Kait Posted November 11, 2019 Share Posted November 11, 2019 Hi! I am in search of a small custom made mold or 2 for a Christmas gift for my boyfriend for pouring/casting precious (...and not so precious) metals. I'm just wondering if anyone knows of any companies that do this sort of thing. I originally googled some and emailed a few, but it has been almost a week and have not heard back from any of them. He's a welder and also enjoys just about anything to do with rock-hounding, minerals, gems, precious metals, and really just about anything science-y. When he puts his mind to something, he follows through. So far, he has built his own rock crusher, roll mill, and a ball mill (forgive me if these are not the correct terms), and now he's expanding his hobbies to smelting etc. He has tried it out on a few things like aluminum and copper and although I think they turned out great for his first couple tries there are a few kinks to be worked out. I really think he'd love to have his own mold. Nothing complicated, just maybe his last name printed in it... SO, any help would be greatly appreciated! INCLUDING any other info like brands, companies, certain products that you love, or that I should stay away from. Thanks for your time, Kait Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Sells Posted November 11, 2019 Share Posted November 11, 2019 Where did he get the bauxite to smelt the aluminum? Copper ore isnt to hard to find but the Bauxite is hard to get, also posting your location would help. the world is a large place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles R. Stevens Posted November 11, 2019 Share Posted November 11, 2019 Smelting is the process of extracting metals from ore, while melting in preparation to casting is a different process. Sounds like your SO may be interested in both with that list of equipment. Only a few of the commonly cast metals use permanent molds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted November 11, 2019 Share Posted November 11, 2019 Big difference between melting and smelting: Melting is heating up metal until it is a liquid and then pour it in a mold. Smelting is taking ore and making metal from it. While melting Aluminum is easy; smelting of Aluminium is extremely difficult; which is why Aluminum was a precious metal until the electrochemical method of smelting it was worked out and the big hydroelectric powerplants came online like Niagara and the TVA here in the USA. I'm guessing there might be a typo here. Have you checked over at alloyavenue.com; a series of forums for metal casting? I make my molds for metal casting by carving tufa or soapstone or using Petrobond oil sand. (BTW alloyavenue.com used to be backyard metal casting .com) I got my Bauxite from Bauxite Arkansas way back before they stopped mining it there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kait Posted November 12, 2019 Author Share Posted November 12, 2019 Wow, alright haha I'm about 100% new to all of this and clearly there's a lot I have to learn...so, please forgive my ignorance! I live in the central CO Rockies and Denver is about an hour away from us. I will check around Denver possibly, as well as those other websites you listed, Thomas. Thank you for pointing out the differences between these things and giving me some ideas to start with or search for! Much appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted November 13, 2019 Share Posted November 13, 2019 The more information you can provide as to what you want to do, the more information we can provide and help you get things accomplished. Following your travels and successes is exciting for everyone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwynlaredogranger Posted November 14, 2019 Share Posted November 14, 2019 i wrote some huge thing but really, you arent going to have much luck getting a foundry to sell you a mold. the molds that we make in foundries are for us to use, the customer usually just wants teh metal casting that comes out of it. ask your BF what other things he may need aside from molds ( he most likely will want to make his own molds as that is part of the 'fun' of foundry) and try to get him something that he can use over and over...best of luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted November 14, 2019 Share Posted November 14, 2019 Perhaps you are thinking of "Copes and Drags" the metal boxes your mold making material goes into for sand molds of flasks which are what is used for lost wax casting to hold the investment? Now on the Meta-Discussion. My wife and I both have crafts with decades of experience in them; but they are different crafts. So early in our marriage we decided to NOT buy the other person anything for their craft that cost more than US$20 WITHOUT consulting them first! The "surprise" and "love" was shown by our spending the time looking for such things and bringing it to their attention. This prevents a spouse from blowing the budget on the *wrong* item when the other spouse is desperately longing for a different one and now there is not money to get the one they want. (Happens a lot in my experience watching other couples.) One time my wife brought me the Lindsay catalog of reprints of old technical books and said "choose ones you would like and I'll pick something out for you for Christmas." So I marked a bunch of books and she bought them all! BIG CHRISTMAS! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted November 14, 2019 Share Posted November 14, 2019 My wife just sent me a link to the knitting project planner she wants for Christmas. My present will be a sweater (currently in progress), but I'm hoping that I'll also get some cash to blow on invest in steel and propane. Thomas made us edit it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted November 14, 2019 Share Posted November 14, 2019 Moderator; A little help please, John made a typo; he meant to write "invest" and accidentally typed "blow"...can we get it cleared up before any of our Spouses/SOs/Partners read this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted November 15, 2019 Share Posted November 15, 2019 Kait: If you do a little snooping around your SO's casting stuff without touching some can be dangerous if you don't know what's what. Anyway, take note of the company that manufacturers most of his tools, supplies, etc. contact them and see if they'll give you a gift certificate. If he buys from several you can surprise him with a different one next time. Hmmmm? Oh, and hang around, ask questions, tell joke and such. We're a pretty nice bunch and we have one terrific hobby to interest you in. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwynlaredogranger Posted November 18, 2019 Share Posted November 18, 2019 On 11/14/2019 at 11:18 AM, ThomasPowers said: Perhaps you are thinking of "Copes and Drags" the metal boxes your mold making material goes into for sand molds of flasks which are what is used for lost wax casting to hold the investment? perhaps you are conflating investment casting with (cope and drag) sand casting Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted November 18, 2019 Share Posted November 18, 2019 Yes that was what I was trying to say. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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