Molding & Casting¶
This week I worked on molding & casting my own design. Knowing more about the process
Group Assignment¶
Research¶
Gypsum¶
Safety:
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Do not breathe dust or mists.
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Do not eat, drink or smoke while manually handling this product.
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Wash skin thoroughly after manually handling.
Process:
- Mix 1 part water to 1 part Gypsum. The end result should be a white liquid.
Work time:
- While it is completely liquid
Cure time: 6 - 12 hours
Material: Soap base¶
Safety:
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Do not touch the hot melted soap.
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Do not ingest. Melted soap can hurt if dripped or splashed on skin.
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DO NOT EAT IT! or let it contact with your eyes.
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Be sure to wear protective clothing when dealing with the melted soap
Process:
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Microwave it for 10 second with stirring until fully melted.
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Add Fragrance or Essential Oil & Color
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Stir the Melted Soap
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Pour it into the Mold
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Unmold the Soap
Cure time: 15 minutes
Epoxy¶
Safety:
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Put on safety protective equipment.
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Use a respirator with an organic vapor cartridge to protect yourself against epoxy vapors
Process:
Measure, with gloves on, pour 100A:33B MIX, stir it for 3 minutes. Scrape the sides and bottom. Once you put the resin and hardener you’ll have 45 minutes to the resin thickens and cures. POUR, after making sure your piece is level. Let the resin run over the edges and then just use a brush to tidy it up. In about 12 hours it will be dry to touch, and within 24 hours it will be 95% cured. It will be fully cured within 48 hours.
Work Time: 3 minutes
Mixed ratio: 100A:33B
Cure Time: 48 hours
Silicon A & B¶
Part A component contains vinyl functional silicones and the platinum catalyst, whereas Part B contains vinyl functional polymer, hydrogen-functional crosslinker, and cure inhibitor.
Safety
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Eye Contact: Rinse thoroughly with plenty of water, also under the eyelids. Call a physician immediately.
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Skin Contact: Wash with soap and water
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Ingestion: Clean mouth with water and drink plenty of water.
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Keep away from heat/sparks/open flames/hot surfaces, No smoking.
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Keep containers tightly closed in a dry, cool and well-ventilated place.
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Do not expose to temperatures exceeding 50 °C/122°F.
Process
Mix A and B together for 5 minutes. Then, pour the mixture into the mold.
Cure time: 24 hours
Work time: 30 minutes
Mix ratio : 1:1
Experiment¶
In this section we experiment two materials. You can refer to my teammate for more details
Individual Assignment¶
Design¶
First I designed through inkscape & Fusion360. my design was a simple logo token from certain anime.
I imported the chosen image to inkscape and then used tracing tool to get the 2D drawing out of it then I saved it as SVG file
Using Fusion Fusion360 I inserted the SVG file, extruded the sketch and done some editing to it to let it meet the design requirements of this week.
Milling¶
For Molding first I combine my design with my partner in same file to mill it at the same time. I used Tinker CAD
Milling machine
Then I import it to the app that supports the milling machine & started editing the settings before milling
The great thing is that this program can simulate your design to see the final outcome before milling it and what will the miller consider from design
Then you start adding the bit that you will use & make sure it is the one fixed to the splendor. if you will use two i.e. one for roughing & other for finishing you need to change it once roughing is done
Finally make sure the x, y, z axis are positioned in the right place in the middle of the part and for z axis it must be touching the part with no enough gap to insert a piece of paper
Final results after cleaning it from small wax flakes
Molding¶
For making the mold we used a special mixture of Glycerin, Gelatin and water and heat it until it melts then pour it on the milled part
After waiting for almost 24 hours mold is ready to be used
Casting¶
After mold is done we can use this mold to make the casting. Casting can be of different forms, I chose resin