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This paper describes a process that eliminated fire scale during a vacuum casting cycle. Castings should not have a fire scale problem if the casting are cooled following this procedure....This casting was cooled using this process. This is what it looks like after quenching and brushing with a brass brush.... (2005) Complete Story
AJM recently asked Linus Drogs of AU Enterprises in Berkley , Michigan , to test the new Ultra-Vest MAXX Investment from Ransom & Randolph in Maumee , Ohio . Designed to reduce the formation of gas porosity when casting white gold alloys, as well as provide smoother surfaces on castings made from resin rapid prototype model materials, Ultra-Vest MAXX is a reformulation of Ultra-Vest, the company's standard gold and silver casting investment. It promises to offer thermal stability under severe casting conditions. Drogs and his staff at AU Enterprises put the investment to the test in the shop. Their results follow....
(2005) Complete Story
A very high percentage of investment casting defects can be directly or indirectly attributed to the design of the sprue system feeding metal to the pattern. Defects such as incomplete pattern filling and shrinkage porosity are easily identified as directly related to poor sprue design. Gas porosity might be caused by a poor burnout but it could also be caused by casting at a higher than necessary temperature. And the elevated temperature could be necessary for complete pattern filling through an inadequate sprue system; this is an example of the sprue system indirectly causing a defective casting.... (2002) Complete Story
Invented by Victor Joyner, a Chicagobased manufacturing jeweler, patented High Definition (HD) Patterns are made of a light-curing polymer material that can he injected into a silicone mold with very low pressure at room temperature. After hearing about the exceptional detail achieved by these patterns, and the subsequent clean burnout, I decided to put the material to the test in my shop.... (2006) Complete Story
Dental probes and knives make good wax tools. Your local dentist or dental hygienist or school for the same can supply you with used tools for free. If they don't.... (1994) Complete Story