Week 9 - Molding and Casting

Learn to design a 3D mold, machine it and cast parts from it.

Déploye Chocolate Domes

DeployeHand

Mold, cast and final piece.

The practice of this week consists of a four-step process to manufacture a three dimensional object:

1º Design the positive mold in 3D.

2º Mill the positive mold in machinable wax.

3º Make a flexible silicone negative mold from the wax positive space - Mix and pour flexible silicone in the wax mold.

4º Get a positive cast from the negative silicone mold - Fill the silicone mold with hot chocolate to make the final piece.

I decided to design a mini déploye dome.

DeployeHand

1 Designing piece in Rhinoceros.

Then I exported the file in .stl format to open it with the Fab Modules.

I used the Fab Modules to sen the .stl file to the Roland Modela MDX-20.


1 Opening the .stl file in HTML Fab Modules.	2 Converting the .stl mesh in a .png draw before tracing.

3 Milling the machinable wax.	4 Positive wax mold.

I decided tu use the silicone for food related applications because I want to work with chocolate (Smooth-Sil 940).


1 Washing the wax.	2 Smooth silicone for food parts.

3 Smooth Silicone for food specifications sheet.	4 Spraying release agent on the wax for an easier unmold.

5 Weighing part A (10/1).	6 Weighing part B (1/10).

7 Mixing parts without making bubbles.	8 Filling the wax mold with the silicone.

9 Binding for 16 hours.	10 Unmolding the negative silicon mold.

I decided to use white chocolate because white color shows better the geometry of the pieces and these ones are very small.


1 Washing the release agent from the silicone mold.	2 Final negative silicone molds.

3 Boiling water to melt chocolate.	4 Melting chocolate.

5 Filling silicone negative molds with chocolate.	6 Freezing chocolate to accelerate the solidification process.

7 Unmolding the chocolate.	8 Resulting positive white chocolate casting.