Pewter Casting

Pewter Casting would be a great activity for pupils in Year 8 or 9, which could be taught over 3 lessons. One lesson could be teaching them what it is, and how it is used in industry, and depending on ability of the pupils, in that same lesson, a quick 2D Design drawing could be drawn, and this could go into the next lesson too. The following lesson could be adding final touches to the deisgns in CAD, and then milling them, and those who have a higher ability and finish quickly could then pour their pewter with heavy supervision from either the teacher or a technician, and those who aren't as quick to the mark could pour the following lesson, whilst those who haev already poured theirs could polish it with wet and dry or file it down.

An example of Pewter Cast jewellery.

The use of CNC Routing would be useful to Year 8's and 9's, as it is introducing them to more machinery, and therefore when they have future design projects, they know that this machine is an option. This gains them another skill in the workshop, and is the step before the Laser Cutter, a machine sometimes used at GCSE and A-Level, and heavily in industry, so this gives them the foundation of knowledge they need for the next pieces of knowledge.

Although at first the students would need help on how to make a mould for pewter casting (e.g. how to make the channel down the the shape, or why contours have to be used), it is something which is easy to grasp, and the more well-able students may be able to repeat the process in the future without much difficulty; this is because 2D Design is a package aimed at schools and simplicity, so pupils can understand it.

For students in Year 9 who are considering Design Technology GCSE, this task can provide vital skills needed at the next level, and skills which will then be improved on. Therefore, it is essential they learn about this process or similar processes, to set them up for later qualifications in this subject.

The whole process once the mould is made is very quick. The pewter is heated overa flame (carried out by teacher or technician), and the pupil would pour it down a channel they would have included in the 2D Design, and sanded in a pour-hole. This is down relatively slowly, so when the mould has been filled, the student can stop when it is complete. This is removed with little effort (sometimes by tapping against the edge of the table) and removed. The pupil making this would be wearing gloves during the whole pouring process, and would take the pewter part to cold water and cool it down. the top is snapped off (where the channel and pour-hole was) and any stubs left can be lightly filed off without much difficulty.


After the process is complete, it is essential to make the product look more presentable. This is done by rubbing the product on different grades of Wet and Dry, or using Steel Wool. On my pewter cast product, i used 320 Grade Wet and Dry and moved to Steel Wool. This was because the product was only 2mm thin, so wasn't easy to move over the surface of a wet and dry board. The Steel Wool took a long time to do, but the result was well worth it, as the product has no dents from the MDF chips, and much less scratches and imperfections.