Mold Making for Metal Casting
It’s Iron Pour day at East Carolina University today – I just got back from helping some of the students unload and reload the low melt that had been full of molds to be cast, and in just a few hours the furnace will be heating up to bring the iron to a molten, bubbly liquid. My fiancé was nice enough to walk us through the mold making process – not exactly a “Do it Yourself” project, but it’s certainly interesting to see how it’s done.
After what can be a few hours to a few weeks of working on detailed wax molds, the sculptors pack their “blanks” in a fine sand to create the mold. After this, the wax is melted out in a special kiln so that the leftover space in the packed sand can be filled with metal to create a casting.
It’s a detailed process that you can read all about at Landon’s blog, as well as check out some of his other work. As for me, I am off to get some sleep – I’m looking forward to today’s pour and can’t wait to bring you all some of the pictures of the process! :)
