Wax casting experiment

[barneyjoseph]

Hi,

I recently bought some casting wax (not sure of its composition). I tried it out with the molds that I have and the results were not as expected:



Flat out pour. Uneven shrinkage at the back!


Poured some in and sloshed it around. Poured out the excess and poured the rest in!


Realized that the wax was solidifying while pouring and so I just poured it in. There's a line still!


I thought that air pockets would be my problem! Can anyone help me out with how to pour wax?

Thanks in advance!

[jedi_don]

Never done anything like this before, but is sounds like the molds are sucking the heat out of the wax too quickly. Maybe you need to warm the molds so the wax doesn't cool too quickly.

[barneyjoseph]

Will try warming them up. Thanks!

[BlindXX]

Hey, you are right in that the wax is setting too quickly creating fold lines. I also agree with the above post, warming the molds may help but I've never had much luck pour casting with wax, especially on a small scale. Usually it is injection molded to prevent the air bubbles that always seem to form and help eliminate the fold lines. Any time I've tried it though it's always needed a massive clean up afterwards. I work with wax in my job on a day to day basis and sculpt in it when I can. I've never got a good wax copy out of a mould though. Probably just my technique, but it's not easy. You can buy cheap wax injectors but the moulds are tricky to make. It doesn't look as though your mould is cut for injection, so warming may be your only way. You could try pouring a thin layer over the surface and fill with a second pour. Not sure if I've helped in this case but may give you some thoughts for future wax work.
Regards
BlindXX

[barneyjoseph]

Thanks BlindXX. Are there any tutorials on how to make those injection molds? Are they done in silicone or metal?

[BlindXX]

No prob! I did find some info on the the net, pretty clear instructions, but I didn't have the time to make one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAfphr_Ac5A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjYyuRF9TNo
May help, although not what I used (can't find the site i did use) I'm sure there's loads more stuff out there. It was quite a soft silicon, with two metal plates to keep the two halves together while injecting. I got a cheap injector off a well known auction site. I think the mold was poured in one piece and then split into two, not made as two separate halves. TBH, that second picture is probably as good as any I got with an injection mold. Most likely poor technique though!

[barneyjoseph]

Thank you