Metal Casting Zone

This is my first attempt at a lost wax split mold that can be reused. so far i have bedded the part in clay and poured one side with plaster of paris. Promising so far. I can pull the wax pattern out easily and soon as im done here im going to put some parting wax on it and pour the oppsite side and see how it goes.....
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Ok here is the second half of the mold, with the wax pattern sitting on it.
It was nice being able to save my wax pattern, the wax pattern was not machined just cut out and filed all by hand, a razor blade was used as a planer.Who needs expensive tools lol.
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looking good i made my first mold like that and poured my first ali melt into it




that was about a yr ago!!!! nobody told me the plaster had to be very very dry!!!

to make the mold i used play doh ,plaster and some marbles as location pins. i look forward to seeing how it comes out and how long the mold holds up for. i went straight into greensand after my first pour.

Ok here it is, pour one erupted like mt st helens. Obviously there was still some moisture in the mold. Pour two little better still bubbled and spat a bit. pour three little bit a sputter but a much better part. The split mold idea worked out ok but had some serious cracking after the 3rd pour. The idea is sound but the materials need a good going over. I think ill try a fire clay mold next time. It is interesting to see how the quality improved each time, I think this is due to the moisture burning out of the mold.
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One last pour, I had to piece the mold back together as it had broken into 3 pcs.
just wanted to give it one last shot. This time it did not bubble or spit and it was poured into a cold mold. That answered my questions on if it was moisture or not.
Here is the result of the last pour that will ever be made in that mold as it now is in too many pieces to ever put back together. Over all quality is much much better.
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thanks for trialling that. its great reading and was carried out by an expert . it shows that plaster is ok but its not really an option for a beginner to play with.!

here is one of the rods after a trip to the port and some polishing.
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that polished up well!! nice and shiny. metal polishing is something im just starting to setup.