>>904939
> Places like rio grande are super expensive

Hate to break it to you, but that's what the price of gold is. Everywhere. Including scrap.

They overprice stuff to be more precise. I am not saying I want to buy it for 5$ or something, I just want a place with fair prices.

>>904939
How do you plan on making the mould for the casting? And do you plan to set any stones in the ring?

I have been thinking about this exact same idea for a while now but do not know where to get gold from at all let alone somewhere that is cheap. Also have no plan on how to make mould or whether I plan to set stones. Still a pipe dream at this stage but if yours goes well maybe I will revisit my idea

I haven't decided on the stones yet. But if I do decide to set some in, I will probably by high quality semi precious stones. Setting them is hard, but if you are careful its totally possible. There is a lot of reading about that I found online. I am using a 3d printer for mould creation - its by far the simplest and most accurate way. It seems like there is no way to buy gold without paying 17-25% than the market value.

17-25% more than market val
ue

>>904939
Jeweler fag here. Work a lot in silver, and occasionally in gold when requested.

Riogrande is about the best price you're going to get for small quantities of casting grain online. Whether youre getting their 24k or 14k grades, you're not going to get much cheaper considering the effort involved to save a few dollars.

Alternatively you could try a pawn shop, but they're going to be priced at least about double their melt value, and thus higher priced than Rio.

Personally as a jewelerfag I bought a large bar of .9999 fine to make my own casting grain. I make the various karats myself by mixing the right ratios of gold silver and copper for the grade and color requested.

For the sake of it, run the spot price through google:
"1081.75$/troy ounce in $/dwt" results in a spot price of $54.09 per pennyweight.

$54.09 / 24 * 14 = $31.55 for a pennyweight of 14k. Which, they are selling for $37.74. Which is a typical markup for resale of raw materials.

>>904974
Thats the typical markup you're going to pay for small quantities of raw metals.

They aren't running a charity, and they aren't staffed by volunteers. It costs money to make grain, weigh it, package it, keep the lights on, pay the bills, pay the employees, and so on.

If you were buying a 100ozt bar of gold you would pay much much closer to spot for the weight

There is no such thing as "scrap gold"

>>904939
>Having 0 experience

Why do these guys want to do stuff they know shit about, then want to nickle and dime it.

You want a special ring, have a goldsmith make it for you, it will look better, feel better, and be cheaper than buying all the tools to try to make it, maybe failing two or three times.

You can always say you "designed" it.

>>905841
exactly, to cast you need vermiculite or something that will hold up to the temps, an oven to cure the mold in (not one you cook in because that shit stinks). a centrifuge so your casting doesn't have air pockets, at least beeswax is cheap, just buy a toilet ring.

if OP plans on using sand/sawdust molds like foundry's use, he will throw money away just trying to make it smooth and shiny.

also not to mention that casts have a hardness of 1, unless its work hardened that thing will bend all to shit with everyday tasks.

OP do what this guy said and find a goldsmith, some really aren't that expensive and you'll only pay $100 for labor and the rest will be materials.

if you came to me, for the cheapest option i would just have you pick out of a catalog of my supplier of a ring that you want and buy the casting a 1.5 smaller (there abouts depends on how big the ring is) so i can enlarge it which also work hardens it so it doesn't bend easy, polish it and set the stone. if you wanted a custom ring that wasn't to extravagant that could be made with gold wire and draw plates and a mandrill, but that takes time and a experience, which doesn't come cheap.

also as others have said you will pay a markup on the gold for its current value, just because i still have stock i bought when it was $360 on oz doesn't mean i will sell it at that price as i can't replace it at that cost, plus you have to secure it. what ever shape you bought your gold at, it cost money to get it into that shape, whether its wire, pellets or a cast.

>>904998
you are mistaken. electronics are sometimes scrapped for the gold content.

>>904972
You may, MAY be able to get it for closer to market value by going to a cash 4 gold type place and buying a ring or earrings or something under the table for cash.
Since it's pretty much no work for the guy there (since you're showing up), and those places are notorious for giving the sellers less than scrap value for their gold, they'll make a profit and you'll pay less for the gold. So they buy it from people at 70% of gold prices, you buy it from them at 90% of gold prices, which is about a 30% markup.
Even a pawn shop may be willing to give you a deal closer to scrap if you tell them what it's for and are willing to take ugly/broken jewelry. Make the point that this way they don't have to sell it to be melted down and pay shipping etc. and STILL get less than the gold price of a foundry (because everyone needs profit).

Of course, the risk is having to deal with gold that's in ring form instead of already melted down, which is more difficult/different to cast.