[Jewelry making - Article 01167] - [Orchid] Trouble casting white gold ingots

[will and julia]

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Hi all,

    Perhaps someone can tell me what I'm doing wrong. I cast a bunch
    (480g!!) of ingots from scrap gold yesterday, mixed 10 and 14k from
    (clean) bench scrap, 1.75x1.75" and 1/8" thick. I cast all my yellow
    ingots first, then when the ingot mold was good and warm I tried to
    cast a white gold ingot. Instead of a nice square one, I got a "T"
    shape: the top bar of the T being at the bottom of the mold, then a
    column of metal leading to a big old clump that spilled out over the
    top of the mold. I sighed heavily and cast it again, with the same
    results. One would think that the mold or the metal were too cool,
    but I feel certain that they were not. Any ideas? I do this to save
    my company the expense of ordering sheet and wiRe: I saw the ingots
    into strips and mill them into sizing stock and wire. I am excited
    about trying out the hydraulic cutter at my welding class next week
    to see if I can cut the strips on that, as the sawing is hard on my
    arms and hands and produces a lot of waste gold dust. Does anyone else
    do this, or am I just a sucker?? 

Yours, Julia Newton
A "jewelry repair technician" at work and a "designer-craftsman" at home

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