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Care of the
platinumware
Crucibles and molds should be considered an integral part of your fusion machine.
As such, care must be taken to ensure that they are free from leftover flux,
molten or in powder. If need be, you can use hot 20% HCl (and proper
precautions) to clean them overnight.
It is also important that the crucible's and mold's interior surfaces be kept
polished, to ensure a smooth melt pour, easy bead removal and good analytical
results. A very fine diamond paste with a rotary tool fitted with a soft felt or cotton
tip makes for a simple in-house polishing method.
Finally, crucibles and molds are quite fragile and can distort over time. Re-shape
these items without delay to restore their original dimensions.
With proper care and fusion method, a crucible a be expected to last for several
hundred fusions, while molds typically last longer.
Crucible
installation
Once the crucibles are filled with the proper components, they can be installed in
the fluxer holder, one at a time.
To install a crucible:
IMPORTANT: While it is recommended to remove the crucibles for weighing,
some users prefer to leave them in place and transfer the powder from a vial
into the crucibles. In all cases, make sure that the crucible external walls are
clean before re-installing them in their holder, and make sure that no flux has
spilled.
1.
Simply tilt its top towards the furnace and insert the crucible into its
holder, between the top bar and front bar.
2.
Once the crucible is "inside" the holder, it can be rotated back to its
natural straight-up stance.
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