Metal Casting Zone

Rotometals is in California, I'm not sure what shipping would be.

www.rotometals.com/

Here is the link again to the one in the UK.

www.carnmetl.demon.co.uk/index.htm

Some other alloys you may consider are some Aluminum/Bronze or Zinc/Aluminum alloys like Zamak 27. Needs higher temp but are a cheaper alloy.

I've been looking into this myself so here are some links for metals.

I plan to buy some of this material note they are an actual manufacturer:
www.ebay.com/ Search item # 200428350147
Here is their home page:
www.hallmarkmetals.net/index.htm
Good people, and they directed me to this site and its forums.

Check out his "See other items." Link. This is an excellent price for 6 pounds of white metal with silver. They also sell a 92-8 that is highly regarded for fine detail but here you are in pewter territory so electroplating would likely be necessary for finished jewelry. His MPK sounds perfect for my needs.
I am guessing here and relating what I learned when I called Contenti. And based on experiments with other similar metals I have collected. You will need to do your own trials or experiments or whatever you refer to it as.

MPK should result in a silver finish with polishing or "tubing" that is professional cleaners and ceramic media in a vibratory machine.

Here are a couple jewelers suppliers that will have most everything you need, but as always it pays to comparison shop, especially for raw materials.

www.contenti.com/index.html
Got to a knowledgable person quickly today and have bought tools from them including fine finishing burs that are most excellent.
www.riogrande.com/
Good folks but not as helpful knowledge wise, and often send slightly wrong stuff but quick to discount you in that case and have the best prices on much of their stuff.

Here is where you can get new Lee 10 pound pot the cheapest.
www.Cabelas.com I see the link is ridiculously long so if it doesn't work just search Lee Pot.
www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/links/link.jsp;jsessionid=AVRLTBPV310RTLAQBBICCNVMCAEFCIWE?id=0002838210653a&type=product&cmCat=SEARCH_all&returnPage=search-results1.jsp&Ntt=lee+pot&Ntk=Product_liberal&sort=all&Go.y=0&_D%3AhasJS=+&N=0&_D%3Asort=+&Nty=1&hasJS=true&_DARGS=%2Fcabelas%2Fen%2Fcommon%2Fsearch%2Fsearch-box.jsp.form1&Go.x=0&_dyncharset=ISO-8859-1&_requestid=108732

I have used Smooth-On Silicon for plastic casting for some time and you would learn a good bit browsing their site as well as one of their distributors. Bear in mind successful thick mold in rubber or resin castings for that matter usually require pressure or vacum casting, but not neccasarily, this is a skill set in of its self. Mold-Max 60 is listed as able to handle low melt alloys. I did a few castings in some Rebound 25 and they degraded quickly until I brushed some graphite onto the mold first, and then no wear at all that I could see. That is a durometer-hardness of 25A, So MoldMax 60 although tin based and not platinum would likely do even better.
www.smooth-on.com/
www.reynoldsam.com/
www.reynoldsam.com/index.php?cPath=1135 Haven't tried this rubber yet but I plan to.

This is my first post in these forums, I hope you or someone finds something of use in it.

Stephen Casey

Welcome to the forum.

Lots of good info. I didn't think Cabela's had anything cheaper than anyone else.

I've been trying to get some of the Smooth-on from a supplier in Columbus, I can't seem to catch them when they're open.

Hello Jammer,

Cabelas sent me an automatic $20 coupon for registering ordering if I would purchase $100. But I simply didn't see anything else I wanted other than a pocket knife and I rather buy that in person. SO the Lee pot was $63 out the door.

The Reynolds Smooth-On distributor is in Hollywood so they would likely ship overseas too. I sometimes buy online for a few bucks more in the wee hours of the morning because its too much of a hassle to get to a local store that stocks less of everything anyhow. But then again I use the bus system so going everywhere is a bit more of a time sink.

OddDuck wrote:
First of all, welcome! As to your question about why the forum looks odd, I'm not sure, it is probably just a quirk of the software they use for the board. You'll get used to it pretty quick. As to your questions, I'll try to answer them in a reasonably short amount of words, but there are many more ways to skin a cat. Yur best bet is to keep it simple, and be flexible in material and methods, and you will do fine. First off, it sounds like you want to do relatively low-temp casts , so silicone molds and an electric pot melter may be your best choice. If you want to do anything higher temp, like the occasional aluminum melt, you will want to probably use either a solid fuel or gas furnace. So, to totally confuse you and overgeneralize a lot, here's your answers in order:
1: Investment or silicone mold casting will probably be your best bet with pewter. Investment (think lost wax) will be more expensive to set up initially, but in the long run may give you better results.
2: Again, depends on what you are trying to do. Pewter would work fine, so would aluminum and brass. The nice thing about aluminum and brass is that they don't cost $10 a pound, and can be readily found locally in most places. Drawback is that sili9cone molds won't work, you will definately have to use investment or greensand of some type.
3:Yes, with a few disclaimers. If you are using any thing other than electricity to melt with, MAKE SURE YOU HAVE ADEQUATE VENTILATION!! Also, make sure the area you will be pouring and melting are fire-safe in case of spills or accidents. Safety first. Common sense will go a long way here.
4: All of it. You can never have too much equipment. Packrat rule #1. Really, it depends ultimately on what type of casting you decide to do. When you figure that out, further reccomendations can be made.
5: Gobs. The list is long and growing. Anything by Ammens, although he is more towards the sandcasting end of the spectrum. The Gingery books are good, Steve Chastain, etc. Check your local library, they might have something.
6: Again, it depends. Yuo can go either way, sink your life savings in to it or have fun and see what you can do for zilch. They both work, depends on where your mind set is. If you buy your metal in ingot form from an actual supplier you will be paying drastically more than most of us who cast with whatever the heck we can lay our grubby little hands on.
Hopefully this helped, if I haven't thoroughly confused you further. best answer I can give you is research the heck out of the project that interests you, and see if you can narrow the scope of your questions a bit, and we can be a bit more specific with answers. Good luck!

best tips!


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buick supercharger

Jammer wrote:
Yes, as far as detail, I don't think you can beat lost wax casting. I think once I get a proper burnout oven and some good investment, it will be a lot easier to get the parts I want.

I made this burn-out oven using building blocks. two elements from an old storage heater & some kiln insulation. Reaches 700 degrees C in about 15 mins.




Ian