13. Molding & Casting

This week’s group assignment was to;
- Review the safety data sheets for each of our molding and casting materials - Make and compare test casts with each of them. - * extra credit: try other molding and casting processes
- Compare printing vs milling molds

Have you answered these questions?
- Documented how you designed and created your 3D mold, including machine settings
- Ensured our mold has smooth surface finish, that does not show the production process (by postprocessing if necessary)
- Shown how you safely made your mold and cast the parts
- Described problems and how you fixed them

Test Casting

Materials

These were the materials we tried;

Material	Ferris File-A-Wax Blue	MOLD STAR 16 FAST	Smooth-Cast 300	Smooth-Cast 325	SORTA-CLEAR 37	Ecoflex 30
Pot Life		6m	3m	2.5m	25m	45m
Cure Time		30m	10m	10m	4h	4h
Shore		16A	70D	72D	37A	00-30
Characteristics						Food Safe
Process Memo
SDS	SDS	SDS/TB	SDS/TB	SDS/TB	SDS/TB	SDS/TB
Skin Corrosion/Irritation	Burns if molten	N/A	2	2	N/A	N/A
Skin Sensitization	N/A	N/A	1	2	N/A	N/A
Eye Damage & Irritation	N/A	N/A	2B	2	AN/A	N/A
Toxicity Inhallation	N/A	N/A	4	14
Respiratory Sensitization	N/A	N/A	1	1	N/A	N/A
Carcinogenic	N/A	N/A	2	2	N/A	N/A
Target Organ Toxicity (single exposure)	N/A	N/A	3	3	N/A	N/A
Target organ toxicity (repeated exposure)	N/A	N/A	2	2	N/A	N/A
Other	-	N/A		Harmful to aqutic animals	N/A	N/A

Safety Precautions

How to Read SDS, for beginners

PPE: Wear Apron, gloves, glasses
Environment: Large, well-ventilated room
Practices: Wash hands well with soap in case of contact with materials

Test Casting Workflow

(1) Smooth Cast300

• Mixing: Easy to mix, but need to care about not having bubbles Needed to be mixed soft and slowly.

• Cure Time: Suddenly got warm and became A bit late to take out a chopstick and made shape like soft cream.

(2) Smooth Cast325

(3) Sorta-Clear37

Bad mold

(4) Mold Star16 Fast

(5) Eco Flex

Result and Reflections

Useful links

Have you answered these questions?

• Linked to the group assignment page and reflected on your individual page what you have learned
  
• Reviewed the safety data sheets for each of your molding and casting materials, then made and compared test casts with each of them
  
• Documented how you designed and created your 3D mold, including machine settings Ensured your mold has smooth surface finish, that does not show the production process (by postprocessing if necessary) Shown how you safely made your mold and cast the parts
  
• Described problems and how you fixed them