13. Moulding and Casting¶
Group assignment:¶
- Review the safety data sheets for each of your molding and casting materials
- Make and compare test casts with each of them
- Compare printing vs milling molds
Individual assignment:¶
- Design a mold around the process you’ll be using, produce it with a smooth surface finish that does not show the production process, and use it to cast parts.
Learning outcomes¶
- Design appropriate objects within the limitations of your process
- Demonstrate workflows used in mold design, construction and casting
Group Assignment¶
This week’s group work page is here
Individual Assignment¶
Basic Idea¶
Molding procedure :
- Hard casting
-> Positive modeling in Wax -> cast in soft material(Negative) -> cast in hard material -> Hard
- Soft casting
-> Negative modeling in Wax -> cast in Soft
3D Design¶
I drew the design at TinkerCad.
However I couldn’t find fillet at TinkerCad then I changed to Fusion 360.
After making model, export to stl file.
Molding¶
| Name | |
|---|---|
| Machine | SRM20 |
| Milling | 1/8inch SE 4FL EM |
| Wax | Ferris® File-A-Wax® Carving & Milling Waxes |
(1) Wax setting
Mark 2 straight lines from the corner to cross and find the center.
Apply 3 double-sided tape at both side and center on one side of wax.
Put the wax parallel to the platform
(Put something parallel for referring to)
Put wax on the platform firmly
Milling is 1/8inch SE 4FL EM
Check milling depth
Set milling to SRM20
Set calibration of X,Y and Z
Set (0,0,0) at center
For setting 0 at Z axis, milling is down softly until paper can’t move.
(2) Toolpath
Made toolpath using MODELA Player 4.
Click and open MODELA
upload stl file made in Fusion
Set -> Model -> select stl file
As my file position is not correct, it was rotated to correct position.
Select top surface at Orientation
Set Origin point
For selecting process type, open new process at Set menu
Select roughing for 1st rough milling -> Next
Select outing surface(No change) -> Next
Milling setting -> Next
Specify the area to be cut
try to specify the area small as possible -> Next
Input and check the depth
If need to change the value, select “Partial” and change it -> Next
Set toolpath
Scan Lines -> “X+Y” -> Next
Check the outing parameters -> Next
Save process file
Check toolpath
Then make finishing file
Set -> New Process
Select type of process : Finishing -> Next
Check surface -> Next
Check milling depth
Set Toolpath : Contour line / UP Cut -> Next
(It wasn’t enough smooth for finishing though)
Then make finishing file
Save process(finishing) file
Check toolpath
(3) Milling
Open Vpanel for SRM20
Push Cut button and select rough milling file -> Output
Milling start
After finishing rough milling, do same procedure for finishing
In fact finishing milling at contour was not smooth enough, so it was milled with scan lines X+Y for 2nd finishing.
Done!
Wax was taken out from the platform using a spatula.
Casting¶
| Material | Pot Life | Cure Time |
|---|---|---|
| Mold Star 16 Fast | 6 mins | 30 mins |
