11. Molding and Casting¶

GROUP ASSIGNMENT¶

Taking inspiration from Lee Boroson's project, "Pleasure Grounds" I wanted to create a shape of a flower from the bottom.

I began the design and iterated it until reaching the final outcome.

Below are the eight shapes I experimented with.

How To:

I created a surface that I used as a base
I used 'Splop' ontop of the base surface
I projected each one on top of the surface and picked the shapes that worked best for the leather molding.

RhinoCAM¶

CNC Milling¶

My material is high density foam (usually used for insulation).

To fix the material to the bed, I used wooden pieces placed at an angle from the base to the side of the foam. Once screwed in, they press into the foam and lock it in place. I repeated that from the 4 sides.

As prepared on the RhinoCAM, the machine will first rough out the majority of the material, then finish the shape, and then profile cut out the tool.

We used a 12mm Ball End for the roughing and profiling. We used a 6mm Ball End for the finishing.

Paper Pulp¶

Looking through some research on how to make paper pulp for sculpture and possibly 3D printing, this tutorial was quite helpful.

The idea is to create this mold with the recycled paper/cardboard and turn it into a pressure sensor with the velostat underneath.

To try if the shape works before getting the cast from silicone, a section was shredded and blended with tapioca flour and glycerine. Ideally, starch would be used to turn the pulp into a paste like texture that can hold its shape. The glycerine was added to keep a level of flexibility to the final outcome so it doesn't crack if it were to be pressed.

Trial One

This process ended up being a fail as I was no able to get the silicone mold out of it. So I decided to go ahead and use machinable wax in the Roland SRM20 to make a 2.5D mold.

Watermelon Slice Coaster¶

I decided to make watermelon slices that could act as coasters separately or when theyre placed next to each other.

I downloaded the file from Thingiverse, scaled in 1D to make the heights more defined and scaled in 2D to make the size 70mm.

I then created a box underneath it and BooleanUnioned the slice to it. Then created another box around the slice with the opening in the center to join as well. That gives me the positive that I will mill with the Roland SRM20 which will then be used to create the negative with silicone to then finally creating the positive with my final material.