Does anyone know of a good place to get some gold for a ring? A friend asked me to make them a simple gold ring, and I figured that I’d see if anyone here had a good source.
Also, on a related note, does anyone know there will be a ring making class soon?
i hear there’s gold in them there hills…
Pawn shop…
Coin shows.
Out of curiosity, how do I know or calculate the volume of a pennyweight of 24k or 14k(pink) gold?
I know a pennyweight of gold is about 1.55 grams, but I’m not sure how much I’d need to make a ring.
I heard there’s more gold in a cell phone than in…
Re calculating volume of dwt of gold
Not offhand. I usually buy wire (I do wire jewelry mostly). But know that Rio carries range of metals in various forms. Wire, sheet, strip, casting grain, etc
These folks might could offer more direction. They do casting and metalsmithing and buy more of this type of metal
@Kati
@Terrence
@purpleporpoise
@nausser915
@MossAgate
As Jeannie mentioned, Rio Grande is a good source for materials. You should be able to find pre-alloyed materials i.e. 14K rose gold ready to use in a variety of forms. If you wish to alloy your own gold, Rio has a calculator on their website for that too. The amount of gold needed will depend on a variety of factors including the method of production (casting vs fabrication).
Otherwise, I believe @dataguy has a class on the calendar that might help get you started. If you can’t wait for that or if it’s full, PM me and I can help you.
This will be cast with molten casting grains and a mold made from the castable resin in the form2 printer. Since it’s a pure element or an alloy of 2 elements (and i don’t know about things like oxidation if that happens) I imagine knowing the mass would allow me to calculate the total volume I could cast per pennyweight… But I don’t know how to do that… I don’t know how to do anything but print the model, actually. Don’t even know fusion360 yet.
I’ll have to attend a class sometime.
Oh shoot. I was supposed to attend a class last night and I completely forgot!!!
@kyrithia Talk said my email reply encountered an error and didn’t post. I was gonna say “Great idea! I was considering trying it in silver first. Though, I must ask, is it possible to recast metal?”
the gold shouldn’t oxidize or react. If I’m remembering my chemistry correctly, gold is fairly chemically inert. I’m planning on doing a few test runs in aluminium, does anyone here know if there’s any issues with that? Google is not forthcoming.
For superior and consistent results, it is usually recommended that at least 50% of your gold is fresh/clean media. Although anything is possible, your results may vary when using scrap over and over. And as previously mentioned, a test run in silver maybe a good idea. The JSM department is set up to cast in bronze, silver, gold, and platinum. Aluminum is not supported. Hope this helps.
Well, @hardsuit used to run the little aluminum foundry for us. When I took Industrial Processes, the prof heated the aluminum and poured it into our sand molds. I remember it bubbling when molten, but that was long ago.
Aluminum doesn’t cast the same as gold or silver. Casting with it won’t really prepare you for casting higher temperature metals. Silver would be much better. Yes, it’s much more expensive but casting grain from Rio Grande jewelry supply costs about $20/troy ounce so it isn’t that terrible. You can afford an ounce or two. Anything you make a mistake can be sold as scrap silver and you’ll get part of your money back. If you think that’s too expensive you can cast bronze. It’s more like $20/ lb. It’s harder to cast, though, as it has a much higher melting point and needs to be fluxed to prevent it having oxides that ruin the cast.
would casting brass work as a rough practice? I know that i can flux that with boric acid, and it’s relatively easy to get a hold of for free/cheap
Casting brass is a no-no here at DMS due to the zinc content. We aren’t set up to deal with the hazard potentials.
that is actually really good to kn ow for several unrelated projects that i had planned. thanks for the heads up
Zinc is the cause of hazardous fumes in brass since the melting point of copper is higher than the boiling point of zinc. Bronze is castable and is a good substitute for brass.
Be sure to get the ring size of your friend first.
You can 3D print a design after you confirm the finger diameter.
Bring your printed design to this class so you can get it on a casting tree:
https://calendar.dallasmakerspace.org/events/view/8190
Take the class to learn how to use the induction furnace with the graphite crucibles:
https://calendar.dallasmakerspace.org/events/view/8192
Take some of the other classes on Thursday, October 25th and you will be prepared to complete the entire process.
We will cover sourcing gold and cleaning it up for casting in the classes listed above.
My desire for DSM jewelry is to get every artist proficient in the technical / engineering side of this craft through a series of classes.
See you soon…