Successfully Casting a Pewter Hood Ornament!

[@PeteRondeau]

See the carnival ride restoration from the beginning here: kzbin.info/aero/PL9JRE2uksm9tonX17TZt38K6RH2EnDNf1

[@ITZGR82BFREE]

A small bench vise would be a great addition to your work station.

[@Iamnot4Sure]

Wow Pete that casting looks sooo nice … wish I could buy one from you …. But I am looking forward on the next step on this restoration project….

[@PeteRondeau]

Thanks! looking forward to getting on to another part of this project.

[@bartbart1011]

Great Job, one of the better videos on casting !!

[@Rottingboards]

Wow, that really came out nice. Inspiration

[@edwardhovitz1753]

You did it! Stuck with that casting - nice job

[@johnyoungquist6540]

Congratulations!! fantastic job.

[@PeteRondeau]

Thank you very much! and thanks for watching!

[@deltajohnny]

It looks awesome!! 😍😍😍

[@DIYGene]

Absolutely beautiful my friend!! Great work.

[@PeteRondeau]

Thanks Gene!

[@stevemullens7937]

I've tried pewter casting using Mold Max 60 and got mixed results as well. I usually use Mold Star 16 Fast and get similar results. Usually bad. At least I can have the mold ready in a couple of hours. I can't get 1/20 the volume of the torpedo to cast without divots and voids no matter the venting. My melt pot has no temperature display, perhaps I should get a different one. For future projects, with pewter, you can repair a small pit here and there with solder. Just a drop proud of the surface and file it down. One more thing. You will want to do some kind of protective coating because pewter will eventually turn grey and need to be polished again. It can be chromed. Nice result, I'm more than a little jealous of you and the Danbury Mint!

[@rickhiggins]

Looks great! And also looks like a lot of work. LOL! Can't wait to see this ride come together.

[@PeteRondeau]

Thanks Rick, you and me both!

[@janmcguire5268]

Wow, that’s wonderful!

[@PeteRondeau]

Thank you!

[@revgro]

Looks great. That's a great solution to the problem. I would be interested in seeing how the nickel plating turns out. Thanks for the video.

[@PeteRondeau]

Thanks, I'm really pleased with how it came out.. I do have everything on hand to plate them so eventually I expect curiosity will get to me and I will give it a try. Thanks for watching!

[@SixRoundsStudio]

What a cool project! Nicely done.

[@PeteRondeau]

Thank you sir!

[@JLT_MEDIA]

loving this project and following along. Thank you for sharing it with us can't wait for the next one

[@PeteRondeau]

Thanks for watching!

[@beachboardfan9544]

Have you seen the magma software? I'm sure theres an opensource version, might help with predicting the pour success of your casting/molds.

[@عمارمنصور-ن7ن]

عمل رائع ، لقد تابعنا قناتك ، هل يمكن لاصابع سلكون زجاج السيارات ان يكون قالب ييكب فيه الالمنيوم ، لعدم وحود سلكون حراري وشكرا

[@yusufalqamar1691]

Amazing

[@PeteRondeau]

Thanks

[@BobOBob]

I know these were hard to source, do you suppose there's any more demand? Now that you've got a process, you could make another batch. Also, after nickel plate, you could send out for chrome (as I understand it the solutions necessary for chrome are prohibitively dangerous).

[@PeteRondeau]

If there was a demand for them, I suspect it would be in the auto or motorcycle community. I've seen a lot of rocket ride pictures but nobody puts these on them anymore.

[@jamesward5721]

Not done much casting myself - a little - but I used contract into a place that made medical castings that had to be absolutely perfect - they used the lost wax process exclusively - their version was hugely posh - they basically had a "Replicator" machine that would spit out a cast copy of anything you put into it - staff used take the mickey by casting coins... lots of coins.. cough - but anyway, lost wax would allow you to cast each piece as an individual without all the sprue grief & with much higher definition. :-)

[@edgotbait]

I know the video was a year ago but if you tossed those parts in a vibrating tumbler with crushed walnut shells and Nu-Finish once a year car polish poured in and let it run for a day or 2 it would come out GREAT !!!

[@btomas225]

I use a rather large pottery kiln for metal casting (it has a PID controller I installed to it) and it does indeed get expensive when I'm pouring

[@c5kev]

Just watched your nail powder vid. That's a VERY nice finish! How do you think it compares (in person) to the pewter finish? Maybe try a real buffing wheel on them before doing the nickel?

[@PeteRondeau]

The pewter finish is substantially better. You can just keep polishing and polishing. But, it substantially more expensive for this application. each hood ornament requires about a pound of pewter and the low melt stuff I'm using (Lead free Britania alloy) costs about $35 a pound. You could probably make half a dozen urethane castings for that price.

[@scottwooster4102]

Wow! Is that lead free? Is that metal strong enough?

[@PeteRondeau]

Yes it’s a type of pewter called Britannia metal. A mixture of tin, antimony and copper. It’s plenty strong.

[@giampieromr3622]

Great job Pete!! I'm about to cast in pewter, did you use those pewter britannia bars from the link or ingots? there was size reduction (shrink) against the original? Thanks! Jim

[@PeteRondeau]

I used both. The bars fit in the furnace easier. You just stand them in the crucible and the furnace eats it. The ingots are a bit cheaper but I have to slice them in order to fit in the crucible. But you certainly don’t need the furnace to to do the job. Pewter can melt on a stove. I didn’t notice any substantial shrinkage but I didn’t specifically measure for it. Good luck!

[@giampieromr3622]

@@PeteRondeau Thanks Pete! I will move forward in mine Cadi restoration using your video like a guideline!! The hood ornament is broken, so I will glue it back again with some epoxi, do a silicone mold, cast a new one in pewter and I will chrome or nikel plate it. Again, thanks a lot!

[@giampieromr3622]

@@PeteRondeau Thanks Pete! How many pounds of the Mold Max 60 silicone did you use, all the silicone box, more than one box?.

[@PeteRondeau]

Just a single kit of what they call the pint unit but it took every bit of it. 1/2 for the top of the mold and the remainder for the bottom.

[@giampieromr3622]

​@@PeteRondeau OK! with your data and advices you can not imagine how much you are helping me Pete, reducing time and mistakes, I'm really appreciated!!

[@neighsmitty]

Are you going to be selling this ride when you complete the rebuild or will you hang on to it, reason I’m asking is cause I’m looking to purchase a ride

[@PeteRondeau]

I don't really know what the long term plans will be. For the short term we will be keeping it and running it around here.

[@Driessens_Peter]

hold it against a buffingwheel, then you create a mirrorfinish

[@miltonjohnson4345]

Is the ride done

[@PeteRondeau]

No I just released a new installment of the project.

[@Jsellers1965]

Don't break off your sprues you can damage your casting, just snip them off with some flat snips.

[@tarstarkusz]

It seems to me this was really cost ineffective. Between all the mold max, all the pewter, the oven, the original emblem you bought. You gotta be close to a 100 dollars per.

[@PeteRondeau]

it was expensive but cost effective. Probably closer to $75 each compared to trying to find 5 matching ornaments (almost impossible) at around $150 each.

[@mevk1]

why not us original metal -zinc? plaster molds also much cheaper and takes higher zinc temps easily.@@PeteRondeau

[@billydonnelly7378]

Just goto thrift stores an collect pounds of pewter for cheap

[@freednighthawk]

Dude you need a better saw. Get a good jewelers saw, seriously.

[@PeteRondeau]

LOL I got one shortly after recording this.