CASTING:
Commercial Casting
This web page describes the processes used to produce figures commercially.
| Michael R. Childers (michaelc@flash.net) |
|---|
| Commercial production of gaming figures is done with a centrifugal
caster. A centrifugal caster is essentially a motor with the shaft
pointing up & down. The mold, which is circular, sits on top of the shaft
and is spun during the casting process. The molten metal is poured into
the center of the mold and the spinning forces the metal outward into the
figure cavities.
To make the mold, the figure is first sculpted in wax. Then the wax figure is used to make a rubber mold. A bronze master figure is then cast in that mold. This bronze master is then used to make the mold for the centrifugal caster. The molds for the centrifugal caster are rather large. You can get multiple figures in the mold. How many depends on the exact size mold that you use. My info is wildly out of date, but used centifugal casters used to cost c. US$2,000. For info on casting, I would check out jewelry manufacturing web pages. The techniques are basically derived from cast jewelry production processes. |
| Last Updates | |
|---|---|
| 22 February 1997 | page first published |
| Comments or corrections? | |