I sent this as a private message to Donnie J and Wizard. I don't mind sharing, as I really want to use what I do for educational purposes. This is a crash course in wax making. These also contain various acceptable ranges of the components. And of course
http://www.richardslaboratories.com/ind ... ndard-form I can't stress enough Mr. Richards website.
Always remember safety Fist Have heavy gloves, or chemical resistant gloves when making hydrated alumina. Safety glasses are important. Have a fire extinguisher handy, (if you need to use a fire extiquisher, a lid must be put on, or when it gets oxygen it will re-ignite if over the flash point, 288 C about 550 it will catch afire The soap making portion does get up to 270C or 518F.) and make sure you have a sturdy lid and covers for all openings on the vessel that you make the compound in Usually covering the vessel, if on fire, and putting a metal weight over it, will smother the fire and it will be out, NEVER make the compound in an open shallow container, It will catch on fire, (experience speaks) always use something with high sides, and narrow a coffe pot, a high sided cast iron kettle (make a heavy gauge custom lid) . It can and will catch on fire sometime, so be prepared. NEVER leave the compound when working on it, out of your sight, you should be in arms distance of it at all times! Do not make less than 300 grams of compound, the smaller the batch the harder to control the temperature. When molding cylinders, clean the mold, well so wax does not drip off and catch on fire, in the oven or pre-heating apparatus.
The soap portion
stearic acid 93.173 % (408 grams)
sodium hydroxide 6.5% (29 grams)
Aluminum .327% (1.45 grams AL)
Ceresin, paraffin, or beeswax, or montan wax may be used to temper the wax, as a moisture proof, and The percentage is an added amount. Paraffin, is 19.5% as found in Ediphone cylinders, Ceresin 12.9-18.4%, the softer the stearic the less ceresin or paraffin wax.
The percentages can be used for any qty of metallic soap.
First off in a stainless steel medium sauce pan, put in 16 oz of distilled water (if making triple, then increase only 32 oz, and triple additions of hydrated alumina from Richards, oz portion sheet and use a larger container. Tje)
heat the water until it is warm, and steaming a little but not boiling, and add the sodium hydroxide carefully, it will boil and act violently so be careful. Next (I use Reynolds Wrap aluminum foil in the proportion and weight stated) You can change the hardness of the soap by using anything from .25-.50 % and yes that is one quarter to one half of one percent, I find that from .3-.48% yields good wax, if you want to fine tune your compound you can experiment with this range. Rip the aluminum in small strips, adding a little at at time to the solution it will dissolve it, and you will see a silver, green tinge to the solution, very slight. The fumes at this point are bad, so used a mask, or do this outside. You can do it without heating if you want as the sodium hydroxide heats the solution too, I heat it for my use, Mr. Richards does not heat it. Next, while still warm, you need to start filtering the solution, I filter it through 2 coffee filter 3 times the first day, and let it set overnight, and then filter two more times. Wear gloves the solution has sodium hydroxide and thus caustic. Next add ¾ of your stearic acid, and heat it to 190C and follow Mr. Richards, addition sheet, adjust the proportions to the amount of wax you want to make. You should make this outside, and in a tall, pot like an old aluminum coffee pot.
http://www.richardslaboratories.com/ind ... ndard-form You will have to make a similar standard form, or use Mr. Richards amounts of components. The above are from Edison/Aylsworth useful data formula from circa 1893.
Adjust this data sheet to your proportions, and follow the times. If you change proportions to more, about 2 minutes more time will be OK, per addition. When you add the solution to the stearic, it climbs up the side of the vessel, and foams like root beer. The next addition is made when the solution reaches the desired temperature, and mostly ceases to have bubbles and is in a placid state, the adding causes the temperature to go down, and then it comes up, to the target temperature, maintain it, until bubbles cease, and then add the next portion of solution. It repeats, thus the temp going down and coming up the the desired temp, bubbles ceasing and adding more solution. You must make sure your container is able to take 3 times the capacity that you want to make, as the wax expands 3 times the amount of the wax, as it is "foaming Off" . You slowly increase the heat as you go, however most of it is the natural tendency of the wax. Adding the last of the solution, the wax is dark, and somewhat like syrup in consistency. If at the end is some bubbles and not fully quiescent it is ok, as when the 10 minute stearic cook in is added, it will absorb the bubbles and be quiescent It will be runny, and flow nicely when finished, just near the congealing point it may be jell like and stretchy, before it becomes hard. What I do differently than Mr. Richards is I let the soap portion of the wax cool overnight, and then heat the soap up to 220 C and carefully melt the ceresin separately until it is just melted, and pour it into the soap portion. I cook it for 10 minutes, and then shut the wax off. I heat it after it is stone cold once more to 232C (450) for 10 minutes, and shut heat off, and then the wax is ready so two conditions on the soap portion and one condition on the temper portion.
Ceresin should have a melt point of 130-140 F , and proportions from 12-19% is good, 17.4 is good for triple pressed animal tallow stearic, and 18.2% good for triple pressed palm stearic.
Remember wax making is dangerous, and the compound can and at times will catch fire, especially after the bubbles have dissipated, as it no longer has water for the lower temperature, so careful temperature control is a must.
My mold core is 7.5" long for the usable taper (8" total), with a ½" knurled top portion. The bottom of the core is 1.7005" diameter and 1.9155" is the top diameter of my mold before the knob at the very top with the knob it is 1.938" .030 is the depth of the spiral that transverses the mold core, it is a double start, right handed ½ thread per inch helix. The taper faces down. It screws into the base that has a raised portion of 1/32 of an inch. If you do not have spirals in the core, I suggest extending the taper ½" more at the small end. My mold tube is 7" long, however I would suggest putting a t handle on top of the mold, and extending the tube above the mandrel, to lessen further bubbles. I pre heat the mold at 375F and pour in the wax at 450F or (232), my mold is all steel and that is how it works. Lots of problems arise in making wax, such as stars, crystals and streaks, most of the time, a gentle re melt of the wax cures this problem, and a low humidity is good. Sometimes 1% or thereabouts addition of free stearic, can correct the problem (melted in at 232 C), if it is over saponified. MR. Richards in his website has also directions for scrap wax, recondition steps.
Some formulas
Batch Similar to Chuck Richards Oils Fats and Waxes handbook by Friar and Weston.
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.89097688915
Another formula.
266.6122502499632 grams stearic acid
21.0 grams lye
0.734711678347276 grams aluminum
58.0 grams of ceresin for 17.4 % ceresin.
799.8367507498896 G Stearic acid for triple batch
63.0 G Lye
2.204135035041828 G Aluminum
174.0 G ceresin
1039.040885784931 Total batch weight
16oz water is 473.176 ml of water
Molding, My mold is heated for 1 hour (it is steel some days 350 works and other time 375. The wax is poured in at 232C or 450 F. It takes different times to pull the core, 70 minutes is usual for my mold, and on colder days 65 minutes. At 450 pre heat (it makes my spirals drippy in my mold, but should not be a problem in a smooth bore) it would take 90 minutes roughly to remove the core. Again more data on RL website for more in depth.