#792 Sprue, Shell, Burn-out, Cast, Metal Pour, and Removing Shell - Grizzly 399

 

The sprewed wax panel is heavily incrusted in a thick, hardened 

ceramic shell and ready for the next step, which is the wax burn-out.

The shells are put in a furnace. The wax is melted or "lost" as it escapes and drains away.

The French name cire perdue or "lost wax" bronze casting derives its name from this step in the process.

Below, notice the spout or trough that emerges from the furnace: As the wax begins to melt inside the ceramic shell, it drips out into a bucket and momentarily catches fire.

During the wax burn-out, the ceramic shell which encases the sprewed wax panel is put in a furnace. The wax is melted or "lost" as it escapes and drains away.

Below, notice the spout or trough that emerges from the furnace: As the wax begins to melt inside the ceramic shell, it drips out into a bucket and momentarily catches fire.

The empty ceramic shells have been returned to the furnace to heat up while bronze ingots are melted in a crucible. The temperature of the liquid bronze must reach 2180 degrees before it is ready to pour.

The heated and glowing ceramic shells, devoid of wax, are removed from the furnace, then placed and stabilized in a sand pit . . . the bronze pour begins.

Below, molten bronze is poured into the ceramic shell, filling the space vacated by
the wax as the centuries old cire perdue or "lost wax" bronze casting process continues.

The ceramic shell, filled with bronze, has cooled, is broken off with a hammer and removed from the solidified bronze.