This week, I learned how to use PartWorks3D and the desktop Shopbot. I used a scan of my face that I did in 2012 using a portable 3D scanner called the Creaform Go!Scan. Originally, I used this scan to make a series of masks for another MIT class. The scan was decimated to the point where it was essentially just a handful of polygons. For this project, I took the decimated scan and create a solid model that I then exported as an STL from SolidWorks. I took this STL file into PartWorks3D and followed Jin Joo Lee's instructions.

This is a solid model of my scanned head prior to decimation.

This is a rendering of the mask after decimation (and polygonization).

Here's the wax as the STL is being cut out. This is the "plug" of the mold.

I combined the cuts and saved them as one file. As it turns out, the shopbot cuts them out sequentially. So it finished the rough cut first before it started the fine cuts.

I chose to use the softer blue silicone for casting. I had to put it into the small vacuum chamber, but I'm pretty sure it's barely doing anything. From my previous experience making molds with silicone I found that it would expand to nearly triple the size as the bubbles would break free. My guess is that the pump does not produce enough vacuum.

Update: At the end of the term I decided to mould some more things. I designed and created a type of brick made of waste product from zinc mining called “Jarosite”. The research is based on the work of Inda based researcher Dr. Asokan Pappu.