< WAXWORKING SUMMARY
WAXWORKING KEYWORDS
WAX ASSEMBLY: A wax pattern complete with it’s casting attachments (runners, risers, cup etc).
BLENDING: The combining of different wax types and non-wax additives to create a wax product with optimum working properties.
CIRE PERDU: (Fr.) Lost Wax. Also sometimes referred to as the ‘Cera de Formare’ (It.), ‘Renaissance’, and ‘Cinquecento’ (It), method.
CONTRACTION: A reduction in volume of material upon cooling or setting (typical of wax, metal, rubber etc).
CORE: A refractory mass contained within an investment (or sand) mould – enables a hollow cast to be created.
CORE PIN: Device for securing a core mass to the outer investment mould.
CORE PRINTS: In the lost wax process: core prints are patches of wax cut out of a design to expose a portion of underlying core, enabling the core to be keyed into and directly fixed to the outer investment mould (see also SAND CASTING).
DE-MOULDING: The stripping down of a reproduction mould and its case to remove a moulded master pattern, or later on, a wax pattern copy.
DE-WAX: Evacuation of the wax pattern and attachments contained in an investment mould, usually during a kiln burn-out.
DOG: A simple ‘U’ clamp used for fixing reproduction mould cases in position.
EDITION: The absolute number of cast copies based on an original master pattern (excluding artist’s copies).
FOUNDRY STAMP: Metal stamp for raising the founders mark on wax patterns.
HEAD: Upper part of a wax assembly or investment mould, usually includes bunched runners, pouring cup and riser outlets.
INVESTMENT: Refractory material used to form outer investment moulds and cores.
INVESTMENT MOULD: The outer refractory mould surrounding the wax assembly. Allows the wax assembly to be burnt off and replaced with a cast metal alloy.
LIQUIDUS: (Lat.) Liquid. Scientific term for a substance in a liquid state of matter.
MOULD CAVITY: In reproduction moulds: the internal volume within a rubber mould. In investment moulds: the internal air gap created by the evacuation of the wax pattern and assembly – later replaced with metal.
PLASTICISER: A material added to product (wax) to render it more plastic and pliable.
POROSITY: Casting fault typically caused by trapped gases locked in freezing metal, also a feature of metal contraction.
POURING CUP: A reservoir/entrance at the ‘head’ of a runner system into which the molten charge is dispensed. Also known as gate, ingate, button, bevera etc.
PROVENANCE: The origin of an artwork, usually includes details of dates, artist’s name, foundry, and history of ownership etc.
RUNNERS: System of (usually wax) tubes from the cup to the wax pattern. These eventually become hollow channels in the investment mould, allowing the supply of molten metal into the mould cavity.
RUNNING SYSTEM: Combined network of cup, runners and risers etc. Two basic layouts: direct systems and indirect systems. Also known as the ‘sprue system’.
RISERS: System of wax tubes applied to a wax pattern that eventually become exit routes within an investment mould for venting gases and displaced air. ‘Blind riser’: a short blank riser not exiting directly out of the mould. ‘Looped riser’: a short wax loop connecting an isolated overhang back into the main wax pattern.
SLUSHING: The technique of building up hollow wax wall thickness by partially filling a reproduction mould with molten wax, and then rotating to deposit an evenly distributed wall thickness.
SOFT VENTING: Venting an investment mould with nylon tubing in a settable sand case.
SOLIDUS: Lat.) Solid. Scientific term for a substance in a solid state of matter.
TRANSITION: An intermediate condition between the solidus and liquidus.
WAX BURNOUT: Removal of wax from an investment mould by flame or electrical heating (also de-wax).
WAX PATTERN: A wax copy of the master pattern, obtained via a reproduction mould or by direct modelling (for lost pattern casting).
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