Well Britain is baking in an unusual hot spell - to hot for me and to hot for the dog , so I'm getting up at 5am and taking him for a walk before it gets to hot . Having got that out of the way I had a go at casting some more 40 mm Prince August figures for the Prussian battalion I'm forming .
The results - not bad for a start , but was getting quite a few mis-casts especially on the bayonets, halberd and Officers sword . This maybe because of the less than pure metal I'm casting with (mainly old figures) or that I've not been casting for about 6 months and these are new moulds to me .
So I decided to cut a few vents in the moulds to encourage the hot metal to run to the extremities of the figures , here we see Hugo inspecting the doctored moulds . Hope to have another go tomorrow to see if these modifications have improved things.
A good dose of Talcum Powder helps- as does the graphite of a 3F Pencil rubbed in the sword and bayonet cavities- vents too help air escape. Good fortune tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteYes have some talc , the workshop smells sweet !
DeleteTony-Yes- venting is important to allow trapped air to escape- particularly on musket bayonets- sounda as though you have already solved this problem....Well- you have persuaded me- I'm now thinking of a new sculpting and casting project...still working on designs and doing my own thing.(I've now got three projects). Cheers. KEV.
DeleteAt least your moulds should be warmed up before you even start, this often affects my casting.
ReplyDeleteYes think it has something to do with the dodgy metal I'm using - getting there slowly though !
DeleteI've never managed to make venting really work for me. But then again that may be a dodgy metal issue as well.
ReplyDeleteThink you can 'overvent' (?) , my less than pure metal doesn't help.
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