Molding and Casting

Task	progress
Linked to the group assignment page and document your learning	done
Reviewed the safety data sheets for each of your molding and casting materials, then made and compared test casts with each of them	done
Documented how you designed and created your 3D mold, including machine settings	done
Shown how you safely made your mold and cast the parts	done
Described problems and how you fixed them	done
Included your design files and ‘hero shot’ of the mold and the final object	done

Group Assignment

Here is the Group Assignment Link

Key Takeaways from this week: - Reading the data sheet and following the exact propotion is very important to get the final product with right density.

• Always read the safty guide, as some of the material produce fume that are not safe and also heat that can burn.

• Never use CAST material like plastic and ployurethane as MOLD material.

HERO SHOT

Individual Assignment

For this weeks assignment I wanted to make a cap for Solenoid for my final project with silicon or rubber for a soft finish. I also like how it looks like magic mushroom.

Design in Fusion 360

I started with measuring the size of the solenoid for which I was making the design and made the actual mushroom button in fusio360 first.

I had to make 2 part Mold, one for the bottom part with semi-circle and the top part the hole where my solenoid head will go in.

I also had to make two hole, through one of the hole cast material will be injected inside and through another air to escape when I inject material inside.

3D printing Mold

I decided to print two Molds, One with our MK3 Prusa and other one using FORM LABS.

FORM LABS

I used my first design with a single hole on the top and used clear Rasin. I set the layer setting to 0.1mm.

PRUSA Mold

For Pursa, I used 0.05 mm Ultra detail with 15% infill. I ended up making two molds. One with 2 holes and one with single hole.

The first one is with a single hole and second one is with 2 holes

Molding And Casting

Silicon Rubber

I used silicon LSR-140 rubber as my Casting material as I wanted rubber finish to my button. According to the instruction we need to mix equal amount in weight of Part A and Part B together.

I measure the product seperately using weighing machine and mixed them together with a stick until there was a same consistancy.

I added color to the silicon for beauty aspect for my final product and also so I can have distinction on differnt mold at the end.

This is the same mold design but 3d printed in Pursa. Unlike for the one made in Formlabs, I could not see if I had injected enough silicon inside and the Cast Failed.

Casting 1

I really like how it looked through the transparent mold when I was injecting silicon inside.

Unfortunately, because the hole was too small and because of Air, I could not fill the cast till it was full.

Casting 2

For this cast, I used the second design I had made with two holes for easy flow of silicon inside and as expected there was no issue with air inside.

I actually used cello tape to tightly hold the two part mold together.

Final Product

This is a cap I designed for solenoid and it fits perfectly. I also like the feel of the product.

Note

All through the process, I was always wearing gloves and Apron following all the safty procedures mentioned for each material.

Polyurathane Rubber

Failure

I also tried using ployurathane rubber as my casting material but I was not able to take out the cast and ended up breaking the Mold. The problem was because both are plastice, it was sticking to each other.

I should use Rasin printed mold with poly Urathane rubber.

I made in total 4 molds. out of which 2 gave good results.

File

Design File