Rachele Didero's site Welcome to Rocky 96's HTMAA world

Welcome to Rocky96's
HTMAA world

A free, fully responsive (?) font of inspiration (?) designed by Rachele Didero for How to Make (Almost) Anything Course @ MIT Media Lab
and released for free .

October 25, 2023

Week 6

Molding and Casting

- Design, mill and cast of a goose. Cast of a 3D printed label -

Design a mold around the stock and tooling that you'll be using, mill it (rough cut + three-axis finish cut), and use it to cast parts

A-P Brotherhood

1. I wanted to create the molding of a target to insert into Cap_able clothes. I then began creating the 3D file of the nameplate on Fusion360.


2. I then then inserted the stl file into Cut3D.


3. Initially there seemed to be no problems. I entered the 3mm drill in the settings and followed the procedures to mill the mold inside a 7"x3.5"x1.5" wax cube. However, when rendering, I didn't see the "MANIFESTO /CAP_" text, even though it was 3mm thicker, and the "Cap_able" logo was also rendered poorly.


4. So I decided to make a 3D resin print of the tag, so I could mold it directly.


5. I then created the mold with oomoo following this procedure:


6. Once the oomoo was ready I poured it into a plastic tray in which I placed Cap_able's tag facing up.


7. After 75 min I'm ready to take out my 3D printed tag from my mold and I'm ready to cast.


8. Before casting I cover my mold with a thin layer of baby powder. This is because I want to use metal for the casting.


9. I heat the metal in the pot.

NB When I cast I wear gloves, jacket and face protection.


10. After about 3 minutes, the metal has melted and I can then slowly pour it into the mold that I covered with baby powder. The first result is terrible:


11. I take the first bad model and put it back in the pot to melt. When it's fused again I try again with my cast. Second and third results are definitely more satisfying!


BigSisters

1. To test the molding, I draw a simple figure on Fusion 360. (I chose a goose to give to my grandmother, it's her favorite animal)


2. I then upload the goose on Cut3D and make sure that this time the render looks good.


3. I upload the program on ShopBot and mill the blue wax. I first need to secure the piece I'm milling on the machine with screws. I then we upload the program on the program Shop Bot where we can adjust the X and Y (bottom left corner) and the Z, using the metal tool (see following image). After I finish milling, I vacuum the area and my mold.


4. I finally got my goose shaped mold.


5. I can now remake the oomoo and pour it in my mold.


6. I now leave it pose for 75 minutes.


7. Then I can remove it from the mold and prepare it for casting. I then put a thin layer of baby powder.


8. Then I can remove it from the mold and prepare it for casting. I then put a thin layer of baby powder, I heat the metal and pour it in the holes. At the end I obtained two geese. I love them. They are really light, so I make a necklace with one of them.

9. Ciao Ciao