Moulding & Casting

In this week we were introduced into molding and casting procedures and made our designs.

Moulding

Molding is the technique of sculpting liquid or malleable raw material using a rigid frame known as a mold or matrix. This might have been created using a pattern or model of the finished thing.


Casting

Casting is a manufacturing method that involves pouring a liquid material into a mold that has a hollow hole of the desired shape and then allowing it to harden. To finish the process, the solidified portion, also known as a casting, is expelled or broken out of the mold.

Group Work


In the group assignment; we were working in groups each used a different material. We reviewed the safety data sheets of each of our molding and casting materials and made and compared test casts with each of them.

The group expirements an be found here.

Dry Putty Gypsum Resin
Results
height=
height=
height=
Working Time
15 Minutes
5 Minutes
45 Minutes
Cure Time
2-4 Hours
5-15 Minutes
2-24 Hours (depending on the thickness and size of the project).
Comments
The gypsum is very easy to work with but you have to be careful while dealing with it after it dried because it might be damaged easily.
It is pretty easy to work with, and it cures pretty quickly too.
Resin is a really strong and simple material that still looks excellent when it's matte.

Our group worked with resin and this was the result:


- As it shows in the following; resin has some transparent feature in the presence of light:

Individual Work


In the individual work, I designed a 3D bike using Revit, extrude it and export it as stl file to edit it in Fusion 360 and prepare it for moulding phase.

- The design had to be:

  • 2.5D Design.
  • Smallest gap: 1.6 mm
  • Maximum height: 8 mm
  • Maximum length & width: 60 mm

1. Designing the bike: -


I imported the stl file in Fusion, to review the dimensions, reduce file size, ensure it is located on the 0 z-axis to avoid any errors.

Click to download the bike file!

2. Making the mould: -


SRM-20 Compact 3D Milling Machine

For making the mould I used the Roland SRM-20 Compact 3D Milling Machine

- It’s a small milling machine and powerful functionality that is compatible to mill different materials, such as wax, which is what is used to make the bike mould.

- Preparing the Material
  • For the milling, a 1/16 milling bit was used.
  • Mark the central point of the material by using a ruler. The point marked is used to set the machine for the origin point.
  • Preparing the material by using double tape to ensure it won’t move during the milling.

- Setting up the machine

The bike stl file that also had my collegue design combined is imported in the SRP Player Software and worked on the computer that is connected with the machinie.

SRP settings

1. Verifying the file size to ensure the models fit the mold.

2. Setting up the milling Properties.

3. Click on "Creat Tool Path".

4. After completing the tool path process it showed he etimated time for the milling 2.3 hours.

5. Going back to step 3 (Setting tool path) to adjust the ball settings.

6. Going back to the machine to set the origin point and ensuring the drill is close to the wax with no space, which be tested by passing a paper through it.

7. Click on “Start Cutting” > select the 1/16 mill bit > next > next. Then the machine started milling.



- Milling process

- Final result

The mould:


3. Moulding: -


- Preparing the mould

Cleaning the mould from all the dust and add tape around the design to avoid having the excess silicon outside the border.


- Preparing the silicon mixture

The silicon mixture has to be 1:1 so I mixed 25g for both silicon mixture A and silico mixture B.

Each mixture added have to be added using it’s own tools. For example: the silicon A, have to be poured in a cup and use a mixing wood only for A, when pouring B it have to be in another cup and another mixing wood. >> To avoid any error in the 1:1 ratio.


- Pouring the silicon into the mould

I poured the silicon into the mould and let it cure for 24 hours.


- Final result

The mould:


3. Casting: -

I casted resin in the mould and filled it with golden flakes.


4. Bike pendant: -