The-Lost-Wax Casting Technique

For Beginners

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By: Trevor Nakata

The Zhou Dynasty was an ancient civilization that existed from 1046 B.C. to 221 B.C. The civilization is known for its many bronze artifacts the people made. The Zhou people perfected their art of bronze casting during the warring states period (475—221 B.C.) through the lost-wax casting technique. By following these few steps you too will be able to create bronze casting as the Zhou had by using the lost-wax casting technique.

Step 1

The first step in the lost–wax casting is to select and make a model of it out of wax, clay, or other materials. Wax or oil based materials are best suited for the model.

Step 2

A mold is then created of the selected item. The mold is made up of two parts the inner and the outer mold. The outer mold is more rigid and tough then the inner mold and could be made from plaster or fiber glass. The inner mold is softer and is created out of latex rubber or silicone and is supported by the outer layer.

Step 3

Once done with creating the mold of the object, the next step is to align the inside other the mold with wax. There are two ways that this can be done. First you could poor molten wax inside the mold until the desired thickness is set on the mold. From there the excess wax is poor out and the mold is left upside down for the wax to cool and harden. By doing this you loses more control over the thickness of the wax though. The second way is to fill the mold with molten wax then swish around the wax till it evenly lines the mold usually around 1/8 of an inch or 3mm

Step 4

The hollow was coating is then removed from the mold. The wax copy is then chased: a heated metal tool used to rub away the marks of the parting line. The wax is then dressed to hide imperfections and should end up looking like the finished product.

Step 5

The wax is then sprued with a treelike structure wax allowing the molten casting material to flow in and allow excess air to escape. A wax cup is connected to the top and various wax cylinders connect it to various points on the wax model.

Step 6

The wax copy is then dipped into a slurry of silica, then into a sand like stucco or crystallized grain silica. The product is then left to dry and is repeated till there at-least 1/2 inch of coating. The bigger the object is though the thicker the coating needs to be. The inside is the only part that doesn't have to be coated. The coating is called the ceramic shell mold material.

Step 7

The model should now consist of the wax model covered by the ceramic shell. The model then has to be placed in a kiln standing on the cup. The wax should melt away leaving the a hollow ceramic shell., and a hollow cup and cylindrical tubes.

Step 8

The shell is taken out of the kiln and placed in a tub of sand. The metal is then melted and then is carefully poured into the shell. If the shell isn't heated then the temperature difference would cause the shell to shatter. When the shell is full with the molten metal, the shell is allowed to cool.

Step 9

When the shell is finished cooling and the metal is solid, the shell can be hammered away leaving the metal product. Like the wax model, the metal needs to be chased in order to get rid of any imperfections.

Sources

<hppt://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost-wax_casting> <hppt://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Zhou/zhou-tech.html>

About The Author

Trevor Nakata was born in the United States and has traveled around the world through the military. Through schooling he had learned different types of information and through that has written books on things he has learned or discovered. He plans to write more stories including fiction and How To Guides.

The Zhou dynasty perfected there casting techniques by using the lost–wax process. Now you also can cast metal by following these few simple steps.