how do you make gold teeth? what kind of plaster do you need?Will i need a kiln or something to melt the gold. Im a novice. Any and all advice would help. Thanks
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im not talking about permanet(sp) gold teeth,im talking about the pullout gold teeth, that you use some kind of mold to form your teeth and the dip it in melted gold to have it resemble your regular teeth?any help please.. thanks
Gold teeth are made by casting the same way jewelry is formed. A wax model(s) is attached to a wax sprue and that fits into a rubber base for a stainless steel flask. (A round cylinder) The cylinder is filled with a special ceramic slip and then vacuumed to remove any air. The slip (called, "the investment"), is allowed to harden and then the rubber base is removed.
The flask is then placed into a kiln and burned out so that the ceramic slip hardens and the wax first melts and then burns completely out, leaving a cavity in the investment material.
The flask containing the investment is heated in stages to around 1950F, and then allowed to cool to around 1100F. When the flask is at the proper temperature, gold is melted in a crucible and the flask is placed into a vacuum or centrifugal casting device.
If a vacuum device, the gold is poured from the crucible into the sprue hole and the vacuum pulls it into the cavity. If the casting device is centrifugal, the trigger is released when the gold is the proper temperature and the device spins around. The molten gold leaves the crucible and is forced into the cavity by centrifugal force.
After casting, the gold will turn red and then a dirty yellow/bronze color. When the button has chilled, the flask and all are tossed into a vat of water. The hot flask (actually around 950F when charged with gold) will cause the water to react violently, boiling most of the investment out of the flask. When the flask has cooled, the button, sprue and cast gold tooth (or any other object) is removed and the firescale (Selinium) is removed. Once clean, it is milled to final shape, step-polished and then fitted to the base of the tooth it replaced.
If you dip anything into molten gold, even a large mass, the gold will cling in clumps to the object if the object is a noble metal. Gold will not adhere to iron and most steels or to carbon rods which is what we use to remove any impurities in the melt.Diping any object into molten gold will not result in an even, plated layer.
If the tooth is to be a "pullout" and I assume you mean a partial plate or a bridge, then the gold is soldered to the wire retaining armature. If you have loads of money, you could file and mill a gold grain pellet or chunk down to make what you want. At today's prices, you may want to save the filings. Most dental gold is 22karat. "Karat" is a term used to measure the percentage of gold in an alloy. 24K is pure gold or 99.99 fine, 12K is 50% gold and so on. Government standards allow for a bit of variance, and if I recal correctly, 14K is between 58 and 62 per cent gold in alloy, usually silver. White gold is gold and nickle. Only 5% nickle content will turn the gold alloy white.
How do I know this? I make jewelry too.....but the only teeth I have molds for are sharks. The mere sum of around $2,500.00 will set you up with a complete gold casting kit, kiln, and all....cheaper if you shop around. Up to $100k if you don't worry about money.
where do you buy the equipment from casting kit,kiln etc..for gold teeth and or where online to look?
Cur
who would have thought so much would go into makeing a tooth.
Nice post I learned something today.
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Rod Rock
Thanks for the help,i really appreciate your response.
Rio Grande.........www.riogrande.com
And Grobet.........Don't have a web address for them
Both are suppliers of tools and equipment for jewelers. Grobet is more on the professional level, Rio Grande is both professional and hobby supplier. Both companies sell complete centrifugal and vacuum casting equipment for gold, silver, bronze.
My current Rio Grande catalogue lists a complete vacuum casting system, with vacuum table, casting well, flasks, rings, melter, kiln and all for $1.939.00, FOB Alburquerque, NM......
My Vacuum system is by Grobet, and was bought by single components at considerably more. A friend who makes jewelry has the Rio System and it is a lot of equipment for the money. It will handle flasks up to 3" dia and 4"deep. My system will handle flasks to 7" dia and 10" deep, which means I can do a reasonable sized bronze figurine in a single throw, rather than doing it in sections to be welded.
I will never have enough money to buy all the gold my system would throw in a single shot....it will handle up to 5 kilograms (11 pounds of the yellow crap...LOL).....
If you tree up teeth on the Rio system, it would probably cast around fifty per shot....that is a mouthfull for an opossum,almost, much less a mere human....
What cur didn't press enough is, like any other skill it is learned; just good equipment will not get the job done. Your ability is half the job.
When playing with gold, Mistakes can get costly.
I use a spin caster and more than once have spun an ounce of gold all over my shop; now that makes for a bad day and a wasted one at best.