perhaps burnout is not the best method?

[manakawari]

seems to me that any and all attempts at creating a castable resin is based on a traditional burn out method.

Most pitfalls have been found in failure to produce a clean burnout and any attempted improvements have been directed towards a resin formulation to limit ash but is this really the best method?? has anyone to your knowledge tried a different approach?

I only ask because I did some experimenting with fdm prints, mainly abs plastic direct casting using acetone to dissolve the abs and create a clean casting.

The results were certainly limited to the poor print quality of fdm printers but despite the limitations, the casting was shockingly good.

It got be thinking that why don't developers stop focusing on trying to find a resin that produces less ash and focus on a resin that reacts quickly and cleanly with a specific solvent.

This seems like a much easier and imo a method that would produce perfect results.

Imagine the amazing prints that the solus makes, but also removing the pitfalls of a traditional burnout...removal of material using a solvent would literally produce the cleanest possible mold with literally zero residue.

So the idea would be to drop your print in a solvent bath for a couple hours and when you remove it the resin as completely been dissolved and washed from the cavity, leaving literally nothing at all behind.

just my idea.

[Archerm]

The problem is the resins we are using are a different chemical composition. If you use the right investment casting can be a non issue. Using a investment that reacts with the resin is a no go for me. As much as I love Gypsum investment and the results with wax I find that Phosphate investments for resin is the way to go. Eben though it is not for everyone till the bugs with gypsum is resolved I will use the phosphate based investment. The dental industry figured this out many years ago and is pretty well documented. There will be a day when a Resin is developed that will truly work for gypsum investments.

[rkundla]

Have you had experience with pouring acetone into a investment flask and get a clean casting? This is news to me, but seems possible. I have some acetone in the workshop and some spare models. Time for an experiment.

Regarding non-standard resins, the Bucktown Polymers people tried to do something with their "Rinse Out Resin" or ROR, however that resin was chemically nasty and attacked acrylic vats like they were made from paper. The cured resin was sticky, squishy and when subject to the hot water they say will dissolve it, turned into a glue like substance which was impossible to clean out. I still have a bottle of it I am trying to figure out how to dispose of without having the EPA knocking on my door.

Reading up on the UV cured resins, the photoinitiator is what induces the cross-linking to occur in the resin, which causes it to cure hard. The more cross-linking, the harder the resin. The more cross-linking, the more resistant the resin is to solvents. That in turn makes it very difficult to dissolve cured resin and also helps explain why it does not 'melt' when heated but only burns.

[manakawari]

Lol no, my experience is very limited. ..i am not a jeweler. ..i use 3d printing and milling to create masters and molds for the company i work for...we do fashion related stuff...mainly creating custom elements for embelishment and fashion design...mostly laser cutting, cnc milling of wood, plastic, fabric, and a ton of other materials. ..i do everythi g from laser cutting complete dresses, to complicated 3d printed fashion accessories, interlocking elements, hardware, belt buckles, buttons, custom handbag handles....stuff like that...when i need a custom metal element i usually cnc it but the very detailed and delicate atuff iv been struggling with and thats why i bought my solus. ..more and more the type of work iv been asked to do is getting closer and closer to that of a jewelry maker..anyway, in not setup to cast metal but i need to do on occasion, using not precious metals like zinc or pewter. ...when i need to cast something ibuse the method i described above......im sure it wont be ideal for use now, and im sure acetone may not be the ideal solvent, but if they intentionally created a soluble tesin, i think burnout can be avoided completely , to be honest i would love to eliminate casting all together...if i could come up with a way to metal plate my solus prints, i would be soooo happy...we do product development so most of our work is for proof of concept stuff...companies send our samples to china for actual production so as long as it looks like metal, it doesnt have to be.....anyone know of a process or company that coukd plate solus prints in copper or nickel? ?

[Archerm]

Look up electro forming. It might be a option for you.

[rkundla]

As Archerm said, electroforming would be a perfect solution for you.

Here is an article on it for art purposes:

http://www.copper.org/consumers/arts/2007/november/

You paint a conductive coating on the object and then you plate it just like a piece of jewelry in a chemical bath. Easy peasy so they say, but I haven't tried it myself. The jeweler's site Rio Grande (http://www.riogrande.com) is a good place to pick up the equipment you would need to perform electroforming.

[manakawari]

wow thanks this is great!