Thank you! In terms of equipment for getting into investment casting I would say the equipment in this video is the best bang for your buck. Feel free to let me know if you have any questions!
I like your setup. Very similar to mine. I’ve been making wax castings since the late 1970’s. I usually use a torch to melt metals. If you turn the screen in the burnout kiln sideways, you can slide a little pan under the flask to catch the wax as it drips out. I run a program that pauses the temperature just below the boiling point of water (slows steam generation so the investment doesn’t crack or splinter in fine details). I also pause at the melting point of the wax so I can pull my little pan out (you can reuse the wax if you add some new and also reduces the soot from the burnout). Since there isn’t as much wax in the furnace, any wax residue is oxidized better and the flask doesn’t have any soot in it so the castings have better finish and the metal has less porosity or finish defects. By slowly moving through the boiling point of water, there are usually no flash or cracks so the castings require much less finishing afterwards. Having all the wax run into the furnace creates a big mess and the furnace makes more smoke. Good choice on the casting machine. If your vacuum pump ever needs replacing, go with the 5cfm over the 3cfm. Also install a little filter between the vacuum chamber and the vacuum pump. Occasionally you might get a blowout and the investment dust can ruin the pump over time.
Hey Russell, thanks for sharing your suggestions with me. Have you been doing jewelry or some other form of casting for that time? I am not looking into recycling my wax at the moment because it doesn’t make much sense with my current setup but if I do in the future I will contact you for help. I am going to take some of the information you have shared about burnout cycles and try it out. I’m definitely still figuring that part of the process out. Hopefully I won’t need to replace my pump for quite some time but when I do I’ll look to upgrade it. I haven’t shown it in any of my videos but there is actually an inline filter pre installed into the vacuum machine which is really great.
@@Levi_Sheridan I do my own engineering prototypes and jewelry is a hobby. Recycling wax can be a cost saving when you start casting much larger pieces or 100’s or 1000’s of smaller ones (or on a student budget). You would benefit from removing the wax from the kiln before it changes the internal kiln environment from oxidizing to reducing. There are reasons for either but for a clean investment surface you want oxidizing to reduce the chance of soot scale or carbon interactions on the model. Control of the atmospheric conditions in the kiln are more important if controlling micro crystallization of slowly cooling a poured flask or tempering in the flask is desired. Some metals also react strongly to oxygen when liquid or create destructive crystalline seeds on the surface of the sprue that can propagate throughout the model as it cools. These are more important with some exotic alloys or special applications or coatings. I find the more you can wrap your brain around the little details, the more finesse and perfection down the road. Save your early work. The more you learn in the future, the more you will see when you re-examine your earlier work. There is satisfaction in documenting and reviewing your history. Right now I’m seeing porosity and cooling issues in your pours. Aluminum is more tricky because of its reactive surface nature and the properties of its oxides and impurities. The second you turn on the vacuum, the air drawn into the flask starts cooling the investment in the details of the mold. This affects the flow and tiny details of the casting. You can put a torch over the sprue hole as you pour to heat the air so it cools the mold less quickly. You can also affect the pour but using an oxidizing or reducing flame. When you have a few thousand pours, you will require much less post pour finishing. You have a superior mind and a fearless approach to your experiments. Traits I have always looked for in team members on cutting edge projects. Plus, you don’t just talk, you do. Another rare trait. I get a real kick out of watching your journey. Thank you for sharing! Soon, you will attract trolls and toxic negative idiots that will try to discourage you or ridicule your genius. Ignore them. Keep on doing what you are doing.
@@russelldoyen3850 thank you so much for all of your suggestions and your lovely compliments, I really appreciate it. I don’t make my molds out of wax so I don’t have a reason to recycle it but if I ever do I will. I will probably start to remove the wax/plastic from below the flask before it vaporizes to prolong the life of my kiln and to ensure better quality cast. I’m not sure if you are familiar with this old tony but he made a video recently where he makes a kiln with a system to replace the air with argon for the purpose of reducing oxidation during heat treatment. Do you see this as possibly being a beneficial effort for casting as well? I wish I had a bigger budget to purchase tools like the torches you talk about. I’m currently looking to get a lathe which will be a big investment so maybe I’ll look into it after that. I don’t really care about what people say to me over the internet because I know they probably wouldn’t have the courage to say the same things in person. I haven’t received any negative comments yet but I have been on UA-cam long enough to know that it’s inevitable. Once again, thank you for your compliments, they greatly encourage me to keep doing what I’m doing. Best, Levi Sheridan
@@Levi_Sheridan I know you are making the models from resin but I thought the sprue and channels were wax. I guess you can print those too. I just like to get the stuff that can burn out of my kiln before it burns. Less mess.
@@russelldoyen3850 the sprues and Chanel’s are wax but I typically use multiple types of wax and I also do not have the means to reproduce to sprues and wax sticks currently. I will definitely start to remove the wax/plastic before it vaporizes but I don’t think I’ll be recycling it anytime soon.
Couldn't agree more with the idea of just buying the machines. I spent a lot of time (and money) trying to build my equipment with no real projects to show for it, and in the end I'm more interested in the end product rather than building the necessary equipment. Thabks for the videos and good luck!
I think if you are interested in building the machines that’s great but if you are just looking to cast there’s no need in trying to build something yourself. Thanks for watching and please let me know how your experiences with melting brass goes.
@Levi Sheridan, are your running the two furnaces on different circuits? They are both 1500W units, so seems excessive to run them simultaneously on a 20 amp circuit?
@@Levi_Sheridan Darn, where I would place the setup only has one circuit and my service box is pretty much at AMP capacity due to two 5 ton AC units, 60 amp car charging circuit, etc. etc. How much of a down side is it going to be to just have a single furnace for burnout and metal melting. And can you melt metal in the burnout kiln? I would think so based on they both have same wattage, but…. ? I used to do lost wax casting back in high school in the early 90s, but used to melt the sterling silver with a torch and used a wind up centrifuge to throw the metal into the mold. Of course then we also had to hand carve and file our wax as there was no fancy SLA printers. :) So while familiar with the process, a lot has changed.
@@edgett unfortunately it is not possible to only use one furnace for metal melting and burnout. The burnout needs to be roughly 1000 F less then the metal pouring temp and they both need to be at there respective temperatures at the same time. Centrifuge casting is still widely used in the jewelry industry so you could still look into that. And kudos to you for doing hand carving. I’m sure you have a much greater appreciation for the capability’s 3D printers give us. Thanks for watching and good luck with your endeavors!
I started storing my crucibals in a bag with silica gel packs (after they have cooled down as slowly as possiable) I think its bought some more time from them. Not sure what your ambient humidity is, I am in a basement, and it's high. They are 30$ish on amazon and in 2.5 years I have needed 2 replacements. Maybe 175 pours total. Completly agree with the table top, great product! I haven't maxed my melting pot yet, it's the exact model you cooked, good to know it won't take it, thanks!
@@Yukkaguitar I’m sure the cheaper Chinese furnaces work well but the table top furnace company products are really great machines. I’ll experiment with using silica as well, thanks for the suggestion!
@@Levi_Sheridan that puts my mind at ease. After currency conversion and shipping and tax they get a bit expensive. If I can get 20 or 30 pours that would be good but like John is saying, with proper care looks like you can get a ton more. Thanks.
Hey really nice video and nice channel , amazing work!. I work in jewelry and wanted to do almost the same setup, but was really afraid of fumes. You speak about moving to an appartement and keep it. How will you manage it?
Thank you arkhauss! So far the fumes have been no issue what so ever. The shop I’ll have in my apartment will be much smaller so I’ll have to put some more thought into fume extraction. My goal is to acquire some good fans and to ventilate the air as much as possible. The setup will depend greatly on what the physical space looks like but I will definitely make some videos about what I come up with when the time comes.
I was checking out reviews of Vevor and generally it has horrible reviews. Has the vacuum machine still been holding up? I am interested in getting my own setup.
Have had no problems with my machine. Does what it’s supposed to do every time I use it (properly) so I can’t complain and would definitely recommend it.
@@Levi_Sheridan thanks for the quick response! I’m gonna follow your route and get it through Walmart too. Keep it up and congrats on the craft and skills your learning
While both tools are capable of melting metal, they both serve different purposes and need to be used at the same time. Watch one of my casting videos, I recommend one of the newer ones, and you’ll see why we need both. Hope I was able to answer your questions. Thanks for watching Tyler!
@@Levi_Sheridan I watched another video and I get what you're saying with having both machines you may get a better cast because when you burn out and are melting as soon as both are done you can pour, but I'm trying to save money, been debating on buying that burn out oven for a while, so I'm gonna go ahead and do that and let you know how it goes!
@@tylermcallister7713 I’m glad my other video made their purposes clear. I highly recommend the burnout oven I have. I know that you can do sand casting at room temperature but I’d recommend doing some research into room temperature investment casting because I’ve never seen that before. Please do keep me updated!
@@Levi_Sheridan it's not going to be room temperature, ill try to burn it out and then quickly melt the silver in the burnout oven and hopefully it'll still be a good temperature, I'll keep ya updated tho
@@tylermcallister7713 the furnace would take around 45 minutes to melt the silver. You would need to heat up the mold to a temperature the oven cannot reach before beginning to melt the silver so that it would cool down to the correct temperature by the time the metal has melted. If you try this I recommend you try to insulate the mold as much as possible to retain the most heat. The worst thing that could happen is that you realize you need to buy another furnace so I guess there’s no harm in trying.
Remove the access panel on the back to access the vacuum pump. There is a fill port and a sight glass. Open the fill port and pour the vacuum oil in until it reaches the max level in the view port.
@@Dr.MoneyMonday as I’ve said before, I am not near my equipment so I cannot make a video. The process is very simple. Remove the rear access panel, the pump will be right on the other side. The pump has a fill port. Open the port and pour the oil in to the level indicated on the sight glass.
There is an access panel in the back of the unit that’s help on with a few screws. If you open up the machine you’ll find the vacuum pump which is where you’ll pour the oil
can you please make a video step by step making something with silver start to finish? i just subbed and you might have one already now think about it lol let me check
Technically it's a CNC, but not the type you are thinking of or what I dream about. It's a Prusa Mini FDM 3D printer. If you would like to see a video about that let me know.
@@foxymiss12 I’m away from my machines for now so I won’t be able to for a while. You just need to remove the rear access panel where you’ll find the pump. The pump and two ports. One of them is labeled for oil. You just need to pour the oil in there up to the level indicator on the sight window.
Nicely presented setup. I've watched quite a few videos looking into this process and this was the best single package video I could find. Thanks
Thank you! In terms of equipment for getting into investment casting I would say the equipment in this video is the best bang for your buck. Feel free to let me know if you have any questions!
Thanks for sharing the video and links to each item, really helped out a lot starting my first setup
I'm glad I could help!
I like your setup. Very similar to mine. I’ve been making wax castings since the late 1970’s. I usually use a torch to melt metals. If you turn the screen in the burnout kiln sideways, you can slide a little pan under the flask to catch the wax as it drips out. I run a program that pauses the temperature just below the boiling point of water (slows steam generation so the investment doesn’t crack or splinter in fine details). I also pause at the melting point of the wax so I can pull my little pan out (you can reuse the wax if you add some new and also reduces the soot from the burnout). Since there isn’t as much wax in the furnace, any wax residue is oxidized better and the flask doesn’t have any soot in it so the castings have better finish and the metal has less porosity or finish defects. By slowly moving through the boiling point of water, there are usually no flash or cracks so the castings require much less finishing afterwards. Having all the wax run into the furnace creates a big mess and the furnace makes more smoke. Good choice on the casting machine. If your vacuum pump ever needs replacing, go with the 5cfm over the 3cfm. Also install a little filter between the vacuum chamber and the vacuum pump. Occasionally you might get a blowout and the investment dust can ruin the pump over time.
Hey Russell, thanks for sharing your suggestions with me. Have you been doing jewelry or some other form of casting for that time? I am not looking into recycling my wax at the moment because it doesn’t make much sense with my current setup but if I do in the future I will contact you for help. I am going to take some of the information you have shared about burnout cycles and try it out. I’m definitely still figuring that part of the process out. Hopefully I won’t need to replace my pump for quite some time but when I do I’ll look to upgrade it. I haven’t shown it in any of my videos but there is actually an inline filter pre installed into the vacuum machine which is really great.
@@Levi_Sheridan I do my own engineering prototypes and jewelry is a hobby. Recycling wax can be a cost saving when you start casting much larger pieces or 100’s or 1000’s of smaller ones (or on a student budget). You would benefit from removing the wax from the kiln before it changes the internal kiln environment from oxidizing to reducing. There are reasons for either but for a clean investment surface you want oxidizing to reduce the chance of soot scale or carbon interactions on the model. Control of the atmospheric conditions in the kiln are more important if controlling micro crystallization of slowly cooling a poured flask or tempering in the flask is desired. Some metals also react strongly to oxygen when liquid or create destructive crystalline seeds on the surface of the sprue that can propagate throughout the model as it cools. These are more important with some exotic alloys or special applications or coatings. I find the more you can wrap your brain around the little details, the more finesse and perfection down the road. Save your early work. The more you learn in the future, the more you will see when you re-examine your earlier work. There is satisfaction in documenting and reviewing your history. Right now I’m seeing porosity and cooling issues in your pours. Aluminum is more tricky because of its reactive surface nature and the properties of its oxides and impurities. The second you turn on the vacuum, the air drawn into the flask starts cooling the investment in the details of the mold. This affects the flow and tiny details of the casting. You can put a torch over the sprue hole as you pour to heat the air so it cools the mold less quickly. You can also affect the pour but using an oxidizing or reducing flame. When you have a few thousand pours, you will require much less post pour finishing. You have a superior mind and a fearless approach to your experiments. Traits I have always looked for in team members on cutting edge projects. Plus, you don’t just talk, you do. Another rare trait. I get a real kick out of watching your journey. Thank you for sharing! Soon, you will attract trolls and toxic negative idiots that will try to discourage you or ridicule your genius. Ignore them. Keep on doing what you are doing.
@@russelldoyen3850 thank you so much for all of your suggestions and your lovely compliments, I really appreciate it. I don’t make my molds out of wax so I don’t have a reason to recycle it but if I ever do I will. I will probably start to remove the wax/plastic from below the flask before it vaporizes to prolong the life of my kiln and to ensure better quality cast. I’m not sure if you are familiar with this old tony but he made a video recently where he makes a kiln with a system to replace the air with argon for the purpose of reducing oxidation during heat treatment. Do you see this as possibly being a beneficial effort for casting as well? I wish I had a bigger budget to purchase tools like the torches you talk about. I’m currently looking to get a lathe which will be a big investment so maybe I’ll look into it after that. I don’t really care about what people say to me over the internet because I know they probably wouldn’t have the courage to say the same things in person. I haven’t received any negative comments yet but I have been on UA-cam long enough to know that it’s inevitable. Once again, thank you for your compliments, they greatly encourage me to keep doing what I’m doing. Best, Levi Sheridan
@@Levi_Sheridan I know you are making the models from resin but I thought the sprue and channels were wax. I guess you can print those too. I just like to get the stuff that can burn out of my kiln before it burns. Less mess.
@@russelldoyen3850 the sprues and Chanel’s are wax but I typically use multiple types of wax and I also do not have the means to reproduce to sprues and wax sticks currently. I will definitely start to remove the wax/plastic before it vaporizes but I don’t think I’ll be recycling it anytime soon.
Couldn't agree more with the idea of just buying the machines. I spent a lot of time (and money) trying to build my equipment with no real projects to show for it, and in the end I'm more interested in the end product rather than building the necessary equipment. Thabks for the videos and good luck!
I think if you are interested in building the machines that’s great but if you are just looking to cast there’s no need in trying to build something yourself. Thanks for watching and please let me know how your experiences with melting brass goes.
@Levi Sheridan, are your running the two furnaces on different circuits? They are both 1500W units, so seems excessive to run them simultaneously on a 20 amp circuit?
No, I ran them on separate circuits.
@@Levi_Sheridan Darn, where I would place the setup only has one circuit and my service box is pretty much at AMP capacity due to two 5 ton AC units, 60 amp car charging circuit, etc. etc. How much of a down side is it going to be to just have a single furnace for burnout and metal melting. And can you melt metal in the burnout kiln? I would think so based on they both have same wattage, but…. ?
I used to do lost wax casting back in high school in the early 90s, but used to melt the sterling silver with a torch and used a wind up centrifuge to throw the metal into the mold. Of course then we also had to hand carve and file our wax as there was no fancy SLA printers. :)
So while familiar with the process, a lot has changed.
@@edgett unfortunately it is not possible to only use one furnace for metal melting and burnout. The burnout needs to be roughly 1000 F less then the metal pouring temp and they both need to be at there respective temperatures at the same time.
Centrifuge casting is still widely used in the jewelry industry so you could still look into that. And kudos to you for doing hand carving. I’m sure you have a much greater appreciation for the capability’s 3D printers give us.
Thanks for watching and good luck with your endeavors!
Did you make some money with it :)
I am looking at this to case bullets
Hi. Can you please tell me what the maximum size flask this vacuum caster can accommodate? Thanks.
Maybe 5-6 inches but I am not sure for sure and cannot measure it at the moment
Hey Levi, do you recommend any specific oil for this vacuum casting machine?
Any standard vacuum oil should work fine with this machine.
Is the model a HH-CM01?? How do you change oil? Thanks very helpful vid
Hi, do you believe this would work with castable resin instead of wax?
This setup does work with casting resin. If you watch some more of my videos you’ll see that is actually what I use most of the time.
How many pours do you have on that crucible? Looks like they oxidize pretty quick. The weather is warming up and I can’t wait to set up.
I would say at least 25. That’s very exciting, the weather is also warming up in Chicago to 20 F! Looking forward to hearing how your setup goes!
I started storing my crucibals in a bag with silica gel packs (after they have cooled down as slowly as possiable) I think its bought some more time from them. Not sure what your ambient humidity is, I am in a basement, and it's high. They are 30$ish on amazon and in 2.5 years I have needed 2 replacements. Maybe 175 pours total. Completly agree with the table top, great product! I haven't maxed my melting pot yet, it's the exact model you cooked, good to know it won't take it, thanks!
@@Yukkaguitar I’m sure the cheaper Chinese furnaces work well but the table top furnace company products are really great machines. I’ll experiment with using silica as well, thanks for the suggestion!
@@Levi_Sheridan that puts my mind at ease. After currency conversion and shipping and tax they get a bit expensive. If I can get 20 or 30 pours that would be good but like John is saying, with proper care looks like you can get a ton more. Thanks.
Should u use a torch and borax flux?
Hey really nice video and nice channel , amazing work!. I work in jewelry and wanted to do almost the same setup, but was really afraid of fumes. You speak about moving to an appartement and keep it. How will you manage it?
Thank you arkhauss! So far the fumes have been no issue what so ever. The shop I’ll have in my apartment will be much smaller so I’ll have to put some more thought into fume extraction. My goal is to acquire some good fans and to ventilate the air as much as possible. The setup will depend greatly on what the physical space looks like but I will definitely make some videos about what I come up with when the time comes.
Do you need to get the Tabletop Hi-Temp at 800$ for casting and molding or can you use a Digital Electric Melting Furnace for 300$?
No you don’t, but you get what you pay for.
the new melting furnace looks much better , i think it will last a long time especially if you only use it at aluminium temperatures.
Absolutely! Thanks Heron!
Can I use the investment powder again or It can only be used once ?
It unfortunately can only be used once to my knowledge
La temperatura es ajustable? Del primer horno de izquierda a derecha
I was checking out reviews of Vevor and generally it has horrible reviews. Has the vacuum machine still been holding up? I am interested in getting my own setup.
Have had no problems with my machine. Does what it’s supposed to do every time I use it (properly) so I can’t complain and would definitely recommend it.
@@Levi_Sheridan thanks for the quick response! I’m gonna follow your route and get it through Walmart too. Keep it up and congrats on the craft and skills your learning
@@JamesJones-oz9tq thanks! Good luck!
Why did you buy a melting furnace if you can burnout and melt in your table top burn out oven? Great video tho
While both tools are capable of melting metal, they both serve different purposes and need to be used at the same time. Watch one of my casting videos, I recommend one of the newer ones, and you’ll see why we need both. Hope I was able to answer your questions. Thanks for watching Tyler!
@@Levi_Sheridan I watched another video and I get what you're saying with having both machines you may get a better cast because when you burn out and are melting as soon as both are done you can pour, but I'm trying to save money, been debating on buying that burn out oven for a while, so I'm gonna go ahead and do that and let you know how it goes!
@@tylermcallister7713 I’m glad my other video made their purposes clear. I highly recommend the burnout oven I have. I know that you can do sand casting at room temperature but I’d recommend doing some research into room temperature investment casting because I’ve never seen that before. Please do keep me updated!
@@Levi_Sheridan it's not going to be room temperature, ill try to burn it out and then quickly melt the silver in the burnout oven and hopefully it'll still be a good temperature, I'll keep ya updated tho
@@tylermcallister7713 the furnace would take around 45 minutes to melt the silver. You would need to heat up the mold to a temperature the oven cannot reach before beginning to melt the silver so that it would cool down to the correct temperature by the time the metal has melted. If you try this I recommend you try to insulate the mold as much as possible to retain the most heat. The worst thing that could happen is that you realize you need to buy another furnace so I guess there’s no harm in trying.
How do you change the oil in this brand
Remove the access panel on the back to access the vacuum pump. There is a fill port and a sight glass. Open the fill port and pour the vacuum oil in until it reaches the max level in the view port.
@@Levi_Sheridan can you make a video please I really need help I just don’t get it.
@@Dr.MoneyMonday as I’ve said before, I am not near my equipment so I cannot make a video. The process is very simple. Remove the rear access panel, the pump will be right on the other side. The pump has a fill port. Open the port and pour the oil in to the level indicated on the sight glass.
How do you fill the oil on the vacuum system? I don’t see the oil fill knob
There is an access panel in the back of the unit that’s help on with a few screws. If you open up the machine you’ll find the vacuum pump which is where you’ll pour the oil
Any need to drain oil if so how? Thanks
can you please make a video step by step making something with silver start to finish? i just subbed and you might have one already now think about it lol let me check
I’m glad you found it!
Did I see a small CNC machine to the right of the wax pens? can you show that?
Technically it's a CNC, but not the type you are thinking of or what I dream about. It's a Prusa Mini FDM 3D printer. If you would like to see a video about that let me know.
Thanks dude....nice vid
Thanks Dave!
Hello sir full price this machine combo
Approximately $2000 usd.
Have you tried to change oil? Almost impossible..
I have changed the oil twice without any problems. Definitely not impossible.
@@Levi_Sheridan maybe you could make a video about this? It would be helpful. 🌷
@@foxymiss12 I’m away from my machines for now so I won’t be able to for a while. You just need to remove the rear access panel where you’ll find the pump. The pump and two ports. One of them is labeled for oil. You just need to pour the oil in there up to the level indicator on the sight window.
@@Levi_Sheridan yes I know this. But where, how do you remove oil?
@@foxymiss12 there is an oil drain plug at the bottom of the pump below the sight window.
Pretty sure I'm gonna clone this setup, lol
Got my Mars 3 today, and I've printed a few tests
It’s a great setup! Works really well for a home casting set up and the Mars 3 will work great for the job too! Good luck
Be your own engineer just like grow your own food quality increases 100 fold ....
Speak more slowly!
When you’ve got a lot to say you’ve got to speak fast… Feel free to change the video playback speed!