Lost Wax Casting is known as Cire Perdue in French. It is aprocess in which an artists sculpture is used to cast bronze. The Lost WaxCasting method is also known as Investment Casting in the modern industrial world. This is a veryancient method used for casting small bronze sculptures, but today it is usedto make many different artifacts and the process varies from foundry tofoundry. Today this developed method of Lost Wax Casting is used to makearticles like fine jewelery, show pieces, dental restoration, a few specificindustrial parts and also some machine tools.
Process of LostWax Casting:
Rough Sculptormaking: A creative artist makes an original sculptor or mold or anartwork by using raw material like wax, plaster of Paris or clay. A mixture ofoil based clay and wax is preferred as these materials retain their softness.
Final Mold Making:A mold is then made as per the original sculptor. The mold is made upof two pieces and a key with shim is placed between the two pieces duringconstruction so the mold can be put accurately back together. Molds aregenerally made using plaster or fiberglass or any other material that may besuitable. An inner mold of latex or vinyl or silicone is put pup preserve the detailsof the original art work. Generally, the original art work made of plaster moldcracks and breaks during the initial phase of deconstruction. Many a times,numerable molds are required to get the exact replica of the original art work.
Filling up themold: Once the latex and plaster mold is complete and finished, moltenwax is poured into the mold till it gets an even coating all around the mold.The thickness of the wax coating is around 1/8 inch. This process is thenrepeated until the desired thickness is achieved.
Removal of waxreplica: The hollow wax replica of the original art work is thenremoved from the mold. The original mold can be used for making more waxreplicas, but due to the wear and tear of the original mold the reuse of themold is limited.
Softening: Eachwax mold is then chased or softened using heated metal tools. The metal toolsare rubbed around portions that show cracks or the joining line of the mold,where the pieces have come together. Separately molded wax pieces are thenheated and attached. The finished mold is then dressed in order to hide anyimperfections. The final piece then looks like a bronze sculpture.
Making paths formolten bronze: It is also known as spuring, in short the wax copy isthen branched with treelike wax, so that the molten bronze reaches the rightparts and also it helps the air to escape. The critical and careful die casting factory spuringbegins from the top of the wax copy. The top of the copy is attached to by waxcylinders to different points on the wax copy.