Monday, May 20, 2013

it's all about the mold














Here is a brand new mold and the first mold I tried and abused.  That pour I did in my makeshift brick oven took over an hour to finally melt the silver. I have done about 15 more pours with mold #1 and it is just about finished.   All that pressure from the torch really eats away the graphite.  I have added a "pressure shield" to the mix and with a 5 minute melt time in the mini micro, I'm getting much less mold degradation.  I think I can get at least 30 ingots out of a mold now.  Did 14 in total today.  I was reluctant to pursue this venture using propane when I discovered the big solar lens couldn't do the job until I figured out that one 20 lb load of gas is way more than enough to do 100 ingots  The Ben'n'Bud Feed Fundraiser will officially start in about 2 weeks.   88,101,65,0,C,.25  

5 comments:

Wm. Pugh said...

"Two Thumbs Up" Try some Mapp gas

Rita B. said...

oh boy! waiting patiently.

Unknown said...

Really interesting. You must be pleased. Please keep us updated.

Unknown said...

Try to not breath too much zinc fumes on the first pressure shield run..

Allen Hare said...

That's a lot of production, man!
Looking forward to getting a couple of those ingots.