Zamak12 available in SMALLER INGOTS at https://www.rotometals.com/zamak-za-12-mini-ingots-pack-of-12-1lb-each-free-shipping/,
Want me to personally teach you how to use all of it and make whatever you want in metal?  Click here: https://paulsmakeracademy.mykajabi.com/joinus

Ask your doctor is Zamak™️  is right for you.

Historical note for the bronze spear, the lines were likely not cast in, but instead cold worked in to provide edge retention.

Alot of the bad press about zamak alloys comes from the fact that companies realize it's strength and fluidity, so they cast stuff out of it that is extremely thin to the point that it almost becomes brittle, so in use, it ends up breaking and the bad press comes from that. I said to leave it in the sand a little longer because most people tend to think it chills instantly, but doing thicker parts, it tends to stay fluid for quite a while unlike aluminum and feeds from risers/feeders, and if you opened it with a larger part, you may end up with a casting that isnt fully solid and things may just break off into a crumbly mess or at best, just warp. With the half nuts I poured in ZA12 for my lathe, it took close to an hour to cool down, but I had poured it into a hot investment mold too (which you will get a better finish from a cool mold). Some people just get excited and cant help themselves from just opening the mold right away after pouring instead letting it sit and fully solidify, lol. Gingery lathe bed is a good one of those examples, you want at least an hour or two for that casting to solidify or it will really warp badly.

In Poland, due to low quality and brittleness of many parts made from alloys like that, we call it "gównolit" which means somehing like "s*itlyte" or just "s*it material" :D

My father was an aerospace engineer in Los Angeles starting around 1950. One of his first jobs was with a company that made specialty metal castings for commercial purposes. This job made him VERY popular with Hollywood's starlet-wannabes. All he has to do was give them his business card with the company name on it -- Commercial Casting -- and he was in like Flynn.

In the industry I worked in we called it pot metal. Motor casings and gear reducers that were made of zinc alloys never held up especially well. Now for door knobs and certain other items not under a lot of stress, it is fine.

Also worth checking out EZAC (a newer Zinc Alloy of 88% Zinc, 5% Copper, 7% Al - Melts at 412c and Cast between 425-455).  Harder than Zamak 12 with much better creep resistance.

My lathe uses Zamak for the change gears. While they do wear faster than steel gears the original set is still going strong since being cast in 1953.

Zamak is used to make the slides of Hi-Point pistols too.

If it hasn't been melted down yet, it might be worth breaking it to see the whatever grain structure or whatever it forms internally.  If it's going in the melt pile, that's a great excuse for all kinds of destructive testing.

Had a gig welding galvanized steel for a bit. Even with a respirator and controlled breathing, there was low-grade ache and weakness everywhere.
The guy who took over only lasted four days before going to hospital. I have it on good authority that zinc poisoning really sucks.

be careful with the amount of parting dust you put on with that if its reproducing that kind of detail from the sand grains.  I had an issue with some super fine petrobond that I made for high quality finishes and it was reproducing the parting dust in my final castings, when I blew most of it off before casting the sandy texture was gone and I got WAY better surface finish.  took me a long time to figure that out...

Zinc alloys in general are super easy to cast, certain alloys have zero shrinkage, and they take details excellently. At one factory we used a lot (LOT) of zinc castings for anything that had to be more wear resistant than plastic, relatively precise as-cast, and didn't have to be particularly strong. It was possible with investment casting to get this stuff within +- .003" dimensionally, which is better than most students in their first year of machinist school. For light duty parts this stuff is great.

Youtube suggested me one of your videos for some reason, and I couldn't be happier. I do exactly 0 metalworking, but your enthusiasm and animated style of presenting are absolutely infectious. Looking forward to videos of your future projects!

"Zincpest" is due to traces of lead being present in the alloy.  So if you are going to do Zinc alloy castings, make sure that your use material with a known source and composition.  MTRs are highly recommended for these alloys.

This type of material is excellent for lost wax casting.  Essentially make your part out of wax, dip it repeatedly in a plaster of paris slurry to build up the mold, add additional mold material to add strength, then bake in an oven to melt out the wax.  The amount of surface details and finish is absolutely amazing.

This reminds me of the Simpsons when they showed a film reel, "A World Without Zinc."

"COME BACK ZINC, COME BACK!"

7:48 Curie Point (or temperature) is where magnetized materials permanently lose their magnetism, think your molten zamac meets that.

Zamak, also know in the UK as ' Mazak', colloquially known as 'mystery metal' or 'monkey metal'.

Lead acetate was used to sweeten cheap wine. Acetate is vinegar acid (technically the conjugate base) so simply put elemental lead or lead oxide (white pigment) into vinegar then let the water fraction evaporate.