About the matt wax gun

Hey,
I'm thinking of getting a Matt wax gun so I might add a complex sprue
manifold to a thin wax model prior to burnout.
I worry that wax thusly extruded won't stick to my wax model (castaldo
orange wax). No help from the vendor.
Does anyone know if it'll work?. It's not the cheapest thing to just try
out, but it would save time if it works.

PW

On Thu, 20 Jul 2006 08:14:41 -0700, in rec.crafts.jewelry "Paul WIlson"
wrote:

Hey,
I'm thinking of getting a Matt wax gun so I might add a complex sprue
manifold to a thin wax model prior to burnout.
I worry that wax thusly extruded won't stick to my wax model (castaldo
orange wax). No help from the vendor.
Does anyone know if it'll work?. It's not the cheapest thing to just try
out, but it would save time if it works.

PW


I'd guess you'd be better off with standard extruded wax sprue wires, and a good
detail sized wax pen to join them. Just my 2 cents...

The matt gun extrudes wax similar to carving wax. That means higher temp
melting point, and somewhat slow to solidify. The high surface tension of these
waxes is why the gun is able to extrude nice round wire, but the process is
better suited to extruding it over a flat surface like a table. Extruding out
over air works too, but one must work slower. And the wax is not really molten
much beyond right near the tip, so wouldn't stick well to a model unless you
were literally using the gun's nozzle as a wax pen to adhere the starting
extrusiion. That's not likely to give you the most precise delicate sprue
attachments. And finally, the gun works best extruding pretty small diameter
wire, not the somewhat heavier guages usually used for sprues.

It's biggest strength, in my view is the ability to produce nice wax wire made
of the more durable carving wax types, rather than the somewhat soft dental wax
wire types. For some uses, that's very helpful. But as a traditional wax pen
for build up over air, frankly I prefer the old "drip" style wax pens that do
this with traditional wax pen waxes.

Peter