How would you cast a small gold pipe?

[Num-Lock]

I've not seen any molds for pipe type shapes, I'm wondering if anyone has some ideas on how they would do that with 24kt gold. I need to make one that is around about 1.5" long and .75" inner diameter. Any ideas?

I'm a complete newbie at this point and am looking into buying a furnace for melting gold.

[Dennis]

I presume you mean a tobacco pipe. You could probably make something from different sizes of seamless tubing, adding a dome for the rounded bottom.

You could also carve something in wax or acrylic, which could be processed in three ways:
Invest and burn out for casting, either by yourself or a professional caster.
Use the Delft clay process.
Use Cuttlefish.

You don't need a furnace for melting your metal. Just a big torch and a scorifier Dennis.

[Num-Lock]

I just need to form a basic tube/pipe for a machine I'm building, there aren't rounded pieces or anything so I figure there should be a simple way..

It seems like using 2 different sizes of seamless tubing could work, by pouring the molten gold in between the tubes? Is there a specific material of tubing I should use that you know? Also, it seems like it could be hard to get the molten gold to flow into the small gap between the tubes?

[ps_bond]

Without a bit more context it's going to be tricky to suggest something that will work for you.

If I wanted to form tubing by fabrication I'd either draw flat sheet to tube, drill out a suitable piece of wire (or rod, depending on scale) or deep draw a piece of sheet to form a seamless tube.
If I wanted to do it by casting I'd either make one in wax or print one in a castable resin before having it cast.
Or see if a bullion supplier in your area can supply the tubing ready done for you.

Can I suggest you do some background reading on lost wax casting (the principal method used for casting precious metals)? There's far more material out there than can be readily typed up in a single post.

[Dennis]

I am not sure why you need 24 ct gold, but the size of tube you describe could easily be formed from thin sheet, around the correct sized rod and then hard soldered with the matching solder. Dennis