Metal casting of chess figures with self made gypsum molds
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- Опубліковано 30 вер 2024
- -This is actually my first video - your feedback is highly appreciated.
This Video is about metal casting of chess figures with self-made gypsum molds. I'll show some chemical formulas about the hardening of plaster to gypsum. And you will see a phase diagram on tin and lead melting points.
=======chess===================
The quick chess sequence at the start is mate with 4 moves (en.wikipedia.o...) In Germany known as “Schäfermatt” (de.wikipedia.o...)
======= Materials list =============
- Plaster: regular “plaster of Paris” from DIY market.
- Metal: I use “LSN 30” that is typically used as soft-solder for water pipes, rain pipes, car repair. Can be bought in any DIY market. Any other solder does also work but is typically more expensive.
- Burner: self-made Ethanol burner.
=======Video production ==========
- Video shot with regular smart phone cam and app
- Video compilation: www.openshot.org/
- Soundtrack: mixkit.co/
=======Safety===================
- Be safe and know what you are doing
- Hot metal can cause severe burn
- Hot metal in contact with any kind of humidity can cause explosions
- Lead is potentially poisonous material. Although lead metal and its oxides can practically not be absorbed through skin - any kind of dust that might be inhaled is dangerous. So preferably use lead-free solder and pay attention to any dust that can be inhaled.
=======contact==================
If you’d like to get in contact: michael.braeu@gmail.com
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Very nice to see someone do it without advanced expensive chemicals and far eastern equipment like the yanks. Good video editing as well and a nice result!
I'm a pour yank looking for a video for the exact same reasons.
Nice video!, thanks for sharing.
Guten tag and great video. I applaud you for taking the time to edit/accelerate it so it's under 10 minutes, my Universal Law of Instructional Videos :). I'm about 40 hours into a more complex chess set casting, but it's amazing that one can learn something from almost every video on the topic. Your technique of using clear plastic (acetate?) to surround small molds is better than Legos; I'll be using it more often. Two details: 1) Early on add a note that plaster as a mold is only ideal for models that have no 'undercuts' (shapes that would catch when removing the model and later the casting). 2)Around the 1:00 mark, add a note about 'registration dimples' or whatever people call them: just put 4-10 little bumps and/or impressions around the model to keep the 2 halves aligned when casting.
thanks for your feedback. Although I love LEGO I don't want to use them for mold making. I guess I am afraid of messing them up... However, I don't recall which actual material it was, but I can say it was waste package material.
I strongly agree to your statement about plaster as mold material. Silicone has many advantages over plaster - especially the problem of 'undercuts' - but also brittleness. Still I haven't used silicone so far, since plaster is just that cheap and somehow "good enough..."
Your second point is also right: you need "markers" that help you to align both sides during casting.
Pocket83 vibes
Can you tell me what kind of metal you used bro
Hi, I used what is called "solder" or "tin-solder" sometimes also "Pewter". Technically it is an alloy of Tinn and Lead that melts below 200°C. You can get it in Hardwarestores.
You can get it from dead car battery
So....toxic chess pieces?
Good job man, easy and functional 👍
why does it have to be lead? aren't they poisonous?
You are right, lead (Pb) is not a good choice. Much better ist tin (Sn), which is quite expensive. I used a alloy of lead and tin, which is ok and you can get it very cheap. But pure tin would be better.
Did you heat the plaster to remove the water before casting?
Hi Donald, I didn't directly heat it, although that might be useful. - I can't guess which temperature and how long. I dried it by simply waiting a few days.
Really cool video. Very helpful, as I'm just getting into casting, myself. I know lead and tin melt pretty low. Any idea what hotter temperatures these kind of molds can take? Would something like zinc (420 C) be too hot?
Hi @VictorKane115, I used similar molds with Zinc and Aluminium (660°C). In general gypsum can stand the temperature and I made a few very nice pieces. However, the mold becomes even more brittle and I was not able to reuse it often. So, my advice for higher temperatures is to make the mold bulkier (use more gypsum) and don't expect to reuse it often.
Quite nice and easy to follow step by step. Id personally make the pieces bigger to make cleanup and finer work easier. Im considering doing this mysself with the added step of electrolytic coating at the end with tougher/colorful metal to avoid scratching.
Thanks for the feedback. I love the idea of electrolytic coating and did a few trials already with Cu and Ni. But the results so far were not satisfying. If you share a recommendation how you'd do it - I'll give it a try and share the results.
@@mjuujm7696 Hi ,nice video .Any idea how many pieces you could cast with the molds - do they ware out / lose clarity after a certain amount of casting?
Also, could you tell me what you call the red thing that you inserted in the mold beneath the base of the pawn ? I presume that it's used for ease of poring the molten metal?
@@cymro6537 Hi, indeed the molds ware out. Gypsum is rather brittle and it happens that edges brake. I was able to cast the full set with only one mold each - but it is true that the later ones come out less clear than the first ones. So I had to do more grinding for the later ones. The red thing I used to setup the channel for poring is actually a crayon - but you can use anything or carve it into the gypsum after drying. The crayon just had a suitable shape and simply was laying around. ;)
@@mjuujm7696 Thanks so much in replying.I have an interest in the mass production of a medieval themed chess set ,it seems that vulcanised rubber is the favoured method for this - but I found your video of great value as an alternative option for a one off cast. Would you happen to know of a go to manufacturer for making vulcanised rubber molds?
@@cymro6537 Hi, I am sorry, but I don't have much experience with silicone molds (vulcanised rubber). Certainly it is great for making molds and does wear out significantly less. However, poring metal with more than 200°C is a challenge for that material. I did some tests with silicone ice-cube molds that I bought at the supermarket. Some can stand the liquid metal - but some are instantly destroyed. That's why I think you will have to search for a silicone mold for high temperature durability.
I'm new to all this... Is it not necessary to preheat the mold? I'm about to my first pour and want the highest chance of success.
Temperature is important - of the mold as well as the metal. However, for pouring Tin-Alloys a mold at room temperature works ok - as long as it is totally dry. That's why my recommendation is to gently heat the gypsum mold before pouring to something like 50 °C (which means it feels hot if you touch it - but you can still touch it.). With that you can be sure it is dry and the Tin has a bit more time to fill everything before hardening.
very nice, good job
Do you used plomo ?
The metal is an alloy (mixture) of tin (spanish: estano) and lead (spanish: plomo) that is typically used for soldering (spanish: soldar)