November 03, 2021 | VIII. Molding and Casting

I designed a mold in "Fusion 360" featuring a sun, clouds, and mountainous range for this week's assignment. Following the design phase, I exported a 3D .stl file. Then, in the Lab, I secured my wax bar to plywood with a glue gun and glue sticks.

My file's orientation, size, and margins were set in "Part Works 3D." Once my object's settings were adjusted and a roughing paths were created, my object was estimated at 14mins on the shopbot. I secured each plywood corner holding my wax bar on the shopbot with a screwdriver and screws, and opened shopbot3 to begin the next phase.

In Shopbot3, I zeroed my X, Y, &Z and made sure my desired speed was set. Then, I ran my rough and finishing tool paths. I stood by the area to vacuum away excess shavings. Once my paths were finished, I removed the screws from the plywood holding my wax bar on the shopbot. I noticed that one side of my mold was removed during milling. Nonetheless, this was a err that I could fix when casting my mold.

I removed the plywood from my wax bar using tools on the table. Finally, my negative of my mold was complete and ready for the next phase of the project.

To fix my err made when milling, I hot glued a scrap piece of cardboard to the missing side on my wax mold. Next, I created a negative of my mold using the silicone compound: "Smooth On A + B. I stirred each compound independently for 3 minutes. Following that, I measured out my compounds into 2 cups. Then I combined both compounds into one cup and mixed them for 3-4 minutes. Finally, I poured my mixed blend into my mold and allowed it to sit for several hours. Once my negative silicone hardened, I removed it from my wax mold.

I like the appeal of metal. Therefore I used metal to cast my part. First, I put on a safety jacket, glasses, and gloves and heated a metal plate for about 5 mins. Once my metal plate was liquified, I applied baby powder to my negative. I poured liguified metal into my into my negative starting from thr far corner and allowing the metal to fill in the gaps. I allowed it to sit for several hours. Once my metal hardened, I removed my positive. However, my positive had bubbles it. In retrospect, I would have done a better job had I stirred the liquified metal before use. Nonetheless, it created a rather interesting surface that I am satisfied with.



---------------

File Links: