Lost Wax Casting Question. If I am only casting 1 or 2 rings at a time, do I need a vacuum or centrifigul?

Question

machine? Could a strong magnet placed in the casting mold have a similar effect?

Answer 1

If it is a fairly open mold, maybe it will fill by gravity, but if you want a good, consistent fill, it must be centrifugal or vacuum. I don't think the cost of a small one would be prohibitive, maybe you could find one on EBay.

Answer 2

a magnet is not going to help you at all.
Only ferric metals are magnetic. Try putting a magnet to a bronze piece, it won't do a thing. I'd be very surprised if you are casting iron rings.
Secondly if I remember correctly, metals stop being magnetic when they are molten.
A creative idea though!

The idea of vacuum or centrifugal casting is that it helps the metal to run into narrow places. If you need it depends on the thickness of what you cast, not the amount.
For large pieces just gravity by itself works just fine. Small pieces may come out incomplete. If you don't use vacuum or centrifugal, make sure you have plenty of sprues and vents.

Depends how much work you spend on your waxes, if very little you could just try it out.

Answer 3

I rather doubt that a magnet would be strong enough to draw the metal down into the mold. If it were, then the only other consideration would be whether the metal was ferrous(iron-bearing). If it is not, a magnet will not affect it regardless.