Tool Talk: Kaya Cast Vacuum Review | Bonus Oil Change Walk Through 

Hi. Any info on where I can get those graphite rings for the seals. You are so right about rubber ones burning and leaving stinky red gunk. Any information would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks.

@@zodiacjewelry5073 Hi There at Zodiac jewellery, The Graphite rings for the casting seals are available on most jewellery supply places. Even ebay has a few I think. Do a bit of searching I am sure you will find them. An alternative as i have done for my manufacturing as I need several rings of different size and got sick of the red rings not lasting long at all , I made up some vulcanizing frames in 2 mm thick Aluminium plate suitable to mould these rings to the size I needed covered with heavy outer cover plates that are 10mm thick. I used some soft vulcanizing silicone rubber used for the production of spin casting moulds. I pull the rubber apart like modelling clay in small parts and press it into the ring frame and place it into the vulcanizer at 180 o C slowly increase the pressure on the frame to around 1000 psi or around the pressure you would use for an average injection mould and let it sit for 40 min . carefully remove the outer cover plates and frame and you should have a good ring of rubber for the top of the vacumm chamber . better than the red ones , I get around 10 to 15 uses out of these in house made ones. if not more. I have a spin casting vulcanizer with large heating plates and can make about 5 rings at a time of different sizes, as i have made quite a few size frames. Regards John Dersch Ornamental Castings

I agree that the included tongs with the Kaya are real terrible and alone should be considered a safety hazard. I made my own tongs when I still have access to a blacksmith shop for work. If you know anyone doing that sort of work in your area and can make tongs, it shouldn't be a hard job. I'm afraid the only other recommendation I can make is for Neutec tongs on Rio or the Arbe Adjustable Flask Tongs, but neither are priced affordably in my opinion.

We purchased ours more locally at European Designs. I would look for them at a local jewellery supplier as they will be likely to stock "consumable" items such as gaskets.

Unless your adapter plate is warped or has a defect Im not sure why it wouldn't be working. You do need to apply pressure to your flask to initiate the vacuum seal though.

@@ClearMindJewellery Thanks so much! I actually spoke with Arbe Machines and they sent me out some replacement gaskets. That did the trick. I think the ones that came with the machine were "dry", as they were a little more stiff.

Ambiant moisture can affect the equipment. Would be best to have them stowed in an out building (shed, garage) and then pull them out to use them.

We got ours from Napa auto. Any car or engine/machine store should have some “AC top cut vacuum oil”.

@@ClearMindJewellery thanks for the quick response 🤙🏾

It is a top cut oil made for air conditioning vacuum pumps. We got it at Napa Auto.

pepetools.com/a/s/products/kayacast-xl-professional-series-vacuum-casting-machine?aff=24

The hottest we go is probably around 530-550.C (1000.F). As were usually casting with the flask 800-1000.F below metal casting temp. Considering that your temp is higher then some investments recommend for max hold temp, what are you casting?

There is no reason why it can't work. We cast our Pavé stone setting practice rings using the Kaya. But you're going to have to know what your doing regarding resin choice, metal temp, etc and have a process for clean up.

We actually just got a different ventilation system. Quatro ductless ventilation

How much was it

@@jaystartwo8790 link in description

Middle of glass I believe. I think there is a marking on it to let you know (not at the studio right now to verify). You will need to run the machine, in our experience, before it will start to appear in the glass.

@@ClearMindJewellery Awesome!!

Its a top cut vacuum oil. We bought ours from Napa Auto.

You can see a direct comparison between the colour of the new oil and dirty oil at 10:19. You will be able so see the oil through the small viewing window on the left side of the machine. You should probably change it yearly at minimum. I am unsure how many casts we can do per gasket. Even though they don't look pretty long they last a surprising amount of time.

@@ClearMindJewellery My flask has to be at 1000 to 1,100 degrees and those silicone gaskets are clearly not taking it. Any better solution? Any info on graphite seal rings? Thanks.

It doesn’t vibrate it’s just the vacuum

@@ClearMindJewellery Почему не вибрирует? Там же стол для вибрации. Или ты выключил вибратор?

It's just a vacuum. There is no vibration option on this machine. It is a vacuum table not a vibration table.

Do you mean vigor? If so it’s an older model. If not then probably a knock off.

I have the same problem

We actually just got signed up as an affiliate with Pepe Tools today. The link is in the video description. They are an American retailer.

If it's coming from China, it's a counterfeit. I second Pepe Tools

There is a line in the window on the side to indicate how must to fill. The last time we filled the oil we over filled.

Top cut vacuum oil is the recommended. AC vacuum pump oil is a similar thing. You can get it at Princess Auto or on Amazon and in various other places.

Any auto shop should have the referenced flushing oil

We've never had to get inside the machine as its continued to work correctly for us since we got it. Sorry.

@@ClearMindJewellery thanks for the reply! I finally figured it out. Someone had opened the machine before and had connected the hoses wrong way. In vacuum release position, it was actually sucking air from the pump. Took me too long to figure it out. 🙂

It's a great 2 in 1 system for all levels of user. As long as you understood the basics we went over I would definitely recommend, that's why we let PepeTools use this video on their listing: pepetools.com/collections/casting-1/products/tabletop-vacuum-investing-and-casting-machine-system-arbe-kayacast?aff=24

That is strange. Ive never had investment solidify that quickly. Was the whole work time under 5 minutes? SRS does appear to have a quicker post mixing set at 2 hrs vs the 2-6 given by Optima or R&R. Wonder is they also have a faster working time.

@@ClearMindJewellery solved it. Changing to distilled water and with this vacuum one has to shake it while vacuuming. My previous vacuum had a shaking mechanism. That was comfortable.

@@ClearMindJewellery ohhh I tried your burnout cycle with x one. Didn’t work, I have no idea why

"Didn't work" as in? What did the casts end up looking like?

@@ClearMindJewellery type filled with silver. holes. broken parts.