r/MetalCasting

Hey guys. I came up with a new design. I am a big Star Trek fan, so made this design showing a technical schematic of the USS Enterprise E (NCC 1701-E) within the LCARS computer system used on the ship. I also made one of the Enterprise D, but haven't lasered it yet. I have to melt some more copper into bars first. What do you guys think of this design? there are more pics of these HERE if you want to see other angles and my other designs so far.

I have never done any casting, just interested in the process.

I understand how you could make this once with a hand carved wax piece, but how are people reproducing this over and over?

I was thinking wax figures reproduced in a silicone master mold, but even that is difficult to wrap my head around. I would think the loops in the legs, for example, would have a hard time holding up while being peeled from the mold.

Made this morning. Added some patina for aging, what do you think? #sandcasting

On the hunt for some tin and found this plate at a local thrift store. Feels quite dense and heavy but easily bends and scratches. Non magnetic.

I tried this with brass. I used the PLA for meant for printing RC airplanes. The pre foamed PLA burned out much better than regular PLA. I’m very happy to learn how well this worked. The imperfections were on the PLA model itself. I just hot glued a piece of foam on the bottom and then spray painted it with a couple heavy coats of high temp spray paint. Then put green sand around it. Brass completely burned out the PLA and left great detail. IMO very successful experiment. The second pic is after very brief touch up with wire brush.

This was only my 3rd melting session ever. Still a novice at casting. Learning so much each time.

I work at a university makerspace that has a jewelry lab. Looking for advice on our lost resin casts. The pendants pictured are from last semester using formlabs resin and printers. Now we use an Elegoo Mars 5 Ultra with Siraya Tech Cast Purple. The ring pictured is the first attempt at a detailed print. Pretty much every silver cast comes out with a surface like that, but alloys like nordic gold turn out much better. Investment used is R&R Plasticast. The burnout is very close to the Formlabs one pictured and is done in a kiln with a fume hood above it. Casting is done on the Kaya Cast system. The holding temperature for our flasks is 1100F and silver is melted in a crucible with a torch and occasional pinches of borax.

Our carving wax molds always turn out great, so we've been considering resin specific variables. Flasks are vacuumed with a shop vac before casting to remove ash or dust and then brought back up to 1100. However, I've seen posts relating this texture to ash caused by poor curing.

Our current curing system is 3 minutes in the ultrasonic with the dirty ipa, and then 5 in the ultrasonic with a much cleaner ipa. However, both of these baths may be too dirty. Then, 15-20 in a Formlabs Cure machine. However, Prints still feel tacky and are not completely matte. Does this mean we need to cure better? I will personally experiment with brand new ipa and glycerin curing this week. One final question is if anyone has input onto how much better perforated flasks perform than solid ones. Thank you!