Understanding The Metal Casting Process in a Better Way

Metal casting is basically what the name suggests. It is the process of melting down metal into a liquid state. The liquid metal is later poured into a cast and this cast allows the metal to cool down, thus creating the desired result of the intended mould or particular item they plan to make out of the metal. The finished product is sent off to be polished up and is ready for distribution.

The metal casting process is utilized for more “tailor-made” areas of manufacturing metal products that would generally cost a whole lot more if they were to be machine welded. A fine aspect of metal casting is that it has the potential to re-create a similar product with great ease and also, the products will be identical to one another.

Master Casting and Cad is a leading name when it comes to jewelry casting. They offer the best jewelry casting services in Chicago.

Let’s understand the metal casting process in a deep way

The most integral part of metal casting is the mould. It is essentially what the product will be. These moulds are built in a foundry. Manufacturers take their sketches, dimensions, and ideas for the mould to the foundry, where the moulds are constructed. These moulds are then sent off to the casters. They are put into a backup frame that has the cooling apparatus.

The melting down of the metal occurs in a very specific place in the foundry. When the mould is done and can be cast, casters move the liquefied metal over huge machines and equipment above the mould. This particular equipment helps the liquefied metal flow down into the cast. Such an equipment also keeps a check at the rate at which the liquid metal flows down into the cast.

The cooling equipment later cools the metal down and allow the metal to harden and gather a solid-state. The castings are finally removed and the product can now be cleaned. This extremely tough process is thus best left at the hands of experts who offer fine casting in Chicago.

Problems that occur in the metal casting process

Pollution is a serious problem today. In terms of metal casting, they also adversely affect the metal. If the metal, in a liquid state, is exposed to forms of pollution, this will lead to imperfections within the metal itself. Thus, when the metal is solidified it can create weak spots and when the cast is separated from the mould, the cast can break.

5 Tips to Consider Before Selecting a Jewelry Casting House

One of the greatest concern of the jeweler is to find an appropriate and efficient jewelry casting house to manufacture their jewelry pieces. Are you facing the same trouble? Are you wondering how to get in touch with the most effective casting experts to cast your jewelry items using different metals apart from gold and platinum?

Well, finding a jewelry casting house is not so difficult. In fact, there are thousands of companies who are noted for providing jewelry casting services in Chicago. However, finding the best among them is not so easy as it seems to. After a lot of discrepancies, you can come to a conclusion. But do you want that? We mean, is it really necessary to undergo such conflicting situation within yourself? We don’t think so. And therefore, we have presented some effective tips in this blog to select a perfect jewelry casting house.

Study their Casting Process: The very first question that you need to ask the casting expert is – “What about your casting process?”. The proper casting process includes wax model preparation, followed by investment, burnout process, melting, casting, and finally divesting. Do their process involves all these steps? The jewelry casting services that go through the mentioned steps can eventually create the most extraordinary jewelry pieces as per the clients’ demand.
Well, being a jeweler or jewelry designer, you even have the option to cast your own jewelry. But in that case, you would have to undergo such a time-consuming and complicated process that in turn distracts you from the core job. Hence it is always effective to rely on a casting house that actually simplifies the job and even are responsible for creating unique pieces without going through such tedious casting process.

Learn about their Reputation: As said earlier, hundreds of casting experts are hailing offline. But you need to find one that is well-reputed and is recognized as the leading jewelry casting house in the heart of Chicago. To learn about their reputation, going through the testimonials or reading the Google ratings and feedbacks will give you an overall view about the company.

Learn about the jewelry casting services: Other than casting jewelry, are they expertized in other services? If not, eliminate them. You can’t look for other jewelry experts to tailor those needs. Instead, you must look for a one-stop solution. Find a casting house where you can cast all your jewelry items and simultaneously can trust them for jewelry repair services. By other services we mean, services that include remounting, reconstructing, stone replacement, restoration, refinishing, and different types of stone setting. If they agree on all these, say “yes” to them.

Metals they work with: Next, you must be confirmed with the metals they work with. There are plenty of platinum and gold casting house, but are they efficient enough to work with other metals like silver, palladium, steel or any other metals? Confirm this before offering them your work. You just can’t trust anyone to cast your jewelry items using different other metals.

Technology that they use: Finally, it is the technology. The more advanced will be the technology, the more quality will be the outcome. Don’t go for the companies who use the traditional way to cast jewelry pieces. Select the casting house that offers CAD printing and design services to their clients. With this technology, the most accurate 3D models are developed that mirrored the thoughts and concepts of the designer. Such techniques produce more effective results.

Can you call your jewelry casting house perfect? Are you satisfied with the jewelry pieces created by your casting experts? If not then you must follow the above-mentioned guidelines to find the perfect jewelry casting services in Chicago.

Several jewelry casting houses like Master Casting and CAD are available in the heart of Chicago. You may accomplish your goal of hiring their services.

Understanding The Various Metal Casting Molds

Metal casting is a process that is utilized in a wide array of manufacturing plants for creating the parts necessary to build components. The creation of production parts may sound simple. However, the reality is totally different from this. It takes a great amount of knowledge and skill set to manufacture the parts properly.

In general terms, the metal casting process involves pouring a molten metallic substance into a mold to cast particular parts. The framework may be made of metallic, sand or ceramic components and is quite often a complicated geometric shape. The most common substances used for casting parts are magnesium, zinc, iron, aluminum, copper, steel, etc.

The different mold designs

Mainly there are two kinds of designs: open and closed. An open mold is a cup, like an apparatus and is in the shape of the desired part. After the liquid is poured into the container, it is then left open to the environment during the cooling process. There is no “top” to the structure. Although it is an important kind of design, it is seldom utilized for manufacturing quality parts.

The other kind of design is known by the name of the closed mold. This design is known for its delivery system that will allow you to pour the liquid into the structure. However, the liquid is not exposed to the elements amidst the cooling process. These frameworks are utilized in part manufacturing.

Some other designs

The top professionals like Master Casting and Cad make sure they use the suitable best mold design to facilitate their jewelry designing work and satisfy their customers. Also, there is another design that is used only in special cases. It goes by the name of the core. A lot of parts require an internal geometric pattern and this where it comes into the picture.

During the metal casting process, this core stays within the structure. They may be supported by chaplets to prevent shifting or moving. One can locate the top Platinum and Gold Casting House in major cities like Chicago and others. While making a metal casting structure, one can either go for an expendable or permanent frame. Each one of them has its own benefits.

So, one needs to be thoroughly skillful and possess the requisite knowledge to handle such work with care. This is why you should always leave the responsibility on the shoulders of the most professional people!

How Casting Differs from Forging?

Casting and Forging are the two ends of a string that never meets. Both of them are the industrial processes used for forming metals and shaping them. But not every process is fruitful for every condition. Let us define them individually.

By definition, casting is the industrial process in which metal is heated and melted properly without any lumps. In this molten state, the liquid metal is poured into a mold or a vessel to create the desired shape. This process is often used to cast gold, platinum, or any other precious metals to create jewelries, and even in forming other industrial parts like machine bed and so on. Recently tons of platinum and gold casting house has emerged in the city and every casting house use the same method to give a unique shape to their timeless creations.

In contrast to this, forging is used in industries to change the shape of different materials. It is basically an application of thermal and mechanical energy to steel billets or ingots that gives a new shape to the solid material.

Both casting and forging are applied on metals but the primary difference between the two industrial methods is that in casting the metal is absolutely converted into a liquid state with the application of heat while in forging high pressure is applied on the metal to give a desired shape,without any application of heat. Even if the metal is preheated in the second case, the metal is not converted into a liquid stage.

Let us create the differentiation in details.

Casting

What’s the use of Casting?

Casting, as said earlier, is the process used for a wide range of wearparts and components that are too large, complicated, intricate and obviously inappropriate for forging process. For example, custom made jewelry, these are something that is improbable with forging. Casting alloys such as gold or platinum excel only when the alloys are chosen carefully and heat is applied properly. Casting when done in proper methodical manner appear in high quality, strength, and wearability. Other than jewelries this process is even used in building industrial structural parts like lathe machine bed, IC engine components etc.

In addition to this, forging can only be possible for weights up to 50Kgs. But when it comes to large items, it is always beneficial to choose the alternative. Here we have listed down some benefits associated with the process of casting.

Why the above-mentioned industries use Casting?

  1. Platinum and Gold Casting House use this process for attaining high accuracy in their designs.
  2. Casting form very large structures that weigh high.
  3. With the help of Casting, complex and unsymmetrical structures can be made seamlessly.

Forging

What’s the use of Forging?

Forging converts metal into its desired shape without melting it completely. The metal is heated below the recrystallization temperature so that it won’t get melted properly. Different types of forging are used in different industries. For example, rolling, pressing, wire drawing etc. Here are the two primary reasons why forging is used in every mechanical industry.

Advantages of Forging

  1. Forging compared to Casting creates more complex and stronger products.
  2. The resultant product of forging possesses high impact or tensile strength relative to the products formed using the casting process.
  3. If you talk about the fatigue strength, forged products have more than the cast products.

In comparison to forging, casting involves high lead time, thus is costlier than forging. It even requires a secondary fishing operation.

Casting and forging are two different industrial methods used to shape metals. The former one is used for custom made jewelry while the later one is used to shape different mechanical instruments.

Hence it can be concluded that if there is any need of making a structure mechanically strong without even spending on expensive alloys, then forging is the best process. Otherwise, for low strength, complicated parts, it is always casting that works as an alternative.

Hope now it won’t be confusing for you.

Re-use Your Old Gold and Re-cast Your Jewelry – How?

Gold jewelries no matter how old they are, they remain gold, a metal that is quite expensive in nature. These old gold jewelries may no longer be appreciated by you, but you will never dare to throw them into dustbin just like your custom jewelries. After all, they are of gold. Isn’t it? But keeping them is of no use.

So, are you planning to do something with your outdated jewelry or the jewelry that is broken into parts? Maybe you can reuse them by creating a new piece with some new design, something that is more versatile, something that is contemporary.

Recasting a piece of jewelry is one of the best ideas in order to reuse the old gold you have. However, not every jeweler or not every platinum and gold casting house takes the responsibility of recasting them. Thorough research on this is indeed necessary to create the best as you desire.

Re-casting Gold Jewelry

In the process of re-casting gold jewelries, old gold pieces of jewelries are completely melted down to create something new. Hence, if you do not have an emotional attachment with the jewelry piece you won’t mind to damage your jewelry and create something extraordinary, something based on the latest trend.

Emotional attachments are like – maybe it is your engagement ring gifted by your beloved. Maybe it is a pendant gifted by your grandmother. Maybe it is a broken pair of earrings that has a special moment attached to it. Reasons can be any. Make sure it won’t get over your plan of recasting old jewelries and having a custom made jewelry.

In general, recasting doesn’t cost less with respect to buying a new piece of jewelry. Sounds disappointing. But that’s the fact. It is often found that the old jewelries are all made of 14k or 18k of gold, biggest downfall in its purity as they are mixed with several other alloys. Hence, when the gold pieces are melted, only a few percentages of gold is restored. As a consequence, a lot more is added to give it the desired shape and create an enticing golden piece for you. Costlier, but worthy.

Are you looking for custom jewelers in your area? Chicago possesses a large scale of platinum and gold casting house and among them, there are many who serve your purpose. They will create the best according to your desire and in the end, will cost you a price depending on the jewelry customized.

However, there are some things that you have to consider before reaching a custom jeweler.

  1. Know the reason why you want to re-make your old gold. Since a lot of memories remain attached to the old gold jewelries, it is necessary that you won’t take any step that goes against your desire.
  2. Learn about the re-casting process. Learn about the metals they will use to create the new gold piece. Ensure whether the gold they will incorporate is original or not. Research on the particular casting house is required to create the best piece.
  3. Negotiate the prices. Proper market research on gold value is an absolute requirement to perform this job.
  4. Don’t just rely on the jeweler at your first visit. Research about the company, research the market before heading your task.

Instead of overloading your jewelry wardrobe with broken or outdated pieces, re-using old jewelries by re-casting them makes a real sense. This is of course, not for everyone. Those who are likely to recast their jewelries can simply rely on the platinum and gold casting house in Chicago and accomplish their desire.