Metal Casting Zone

Yeah, I think Freemans is going to blow me off. "Sorry about your Luck"
I'm going to get some of the Oomoo aonemarine has talked about. They look a little more hobby freindly.
Can't seem to get the goo off the pattern so I'm back to square one.

its a type of silicone??? if it is try xylene! is magic stuff.its a solvent for silicone!

Yes, I may actually have some. It's used in printing for cleaning type as an ink solvent. Might disolve the wax globe, I'll test some other wax first.
Worth a shot, thanks XL.

As I feared, Freeman Supply told me I shouda or coulda. I asked them to replace the sample kit so I could see if it was going to work for me. They said No, and offered me a discount on another kit. So I told them I'd go someplace else for my Silicone. I'm too small and they're too big.
It may be very motivational, now I just want to become big enough that they send a saleman around so I can throw him out.

The project lives again!!

XL, your a genius. I got up the nerve to try my type wash, I don't think it has xylene in it but it's a pretty strong solvent. It cleaned off the silcone very easy and I didn't even ruin the ropes. It even took off the urethane spray I had put on so I'm back to assembly and mold casting stage.
I got some 2 part polyurethane rubber this time and will run some tests before I try the mold. It's going to be more apt to stick to everthing so I need to find a good release. I'm going to check out petroleum jelly, maybe thin it a little like a wash. I also have some Mineral Oil to test. Has anyone used anything like these before?
I got the Poly 74-30.
www.polytek.com

i wonder if PVA would work for you, if it will hold up the the gelcoat I would think it would hold up to silicone.

im glad the project is back on track! xylene is great stuff. it will dissolve water based paints so be careful. ive used it to take overspray off things when im spraying water based paints.

I was afraid it would eat the beeswax globe, but didn't seem to have much effect on it.
Softened up the lines a little but I can cut them in again.

Ok, it's been a while but I'm back on track. I got a lot done today. I made the Poly mold a couple weeks ago and finally poured some wax this week. It came out great, At least as far as I'm concerned. Looks better than I ever hoped.
I poured another and it was a little better and the third was better yet. The ropes were the tricky part, I trimmed the mold back but they still wanted to stay in the mold. Not too hard to repair. I put a back on one and will do it in Aluminum. I'm going to try another with an Aluminum plate and a brass Eagle, Globe and Anchor. I haven't found any investment yet, I'm going to try a jewelry supply tomorrow.




Here's a link to the album for this project.
s183.photobucket.com/albums/x310/Jammer_55/USMC%20Project/

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.