CASTALOT question

[suds]

Greetings All!

The UPS man brought me a bag of CASTALOT yesterday. I've never used it so I'm not sure what to expect.

Question:
One of the first things I'd like to take a casting from is a piece of machined aluminum. Will the Castalot release from "hard" objects like aluminum as long as there is no undercutting and a little bit of draft, or do I need to use something soft like rubber or wax that will either melt out or that can "give" a little to release?

If I can cast directly from the aluminum piece, should I coat it with anything to help facilitate release?

I've read the little bit of instructions that came with the stuff but I'd appreciate any words of advise or warning from folks who are familiar with it before I make a big mess.


Thanks!




Steve

[S.TImmerman]

Here is a pdf on castalot:

http://www.jessieblackmer.com/uploads/1 ... ctions.pdf

And here:

http://www.castalot.com/Castalot-Instructions2013.pdf

And here:

http://www.warm-glass.co.uk/castalot-ca ... -2627.html

[Buttercup]

[quote="suds"]Greetings All!

The UPS man brought me a bag of CASTALOT yesterday.

Damn. We don't have the UPS man here. Is he a bit like Santa?

[JestersBaubles]

Damn. We don't have the UPS man here. Is he a bit like Santa?

He is. He rides in a big brown truck, rather than a sleigh. He rings the doorbell, drops the package, and off he runs back to the big brown truck. Hard to catch sight of him (just like Santa).

My favorite, however, is the Lift Gate Guy. He brings wonderful goodies like new kilns and boxes and boxes of glass. It's great fun (until you get the bill)

Dana

[suds]

S.Timmerman, thanks for the links. I've already read those and still have a few questions, but I think it's time to just start experimenting see how it goes.

Heh, the UPS man is BETTER than Santa, because UPS will bring presents for the naughty children too.

I like Lift Gate Guy a lot but Lift Gate Guy doesn't always like me.
We live on a very narrow twisty road out in the middle of nowhere and since the road is so narrow and treacherous the freight companies always send the biggest truck that money can buy.
When my air compressor was delivered Lift Gate Guy showed up in a big rig with a 40' trailer which is pretty much equivalent to sailing a 1000 foot cruise ship up the Colorado river. The poor guy was big eyes & white knuckles when he got here and when I told him he had to go another 2 miles up the road to turn his rig around I thought he was gonna cry.
I always tell the freight companies that the road is narrow and difficult and they never fail to send the most inappropriate truck they have. C'est le vie...

[Morganica]

I had a lift gate guy who DID cry. He was delivering a roomful of equipment to my garage, but I lived on top of a big hill just outside Baaaaston. It had a half-mile gravel driveway, perpendicular and pretty much straight up from this little country road. 40-foot drop and no guardrail off to the right and a granite cliff on the left. No way was that truck getting up that hill. (In the winter, I had to get a quarter-mile headstart in the cul-de-sac across from me to work up enough momentum to get to the top).

I'd told the freight company about it but they evidently thought I was kidding. He wound up parking his truck in a nearby cul-de-sac (much to the fury of my neighbors) and pushing each piece sloooooooowly up the hill by handtruck. Took most of the afternoon. He got the biggest piece about a quarter of the way up the hill, hit a big chunk of gravel and the whole thing slid down to the bottom. He plopped down on his butt, in the middle of the street, and sobbed.

I felt so bad I gave him a fifth of really nice scotch by way of apology. He didn't say a word, just took it and drove off.

[suds]

I'd told the freight company about it but they evidently thought I was kidding. He wound up parking his truck in a nearby cul-de-sac (much to the fury of my neighbors) and pushing each piece sloooooooowly up the hill by handtruck. Took most of the afternoon. He got the biggest piece about a quarter of the way up the hill, hit a big chunk of gravel and the whole thing slid down to the bottom. He plopped down on his butt, in the middle of the street, and sobbed.

I felt so bad I gave him a fifth of really nice scotch by way of apology. He didn't say a word, just took it and drove off.

Heh... poor guy.
It was nice of you to give him the scotch though! He probably finished 1/2 of it by the time he got back to the highway.