How Jewel-Craft discovered the root of a casting problem by going backward
By Tina Wojtkielo Snyder
Editor’s Note: Jewelry casters are trained to look for potential problem areas in a casting—sections that go abruptly from thick to thin, sharp-edged cutouts, microscopic intricate details. But sometimes, casting challenges aren’t so obvious. They masquerade as ordinary straightforward CAD designs that you should be able to cast in your sleep, but then give you nightmares when your standard operating procedure yields unacceptable results. Suddenly, visions of porous castings and ghastly no-fills haunt you.
A design riddled with undercuts and sharp little details just screams casting nightmare the moment the CAD file shows up. But sometimes even the most straightforward looking designs can cause real headaches for the caster.