Well, I started this project in May of last year. I haven't given up yet. I did a brass pour in Plaster and Silica flour investment this spring. I did the burnout with a weed burner from Harbor Freight. I didn't get all the wax out and it bubbled and spit when I poured. Still looks kind of neat.
I did up another mold with about 2 to 1 ratio of Silica to POP. I also mounted the wax pattern on a plate of wax like this one only square.
I melted the wax out, and that's when I got sick this year so it sat all Summer and Fall. I got it out today and finished the burnout in the electric furnace. The furnace worked great but the bricks continue to crumble. I'll have to rebuild it. The investment was too thin at the edges so the mold slit in half at the edge of the backing. Then the halves both broke into 4 pieces. Probably from sitting all that time drawing moisture.
Just for the heck of it, I melted some Aluminum in the Electric furnace and did an open pour. It actually didn't come out too bad, but it didn't pick up much of the fine detail. I had put the mold back together and put a rubber band around it. It was kind of a short pour, I was just seeing if any of it would come out.
