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Rammed my rammed graphite mold against a ceramic one last week. Night and day.
I had to cast a batch of stainless steel fittings for a local shop in Pittsburgh and decided to try ceramic molds instead of my usual rammed graphite. The ceramic ones held up way better at the high temps we run for stainless, over 2800 degrees. No cracking, no thermal shock issues at all. The surface finish came out smoother too, less grinding time afterwards. Downside is they cost about twice as much per mold and take longer to preheat. But for production runs where you need consistent results, ceramic is the clear winner in my book. Has anyone else switched materials and seen a big difference in your pour quality?
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jamierodriguez3mo ago
Oh man, I gotta push back a little on the preheat thing. Ceramic molds do take longer to get up to temp, sure, but you can absolutely stack them in the kiln while you're prepping your melt and it barely adds any time to your total workflow. I switched to ceramic for my aluminum bronze pours and the difference in surface finish was night and day, like you said. The graphite ones always left these weird little pitted spots I had to grind out, but ceramic gives me a mirror finish right out of the mold. I do miss how cheap graphite is for one-off parts though.
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willow2443mo ago
You ever try stacking them wet... or do you dry them first?
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