question about casting, not solus related.
Posted: Fri Feb 26, 2016 3:42 pm
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.
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.