Hi there fellow forum members
I wonder if anybody here could help with my little dilemma which drives me crazy lately.
I have searched all internet in 3 languages for answer to my question with no luck.
HOW DO YOU MAKE MASTER RINGS IN VARIOUS SIZES FOR PRODUCTION (CASTING) PURPOSES?
I am relatively new to casting and all that wax carving, and what is most important... self taught, so there is nobody I can ask.
Should I make same ring in all sizes from wax and then make a mould of each of them? Or should I make 1 size, lets size size M, cast it and then stretch it to next size and so on? Or maybe should I make Z size and just make it smaller each time by removing metal in traditional way?
Is there any way to do that efficiently? How is that done by professional jewellers?
Would appreciate all help before I pull all of my hair out
It seems to me that it will take me longer to do 300 rings by lost wax & casting than doing them all by hand from scratch...
Well, I don't do cast rings, because making one-offs I can usually find an alternative way, for instance carving directly from metal. As I understand it castings shrink from the centre, but not much as the quantity of metal is quite small and there is some compensation built into the investment.
The wax ring would therefore end up a little larger than intended. How much you could then intentionally make it too small and safely stretch it, if necessary, I don't know. Possibly a half, or a quarter size. That said, I presume you will be using a caster, who should be able to advise you from experience.
I'm hoping James miller, or another of our treasured members will see this and join in. Below is my carved skull soldered onto a strip of silver for a grandson. regards, Dennis.
I find that if you cast direct from a carved master wax you get a little variance in size (around 2%) but if you mould it in rubber then inject the wax and cast that, depending on the wax injection temperature and the size of the item you can end up with up to 8% difference.
In my experience, trade jewellers make a model in each size, have a mould made (which shrinks less than half a size, which is compensated for in the original model), remember you only have to make these once and then you can just have the appropriate size cast, I don't think castings stretch particularly well, maybe up to half a size as Dennis says, castings are more porous and brittle, so you wouldn't want to stretch them far. Also, you don't say if stones are to be set, if so, you would need to build in metal shrinkage for your stone size and you certainly wouldn't want to stretch them since it will distort the settings.
Wax ring master sizes
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks