what advantage he sees from customizing his own slurry vs using the presuspended stuff. As someone who never did any lost wax, it does seem like it would be easier to deal with the stuff you use, especially if you are sometimes going months between dippings.

Jeff

 

It's significantly cheaper!

But it is a royal pain in the balls to be sure.

I'd love to have a shell mixer. Its definitely on the list of devices to make. I think properly wetting the powder is very important for good shell adherence.

 

I agree that if you are only doing ceramic shell here and there then a premixed slurry might be your best bet.

As for Shellspen, it is not repackaged suspendaslurry, It is the other way around. Both R&R and Remet got their chemistry from shellspen who developed it back in the 60's and started selling it in 1979. And because of the size Remet and R&R they can offer a different price point.

 

I'm from Naples and I've been to Venice. Shellspen shows they live in a PO box. The only thing in Venice is trailer parks and old farts that ran out of money on the way south.
It may be their product or was at one time, but they will rip you off today. I'll stick with R&R.

Look at this kit. What an asinine way to sell something! "It will do 33lbs of bronze" They've never seen my wax trees! I could burn through that kit on the job I'm running now.
https://www.shellspen.com/product/ss-15-shellspen-complete-kit/