Any of your folks know of good places to get investment casting equipment? I'm mainly looking to get stuff so that I can work with Stainless Steel (melting point of about 1650C/2700F). I've done aluminum casting down at Tech Shop in Durham, but they only do Sand casting with aluminum melted in a propane tank powered furnace.

The Bossman wants me to get a furnace that will melt stainless, but its hard to find one that is under $5000. Got any used equipment leads for stuff like this? Any other suggestions would be great too.

The investment side of it is not a problem including the pattern burnout, just need help melting the stainless.

7/27/2009 4:00:19 PM

In all reality, I don't see getting a furnace to melt stainless for investments for very cheap at all due to its rather high melt temp.

Now, if you possess a certain amount of ingenuity, building a properly designed vortex furnace won't be all that difficult. The burner and air induction aren't really the hard part; finding a suitable refractory clay for the interior and lid IS. Plenty of sources online for information on this. You'll need a good crucible and fluxing/degassing materials as well. These are really what make the difference with quality casting. I'd say that, if you want to maintain the original qualities of the material, there are specific conditions to which you MUST adhere, as lots of factors can determine the end result...cooling rate, nucleation during cooling, etc. Your solid solution may vary considerably, giving you VERY different results. You working mainly with austenitic, martensitic, or ferritic stainless?

What kind of volume are you looking for?

7/27/2009 4:51:05 PM

now i remember why material science sucked

7/27/2009 4:58:33 PM

Probably going to work with the Austenitic stainless, more specifically 316 or 304. Looking for something along the medical grade line of Stainless. Volume will be relatively low. Pours may involve ~5 cubic inches of material at a time (which includes parts/sprues/tree).

In regard to the furnace, we really want something to accurately control the temp of the metal. How well can the temp be controlled in a clay air induction furnace?

7/27/2009 5:25:54 PM

why not 409 stainless? its easier to work with

8/4/2009 11:44:59 AM

Looking more for surgical grade steel to make medical prototypes. 316/316L has great resistance to corrosion and it is typically what is used in food grade products and impants. Now it is just the problem of finding a good supplier of 316/316L pellets for melting. Any recommendations of suppliers?

8/5/2009 11:59:26 AM

prostetic testicles?

8/6/2009 9:12:31 PM

must you use pellets? why not recycled scrap - ability to handle the stock?

8/6/2009 9:18:30 PM

more so for the cert. of compliance for the metal used. most places can provide that. most scrap yards probably can't

8/6/2009 10:00:53 PM

i guess so


we use some 316L every now and again, is the reason why i asked

8/6/2009 10:10:08 PM

mcmaster carr would be a good start for stock

8/8/2009 6:32:16 PM