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Imagemaker Arts & Collectibles
Bronze Foundry
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The process of wax burnout and meltout, begins with a serious fire (about 1800 deg.f.) . The shells are lowered into the extreme temperature and held for about 30 seconds or more depending on the shell thickness. This assures that the wax will begin melting before it has a chance to swell from a slower heat source. The wax's center being further inbound, remains cooler for a few extra seconds and allows the outer layer of wax to flash melt.
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The flashed shell is then hung into a wax meltout kiln operating a much lower temperature ( about 400 deg. F.) so that the wax will not burn. This process eliminates the air pollution from the burning petroleum, and also allows the founder to capture and re-use his wax. Note the catch pan at the bottom which is catching all the runout in water via a large and long funnel.
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This is an example of a shell, with wax removed, and mixed impurities in residence on the surfaces. We burn out the shells, at just short of 1600 degrees for about an hour. These temperatures are fairly critical to the strength of the shell, because the silica involved will be going through a vitrification stage (turning to a glasslike and more brittle, but stronger shell.
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Here you can see the results of a quality burnout. This empty and very clean shell may be vacuumed out or blown out with an air supply, to remove the small fragments of shell material that have broken away from the shell. With good planning, and all goes correctly, there won't be much. After the shell cools, you can patch small cracks, if they exist, and fill wax "pressure relief holes" if you have used them. After many hours of careful planning, we are ready to DO BRONZE! THE POUR
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Please E-Mail us or call us at 417-781-3446 for imformation about a free on site tour, or information about collecting our Bronze
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