Skip to content

8. Molding & Casting

Seashells - Group Task

  • Material: Oatmeal Soap.
  • Mix Ratio: No Mixing.
  • Cured Material State: Soft then hard after cooling.
  • Safety Information: Wear Gloves, Use Tissues when needed, Keep Distance and Wear Apron.
  • Process Steps: Cut to small pieces > Heat in microwave for 2.5 minutes > use in casting > wait until it cools

pic1
pic2
pic3
pic4
pic5 pic6
pic7
pic8

Classmates - Group Task

  • Materials used for other group tasks were Resin & Hardener and White Gypsum which can be seen in the picture below.
  • For Information About White Gypsum, Refer to Ali Al-Saegh’s Page.
  • For Information About Resin, Refer to Noof Abdulla’s Page.

pic8

Fusion Design - Individual Task

3D Designing and Steps

  • Software Used: Fusion 360
  • Tools Used: Create Sketch > Create: Square > Create: Text > Extrude > Pull pic1
    pic2 pic3 pic4 pic5 pic6 pic7 pic8

Download Milling Design

Download as .STL - Download as.F3D

Milling

Machine

  • Machine used: monoFab Machine
  • The material used for milling is wax since it is available and recyclable.

pic1
pic2

Mechanics

Operates in 2.5D (no undercuts) where it cuts from above and creates shapes with bends that can not be made with CNC Machine or Laser Cutter. * What makes the design suitable for this specific machine is that it allows bends in the design which can not be in CNC Machine or Laser Cutter.

Constraints

The requirements for the design size are as follows:
Smallest gap: 1.6mm (That’s the smallest milling bit)
Design height max: 8mm
* Design width and length max: 60mm

pic1
pic2

Program

  • Estimated Milling Time: 4 hours.
  • When Fixing the material to the machine bed it is recommended to add a 2 faced tape to keep it on the bed without moving to ruin the system.
  • Steps: Enter the program file as .STL > add Block Size (Wax) > Mill > Select Settings > Start.

pic1
pic2
pic3
pic4
pic5
pic6

Results

pic1
pic2

Molding

  • Safety Information: Wear Gloves, Use Tissues when needed, Keep Distance and Wear Apron.

Materials/Equipment

pic1

  • Silicon A (used with Silicon B with ratio 1:1 to create mold)
  • Silicon B (used with Silicon A with ratio 1:1 to create mold)
  • Milled Wax (Previous Step)
  • Plastic Cups (to add silicon into)
  • Plastic Spoons (to transport silicon)
  • Tissues (to clean excess materials)
  • Small Weighing Scale (to weight materials)

Ratio & Mixture

  • On Milled Wax with 1 A to 1 B Ratio (silicon material since it was the available one).
  • 62.7g A and 62.7g B Material.
  • results take time in 9 hours approximately.
  • Steps: Add Silicon A to glass > Add Silicon B to another glass > have same weight at both > Add Them in one glass > Mix them well for about 2 minutes.

pic1
pic2
pic3
pic4
pic5

Results

pic1

Casting

  • Safety Information: Wear Gloves, Use Tissues when needed, Keep Distance and Wear Apron.
  • Resin and Hardener were used as they provide a colorless result which can be colored and are more rigid than the materials used at the group task

Materials/Equipment

pic1

  • Molded Piece
  • Resin
  • Hardener
  • 2 Plastic Cups
  • 2 Spoons
  • Small Weighing Scale
  • Tissues
  • Water/Oil Color

Ratio & Mixture

  • 10g resin to 6g hardener ratio
  • Steps: Add 10g of Resin in Cup > add 6g of Hardener in Cup > Mix Resin and Hardener using spoon > add one small drop of Coloring > Cast onto the Molding > Wait until it solidifies.

pic1
pic2
pic3
pic4 pic5

Results

  • full cure time approximately 36 hours.

pic1
pic2
pic3

Issues

When Casting Letters, it was notices that the results will lose some parts as shown in the circles in the images below due to having an edge that connects the letters to the ground floor of the system, in case some one desires to add letters or numbers it is recommended to pull or use other tools on every corner until there are no under cuts.
pic4
pic5


Last update: September 12, 2023