Prestige Optima Investment

[eg123]

What you see at the bottom right is where the sprue was attached.

I feel that Prestige Optima is good for resin castings and when casting many things also come into play,
like making sure to fully cure the resin and putting the sprue according to the model.

From now on, all my Resin casting will be done with Prestige Optima and wax models with Plasticast.

[Gtg330]

I also use the optima and really like it for these resins not perfect results on all pieces but Im forced to reuse gold so that does not help on getting perfect result Im also playing around with my burnout parameters.

[MobiusJewelryDesign]

Just bought the optima investment....what do you guys recommend for the burn out cycle? They have a optima has a 7 hour @1500 degrees as a recommend burn out time....I originally did a 3hr at 1400. Thoughts?

[eg123]

MobiusJewelryDesign
If the 3 hours at 1400 has worked for you then stick to the same burnout.
That is the burn out that has worked very well for me even on heavy shank rings.

[Jewelermdt]

I have not changed my burn out with the Optima either.

[MobiusJewelryDesign]

First try with Optima. I casted this pendant for some time now and gave tried to get it right. In this case, I did exactly as was instructed by the company itself. I did use old silver and there are only a couple of voids and a lot of porosity. After filing the back, I saw that most of the letters were pretty much well formed. The front letters had a lot of deterioration but again old silver, but no voids I'll buy new silver today and try it again.
I also have two rings in the oven now that I'll cast soon, I'll post on what those look like as well. Any advice or recommendations would be most welcome.
@archerm - Mark could you pretty please post some pics of this piece for me that you casted
@jewelersmdt - could you share your burnout cycle with me

Thank you all

[eg123]

MobiusJewelryDesign
One thing that may help is by making either 2 sprues or making a wider sprue, like in the picture.
I have found that for pendants this is what works for me.

The other thing is by putting it closer to the button.

[rsaldivar]

I see you keep trying to cast this , I assume its not a rush , I would age it , grow one cure it , then let it sit for 2 weeks , then try casting it , Iv suggested to you to use plat investment but you say you don't want too , I believe the walls are too thin in this case because of the fonts which is why I say binder investment ,

you should have some for these hard jobs , not for all but sometimes you need it , Also if you really want to be able to cast anything you grow and are willing to put more time into it , (which over all would be only a little more time ) buy this for all those super thin (fonts) and super thick ( heavy class rings...) https://www.stuller.com/products/54-580 ... SiteSearch , make no mistake the resin is expensive , but compare that to you repeating casting the same piece and loss of jobs due to time management , that's why this is only good for those hard jobs . this resin is cast friendly because wasn't designed for growing so only formulated for bubble removal and extremely ease of casting , that's all . If you are a resin caster , this should be part of your arsenal because of those hard jobs , and you can cast silv , gold , and plat. with it too .

take the time to watch this , I see your several attempts and this is my way of helping you

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fhrg5HjBXzg

https://www.stuller.com/video/watch/55787/

[rsaldivar]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6A1zOciXPDo

[rkundla]

Does the Prestige investment give you a longer working time than the Plasticast?

Looking at the directions on Stuller's website, it seems you are spending more time mixing and vacuuming the Optima compared to Plasticast.