Wax Carving Mandrel

Plastic prototype and machined steel wax carving mandrels.

This is the finished mandrel turned from 12L14 steel as well as the prototype that was 3D printed. The steel mandrel will hold the green wax (in the photo) that will be machined into a ring on the rotary 4th axis of the Taig CNC micro mill. A 1/4-20 thumb screw will be fitted into the end for drawing down the cap, acting as a clamp for the wax.

The wax is purchased in a tube with the center hole existing. The wax will be sliced in widths greater than the ring design I will be milling. Then the hole will be manually (by hand) increased to the proper ring size after carving.

That’s the plan. It should work well for thin rings that don’t need side machining detail. Such as wedding bands or rings with engraved designs just on the top surface.

I am now contemplating wax holder designs for other styles of rings, pendants, and charms. Perhaps small LWC figurines. I can utilize the 4th axis on the mill for indexed flip rotation as well as continuous 360 degree rotation.

Steel end cap bored out

DeskProto stopped producing their 123WaxRing system. So I may borrow some ideas from that process. Seems the problem may have been the special wax shapes required were expensive to produce in low volume. I will design around standard available wax shapes, or as I do now, utilize slices off larger stock (bulk) wax. I have already been doing that for years using Freemen Waxes.