Jewelry Lost Wax Casting
Jewelry (Charms, pendants, and rings) are just a few items that can be made using a method called lost wax casting.
The process of Lost Wax Casting is slightly different for Jewelry Lost Wax Casting and Sculpture Lost Wax Casting; the smaller quantities involved when making jewelry-sized pieces necessitate some adaptations to overcome the effects of surface tension, such as wax injection instead of simple pouring, and the use of a vacuum table or centrifugal casting machine to force metal into molds.
In Jewelry Lost Wax Casting process, a wax (or sometimes plastic) mold is used to create a piece of jewelry. This wax mold, called a pattern, is first weighed so the amount of metal required to fill the mold (gold, silver, etc.) can be determined. Then the mold is attached to a base, and a flask is fit over the base. Once the mold is in the flask, a kind of plaster that looks like pan cake batter, called investment, is mixed up, put in a vacuum to get all the air bubbles out of it, and then poured into the flask. It is then left to dry and harden. This takes a minimum of two hours.
Once the investment is dried, the base and flask are removed. Now the piece is put into an oven to burn out the wax. Next a centrifuge is used to force the melted metal into the investment mold. Finally, the piece is cleaned up by filing and polishing it.
Here are some pictures to illustrate Jewelry Lost Wax Casting process:
For Jewelry Lost Wax Casting You will need sticky wax, designer wax, a stainless steel tumbler, a rubber base, a sleeve that fits over the tumbler, a tool for scoop the wax (I got this one at a ceramics store), and a lamp.
Attach the sprue onto the wax mold using sticky and designer wax.
The wax with the sprue attached is weighed so the amount of metal needed acn be determined.
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The sprue on the mold is attached to the rubber base.The sleeve is attached to the tumbler to prevent spilling.Dry investment is weighed out and then mixed with water.
It is mixed up very well just like pan cake batter. Then it's put in a vaccum machine to get the bubbles out.
The tumbler is taken from the oven and set inside the centrifuge machine, so the hole lines up with the hole in the crucible.
The metal is melted using a torch. Once it gets super hot, the pin in the centrifuge is released (while the torch is still held over the metal) and then you back off quickly because the centrifuge spins around. This forces the metal into the tumbler.
Once you stop the spinning, you pull the tumbler out. Here you can see there is a circular piece of metal at the bottom of the tumbler. This is called the button.
This tumbler will sit for about 1 minute before being plunged into room temperature water. The raw charm will be inside the goopy, wet investment.
Now, the button needs to be sawed off, the charm filed, a jump ring added, and then it will be polished.
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