Casting loss in jewellery manufacturing
Casting loss is the share of poured metal that does not end up in the finished piece. It covers the sprue and button, flashing at the parting line, and the metal removed by filing and polishing. It is why a finished ring weighs less than the metal a caster had to melt.
3D Jewelry Designer1 min read
Where the metal goes
A cast ring is not the only thing that comes out of a flask. Metal also solidifies in the sprue and button that fed the mould, as flashing where the mould halves met, and as filings and polishing residue once the piece is cleaned up.
Most of that metal is recoverable. Sprues and buttons are usually refined and reused, so casting loss is a cost and a workflow question rather than metal that disappears.
Why it matters for a quote
Two different weights sit behind every cast piece. The finished weight is what the customer receives and what a retail price is usually built on. The poured weight is what the workshop has to supply, and it is the larger of the two.
Quoting the finished weight while buying the poured weight is a quiet, repeatable margin leak.
How it relates to the model volume
A CAD model gives the finished volume, so a weight derived from it is a finished weight. Casting loss is applied on top of that, as an allowance a workshop sets from its own experience rather than a figure that can be read off the model.
See also: how to calculate gold weight from a 3D model.
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