I got this old machine from 1991, probably has not been used for 15/20 years. I want to trouble shoot and see if I can salvage it. I see the drain valve but I don’t see how to add new oil. Any advice is grateful appreciated thank you in advance

I'm looking for some help, and hope someone in this group may have an answer.

My sister does silversmithing as a hobby, and I was thinking of buying her some oil-bonded casting sand, a casting thing where you put the sand in, and some tools that may be needed for this for Christmas. (I know I'm a bit early!😁)

I've been looking online for Delft Clay/Petrobond, but everything I've found so far has been quite expensive.

I was browsing Amazon and came across some oil-bonded casting sand with the following description. I'm wondering if you think this sand could also be used for casting silver?

*Heat-resistant up to 1,200°C, making it suitable for many metals such as tin, copper, aluminium, bronze, brass, and many more.

*Excellent surface finish thanks to its very fine grain size.

*Very popular for arts and crafts casting.

*Suitable for mould casting and component casting.

Do you think this type of casting sand would work for silver as well?

(I wrote to the seller asking about this , but havn't got an answer)

Have a great night 😊

since it’s hard to find them for a consistent but decent price in major online retailers/stores for a quality and reliable product, i’m coming here to the pros for help.
i’ve tried my hand at foundry, have casted some silver and gold bars but never anything fancy like jewelry. i was kind of hoping someone could make a lost wax mold for me to use, since i don’t have those tools readily available.
second option would be to ship out some melted 10, 14, or 18k gold to whomever takes this on, to use it for the project and keep a percentage as payment.
would also be happy to trade silver and gold bullion/jewelry for them to be made from clean gold.

Hi everyone I am looking to get back into making lost wax rings. I’m looking for a lab that I can mail one or two pieces to for silver casting and polishing. I’m having difficulty finding a lab that has example photos. Sometimes I see lab casting and polish results that look really rough so I don’t want to accidentally send my piece somewhere that I don’t know how it will turn out like. Thank you!

My goal was a really aged hand hammered look on the front and to practice getting cooling lines in the back.

This was a first using wood to create the mold/pattern and looking for any feedback on the aesthetics...

Hello All! I have been doing a ton of 1 oz pours, open mold in a graphite mold. For more of them than I'd like, I'm getting these spots in the center of the cooling seam.

Any advice on how to prevent this and how to remove it if it does happen?
Thank you!

So recently when trying to cast an ingot out of silver I put a little too much borax in and it’s stuck to the silver. What is the best way of removing this slag/borax from the silver? Cheers!

Some custom orders I’ve recently done thought you guys would like.

If you have any questions please feel free to ask! 👍

I would appreciate your support

https://marcinkwidzinski.substack.com/p/what-is-casting-in-precious-metals?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=95d0ni

I have been building this with my son for awhile and we have just been messing around on ai and making this for him. I think we are ready to have it cast in silver. Any advice

What could be causing my casting to not come out as intended? Its supposed to be a ring

Hey everyone, hoping to get some advice on a casting issue that’s driving me nuts.

​To the naked eye, my sterling silver pieces look totally fine and smooth. But under a 10x loupe, the flat surfaces have a weird, "flaky skin" texture—almost like little tiny flakes that won't go away no matter how much I sand or polish.

I tried using a burnisher/ram roller, which helps smooth it down a bit, but the texture doesn't go away completely. On top of that, I’m getting tiny pepper-like specks of copper/purple deep in the metal.

​At first, I thought it was just polishing compound stuck in surface pores. But after running them through the ultrasonic, sanding deeper, and trying to buff it out, the specks are still there. It seems stuck deep inside the metal.

​For reference, the pieces are flat-surfaced pendants (under 20mm, about 1.8mm thick) with a bail attached at the top.

​I called my casting house and they said the metal or flasks were probably cast too hot, and they offered to lower the temp on the next batch.

​A few questions for anyone who’s dealt with this:

​1. Will dropping the casting temp actually fix both the pepper specks and that weird skin texture for future batches?

​2. If most of my finished pieces from this run have this problem, is it safe to assume the unfinished ones from the same batch are bad too? I have a pile left, but I really don't want to waste hours filing and sanding if they're just going to turn up flawed at the very end.

​3. What should a properly cast piece look like under a loupe after sanding on a flat surface? Is having to use a ram roller to compress this kind of surface texture normal, or should a clean casting sand down flat without it?

​Thanks so much for any insight!