Thank god for this man. Everwhere Ive looked everyone who talks about burnout has been like "no you NEED this $2000 kiln". I feel like in every hobby there are people who insist you need to spend big bucks. Its like this in astrophotography too and its always exhausting to hear from all sides that the project you want to do has to be pushed back till next paycheck.
I am glad you found this helpful. A actual kiln will serve you better if you are in a location that will allow it but you can certainly build a burnout kiln for way less then $2000. MOre like $250, basic wool liner in a 55 gal drum with a weed burner.
Really phenomenal demo and commentary! I was looking to move my small production ceramic shell work from a space with pre-existing equipment to my own diy/minimalist space and wax burnout was my biggest hurdle. This was great to see and ignited a lot of ideas. Thank you!!!!!
A 55 gallon drum and Kaowool lining works with the weed torch. We cut the drum down and cut a hole in it. It had a lid. Then burnt out the wax into a steel bucket of water. The shells were on a steel table we built from scrap but it had spaces for the wax to through. Good video
Thanks for this suggestion and demo! Never tried burning out with a weed burner...could sure help justify burn outs for a couple small investments without a need to start up the burnout kiln!
i use this method sucessfully. I have found thatif you hit it full blast from the begining you dont get cracks. The shell doesnt crack with thermal shock, it cracks because the wax expands before it melts. Hitting it hard with the burner causes the waxto go from solid to liquid so fast it doesnt have time to expand so no cracks. Once the wax starts flowing out a gap will have been created between the wax and the shell protecting it as the bulk of the wax heats up and starts to expand. I find it best to start at the base and work my way up which ensures there is alays a clear route for wax to flow out.
Seems like it would work great with 3D printed patterns, which can be hollow so there's no trouble with expansion. PLA should vaporize before the ceramic vitrifies, so you may effectively eliminate the burnout step entirely.
Thanks for the good information! I think I’ll try this method with suspendaslurry. Sorry if I missed it but did you mention how to patch the holes? I’m thinking a combination of fiber reinforcement and slurry. Thanks.
In the UK we have stuff called fire cement which I use for patching holes. It's a putty that comes in tubs and you can just smear it on cracks or venting spots. It's mostly used for patching wood burners or home fire places
@@DavidSnooWilson Cool, I have seen that product mentioned a few times. Just ordered some to compare to other refractories we have here in the US. Thxs for the suggestion.
I saw a vid showing how to de-wax by submerging the ceramic in boiling water in a 55 gallon drum. It seemed effective, fairly fast to complete (after water got to boiling), relatively low-tech, inexpensive, allowed for recovery of more wax (which floated to top), little danger of cracking the ceramic with even heating, and other benefits. I can foresee the potential of expanding wax before channels are evacuated, but evacuation happened so quickly, maybe that's not actually an issue. One drawback was that a very thin film of wax coated the exterior of the ceramic caused by pulling it out of the boiling water with molten wax floating around, but that seemed like a minor inconvenience. Have you ever tried this method?
I have done this type of burnout and will be doing a video on it shortly. its a great way to de-wax but it does not vitrify the shells, that would be need to be done with an additional firing, in either a gas or electric kiln. The two main advantages of this method is the high amount of wax reclaim and the substantial reduction of black smoke. The down side is that its slow (take some time to dry shells) and the extra step to vitrify.
Loving your videos Eric, when I get to the stage where I'm making things on this scale, I'm gonna be rewatching all of them many times :) Will you be demonstrating steam-dewaxing as an option?
@@LunarburnStudio Well, technically steam. I'm using a tall household veggie steamer on my hob to dewax my flasks with at the moment! I cut out the un-needed metal on the bases of most of the stack, so i can put quite tall objects in. Never would have considered using boiling water directly, really thought that'd dissolve an unvitrified shell haha Looking forward to your next installment ^_^
at what temperature do the wax melts at?, could you set your kiln at that temperature to melt your wax then set your kiln to vitrification for very small amount of smoke????????, you may have already talked about it. All the best for 2024
Different waxes melt at different temperatures. The microcrystalline wax is used softens at 160F and is liquid at 190F. If you only heat to that temp. Your shells will crack from the expansion of the wax. You ideally want to flash the shell in a account that’s over 1000°F for about 45 seconds. Then you can put it in a cooler kill at a 350° for the wax to slump out. By flashing your shell at a high temperature, it liquefies the outer surface of the wax. As the remaining wax starts to expand, it will push the liquid wax out of the mold.
What does vitrification mean? If you do a burnout with a kiln rather than with a torch is there less risk of creating problems like cracks? What would've happened if you ended up getting a crack on one of the more detailed areas of the skull?
1. Its basically the point when the silica particles fuse together making that clay or silica object ridged. 2. Burning out in a kiln is ideal because you can crate an even heat all around the shell which in return creates less cracks. 3. Cracks are fixable. Depending on the size of the crack metal will flow in and form a ridge of positive metal. We call that flashing.
I see that skull is pretty big. But say I have plaster shell the size of a coke can for just a ring. Will this blowtorch technique for melting out the wax work then fir such a small shell?
Thank god for this man. Everwhere Ive looked everyone who talks about burnout has been like "no you NEED this $2000 kiln". I feel like in every hobby there are people who insist you need to spend big bucks. Its like this in astrophotography too and its always exhausting to hear from all sides that the project you want to do has to be pushed back till next paycheck.
I am glad you found this helpful. A actual kiln will serve you better if you are in a location that will allow it but you can certainly build a burnout kiln for way less then $2000. MOre like $250, basic wool liner in a 55 gal drum with a weed burner.
Really phenomenal demo and commentary! I was looking to move my small production ceramic shell work from a space with pre-existing equipment to my own diy/minimalist space and wax burnout was my biggest hurdle. This was great to see and ignited a lot of ideas. Thank you!!!!!
Great video! I did my first ceramic shell poor today. It went well. Thanks for the videos.
A 55 gallon drum and Kaowool lining works with the weed torch. We cut the drum down and cut a hole in it. It had a lid. Then burnt out the wax into a steel bucket of water. The shells were on a steel table we built from scrap but it had spaces for the wax to through. Good video
Its great that the process is so flexible when it comes to the burnout. But anything that you can do to make it more consistant is helpful.
Thanks for this suggestion and demo! Never tried burning out with a weed burner...could sure help justify burn outs for a couple small investments without a need to start up the burnout kiln!
You're a good teacher. Thanks for all the info!
Glad your finding my videos helpful!
i use this method sucessfully. I have found thatif you hit it full blast from the begining you dont get cracks. The shell doesnt crack with thermal shock, it cracks because the wax expands before it melts. Hitting it hard with the burner causes the waxto go from solid to liquid so fast it doesnt have time to expand so no cracks. Once the wax starts flowing out a gap will have been created between the wax and the shell protecting it as the bulk of the wax heats up and starts to expand. I find it best to start at the base and work my way up which ensures there is alays a clear route for wax to flow out.
Agreed, good technique.
Seems like it would work great with 3D printed patterns, which can be hollow so there's no trouble with expansion. PLA should vaporize before the ceramic vitrifies, so you may effectively eliminate the burnout step entirely.
Thanks a lot for this informative video!
This was super helpful sir!!!
Glad it was helpful! Let me know if you have any additional questions.
Thanks for the good information! I think I’ll try this method with suspendaslurry. Sorry if I missed it but did you mention how to patch the holes? I’m thinking a combination of fiber reinforcement and slurry. Thanks.
You didnt miss it, working on that video now. but you are on the right track, 3 layers of slurry, fiber and a bit of stucco works well.
In the UK we have stuff called fire cement which I use for patching holes. It's a putty that comes in tubs and you can just smear it on cracks or venting spots. It's mostly used for patching wood burners or home fire places
@@DavidSnooWilson Cool, I have seen that product mentioned a few times. Just ordered some to compare to other refractories we have here in the US. Thxs for the suggestion.
Great work Eric!
I saw a vid showing how to de-wax by submerging the ceramic in boiling water in a 55 gallon drum. It seemed effective, fairly fast to complete (after water got to boiling), relatively low-tech, inexpensive, allowed for recovery of more wax (which floated to top), little danger of cracking the ceramic with even heating, and other benefits. I can foresee the potential of expanding wax before channels are evacuated, but evacuation happened so quickly, maybe that's not actually an issue. One drawback was that a very thin film of wax coated the exterior of the ceramic caused by pulling it out of the boiling water with molten wax floating around, but that seemed like a minor inconvenience. Have you ever tried this method?
I have done this type of burnout and will be doing a video on it shortly. its a great way to de-wax but it does not vitrify the shells, that would be need to be done with an additional firing, in either a gas or electric kiln. The two main advantages of this method is the high amount of wax reclaim and the substantial reduction of black smoke. The down side is that its slow (take some time to dry shells) and the extra step to vitrify.
Loving your videos Eric, when I get to the stage where I'm making things on this scale, I'm gonna be rewatching all of them many times :)
Will you be demonstrating steam-dewaxing as an option?
Steam like in an autoclave? never tried. But will be doing video on boil-out.
@@LunarburnStudio Well, technically steam. I'm using a tall household veggie steamer on my hob to dewax my flasks with at the moment! I cut out the un-needed metal on the bases of most of the stack, so i can put quite tall objects in. Never would have considered using boiling water directly, really thought that'd dissolve an unvitrified shell haha
Looking forward to your next installment ^_^
The ceramic shell becomes water impermeable once it dries. Does not slip back down like traditional ceramics/clay.
at what temperature do the wax melts at?, could you set your kiln at that temperature to melt your wax then set your kiln to vitrification for very small amount of smoke????????, you may have already talked about it. All the best for 2024
Different waxes melt at different temperatures. The microcrystalline wax is used softens at 160F and is liquid at 190F.
If you only heat to that temp. Your shells will crack from the expansion of the wax. You ideally want to flash the shell in a account that’s over 1000°F for about 45 seconds. Then you can put it in a cooler kill at a 350° for the wax to slump out.
By flashing your shell at a high temperature, it liquefies the outer surface of the wax. As the remaining wax starts to expand, it will push the liquid wax out of the mold.
👍
What does vitrification mean? If you do a burnout with a kiln rather than with a torch is there less risk of creating problems like cracks? What would've happened if you ended up getting a crack on one of the more detailed areas of the skull?
1. Its basically the point when the silica particles fuse together making that clay or silica object ridged.
2. Burning out in a kiln is ideal because you can crate an even heat all around the shell which in return creates less cracks.
3. Cracks are fixable. Depending on the size of the crack metal will flow in and form a ridge of positive metal. We call that flashing.
I see that skull is pretty big. But say I have plaster shell the size of a coke can for just a ring.
Will this blowtorch technique for melting out the wax work then fir such a small shell?
The torch method actually works better with smaller shells as it allows a more even heat.
Is the wax in the catch pan reusable?
Yes.
Can I use this method for plaster of Paris molds?
No, the plaster can not handle the thermal shock. It holds onto the water that will turn to steam and crack your mold.
can i do that with investment plaster??
No, plaster mixes retain too much water and the crystal structure of the plaster cant handle the thermal shock.
Aonde encontrar esse produto é areia shel molde
Unfortunately I do not know where this product is sold in your part of the world.
@@LunarburnStudio valeu obrigado
how to contact you
google lunarburn Studio, you will fine me
Music not needed thanks , patching is particularly way ???
still learning best way to edit my content. (less music). Whats your question regarding patching?