question about casting, not solus related.

[manakawari]

sorry if this question is off topic or not allowed here but I have a general metal casting question im hoping you guys can answer.

We bought our solus not for metal casting but more for embellishment creation and custom hardware development in the fashion industry. We are a product development company that specializes in printing and embroidery, beading etc but also do everything from embossing and hardware design..Currently we have been creating 3d models of custom fashion hardware(buttons, toggles, belt buckles) and when customer is happy we have been providing them 3d printed samples but we get asked a lot to provide a functional sample, one made of metal, we never thought of offering it but after seeing the casts you guys have been getting from your solus, im wondering how difficult would it be to set up to do inhouse casting in say zinc or another easy cast alloy??

I experimented with casting 3d printed objects in the past with mixed results but that was before I got the solus and without being properly equipped..what I did was used our fdm machine to print in abs, I then encased the abs part in plaster of paris and then when cured, I used acetone to dissolve the abs leaving a vessel to cast zinc into.

The result was quite good but because I used no special tooling, I would often get bubbles and defects.

Im wondering if a small, no frills setup would be possible to create inhouse zinc casts, one that would not require a huge amount of space( in manhattan space is the most valuable thing, lol)

my thinking is that if perhaps some sort of small, desktop , vaccume assisted casting machine exists , I would get much better results and would eliminate the bubbles that have been plaguing me....anyway, if you guys have a suggestion on what I could use(machine or method) to get cleaner zinc or pewter casts , I would appreciate it.

[Jewelermdt]

I use something like this to do my casting. for easy casting use the B9 Green resin. If the part is fully cured it's easy to cast using regular Satincast investment. You will also need a burn out oven. I have one with a timer is great. You can set it up to start and ramp up the temps at the correct times and temperature.

http://www.gesswein.com/p-10338-t15-del ... chine.aspx
Might try looking on ebay or amazon for stuff.

Good luck
Mike

[manakawari]

thank you , that's exactly what I was looking for ...a small vaccume assisted casting machine that fits nicely on a desktop, I knew something like that had to exist , now what do you think for a lower cost burnout oven that also takes up little space??

[rkundla]

Depends on how big of a flask you intend to cast, but I use an electric Paragon SC3 kiln for my small (3.5" tall and shorter) casting.

It has a pretty good controller to program different multi-stage burn out cycles.

I keep mine on an AV cart because you don't really want it sitting on a desktop next to other things that can get hot. It also makes it easy to move it to the location where I have my exhaust system located to vent out all the fumes from the wax and resin burning.

[Archerm]

Yes sir the resin puts off a powerful oder when you burn it out. I installed a 4" exhaust system this year an! I am very happy with it.