Moulding and Casting¶
Group Assignment¶
This week we worked together as a group to explore molding and casting techniques. Our goal was to understand the properties and behavior of different molding and casting materials by testing them hands-on.
We prepared test molds using different methods (including CNC milled wax molds), then cast several materials like Smooth-Cast 300, OOMOO, epoxy, and others. We paid attention to factors like mixing ratio, pot life, curing time, and material shrinkage. Some of our casts turned out perfect, while others had bubbles or incomplete edges, which gave us a clear idea of what to avoid in individual work.
From my side, I focused on observing how well the casting materials captured detail and how flexible molds helped in demolding.
We also documented safety measures — gloves, masks, good ventilation — since some of the materials release fumes or stick aggressively.
This assignment was really helpful before starting our individual molding projects. Now I better understand which materials and techniques are best suited for functional or decorative parts, and how important mold quality is for good results.
you can check all work that we did here
Individual Assignment¶
As Individual assignment, I decided to test “my version” of casting.
I want to use PLA plastic waste, and make keychain with FabLab logo.
CAD¶
Firstlsy I downloaded FabLAb logo and opened it in CorelDraw
Then drawed lines around Logo elements
Then Exported Logo as DXF
I used Fusion360 to make casting form models
After importing DXF file, I extruded logo Elements out of it, and added round part to attach keychain to keys
Here, what I want to have
I splited model into 2 parts
Then made cylinder, which fully includes splited part
And selected New Body option for Ectrude tool
I binary-cutted splitted part from cylinder
Here what it looks like
And did same for other part
I added holes to each form, i am planning to put rails in that holes, which will secure one form on another
After my Form Models are ready, I am going to cut them
ShopBot¶
I decided to cut forms from MDF (just as experiment)
I imported stl files to VCarve
Here is it
Then I got Vectors from it
I selected 3D roughing toolpath tool
Selected 1/16 inch ballnose endmill (which I changed to ballnose, but didn’t made scrrenshot :()
Here is preview of my cut
Looks pretty similar ))
Here is form after cutout
As rails I used old broken 1/8 mills
Here is two forms side by side
PLA¶
I used PLA waste that i get from 3D printing
I chose tiny parts, because they melts better
I was melting them with heatgun under 90 degrees, PLA becomes soft at that temperature
After that, i put my PLA mess to form
Heated a little bit more
And fixed with grips.
Final Results¶
After few minutes I opened form and…
It was definitely BAD idea to place hot pla in MDF form.
After cleaning detail up from MDF as much as i could, i got
Conclusion¶
The metod with pressing PLA is absolutely doable, and I liked testing it a lot. Making form from MDF was surely awful idea, but we are learning on our mistakes.
Files¶
Top Form file Bottom Form File