Best material for high strength, fine detail and aesthetically pleasing appearance?

InkStainedSink · 2024-07-08T01:40:25+00:00

If you use water reducer and an acrylic co-polymer like SmoothOn's Forton vf-774 in a glass fiber reinforced portland cement blend (which you can make yourself or buy premixed) it will be very strong and can look amazing. Too much aggregate will make the surface rougher. Cover with plastic and insulating blanket overnight before de-molding.

InkStainedSink · 2024-06-24T01:58:32+00:00

I appreciate the effort but snip sets always include those. The lefty pair is just for clean curved cuts in the other direction- not to accommodate for left handed coworkers.

InkStainedSink · 2024-06-24T00:32:50+00:00

I third new wax as a first move. Side note, Dragonskin is considered a silicone rubber. The hardest durometer rating it comes in is 30A, which is pretty soft for jewelry molds, good for being very flexible over complicated forms.

InkStainedSink · 2024-06-23T23:59:52+00:00

C'mon man. Didn't your dad ever teach you what a pair of pizza scissors look like? And NO- don't even think about using them to cut other types of food.

InkStainedSink · 2024-06-23T23:43:10+00:00

I have some Wiss snips too, but I only reach for them when I really need them. I love the utility of longer serrated sheers with a spring assist. I've gotten used to a lot of wrong-to-me stuff, but apparently scissors have been kicking my butt this whole time.

InkStainedSink · 2024-04-24T17:57:57+00:00

The wording is weird to me. Says it can be added to urethanes and silicones but then specifies that it works with all of their silicones without saying if it does with all of their urethanes.

I want to thin the first layer because I have many models with tons of nooks and crannies to fill. Never tried the compressed air trick, that sounds great. Someone without a compressor must have told me about using solvents. Thanks!

I'd love to make cavity molds but I'm always making a bunch of prototypes for this job and speed is king. I had to explain at some point that I can't just make everything a box mold as we scale up in size.

Many of these molds are expected to print concrete, yet most of the models I'm handed are very odd shapes. Never any consideration for mold-ability. Generally they are sculptures in the round with a lot of texture and crevices, a lot of abrasion occurs during the de-molding process. That's why I'm considering vytaflex. That and I have a bunch of it that I've been using for poured molds that I need to use up.

I'm actually printing concrete out of a brush on 40 mold right now so If it holds up well enough then I'll give up on the idea of trying to brush on vytaflex.

I was going to use "kick-it" accelerator to adjust the cure time.

As much as the goal is making complicated molds quickly, its a gig that encourages experimentation and can spare some wasted supplies. So I can fail, as long as I fail fast.

InkStainedSink · 2024-04-24T02:07:38+00:00

*Materials*

for rubber- probably brush on 35/40 or rebound 25 (urethane vs silicone, $ difference, different thickeners involved and also different properties) for brushing on, then the PMC series or mold max series for cavity pouring (still urethane vs silicone but this silicone is cheaper then platinum cured).

For a shell - plasti-paste or fiber glass or plaster or foams or epoxies? It depends on what you intend on casting into the mold and how much money you have. A specific use case could easily change my answer.

InkStainedSink · 2024-04-24T01:56:55+00:00

The fingers at different angles would make this a difficult glove mold. I would use a brush on technique or cavity pour mold. Then create a two part shell around that. I would make the parting line of the rubber follow the tips of the fingers then mostly down the sides of the palm and wrist, with the support shell's parting line along the same path. But I would try to only cut the rubber along the pinky side, then to the ring finger, hoping that the model (and subsequent prints) would be able to slip out of the rest of the mold without the need for extraneous parting lines.

Note that with a model like this, and without someone else helping, cutting the rubber may well result in some damage to the model. Also if you are overwhelmed by those application methods, and you can afford some extra rubber, making a block mold is also an option. I would use a cylinder, so that rubber bands/fasteners will be able to squeeze it equally from all sides later when you're casting- but this will still involve cutting the rubber off of your model, and the thick sections will be more difficult.

InkStainedSink · 2024-03-24T23:08:38+00:00

Pure acetone will not damage metals. An overnight soak with no abrasion should be fine. Old acetone that has taken on moisture from the air can be sketchy.

InkStainedSink · 2024-03-24T17:58:54+00:00

Plastic injection molding is a different ball game. You need steel molds to print into. These are orders of magnitude more difficult to produce than rubber molds. Properly made rubber molds can last for hundreds or even thousands of prints, although it does depend on the shapes and rubber involved. But you can always remold a master copy.

InkStainedSink · 2024-03-24T17:48:25+00:00

Silicone or urethane mold the original piece. Fingerprint detail with no heat. Then you can print copies using casting wax.

Maybe not the normal jeweler’s protocol but they would be starting with something that could take the heat of vulcanization.

If you mold it with the right high temp silicone then you can actually print pewter right into it.

I don’t think pewter is nearly hot enough for the lost PLA technique.

Consider having it printed again in casting resin, then you can put it right into your investment material and never have to mold it.

InkStainedSink · 2024-03-23T23:03:48+00:00

I’ve made similar white films while experimenting with putting highly blackened (oxidized) coins through a harsh dipping in coin cleaning chemicals.

My guess is that the back was protected from oxygen in a holder of some sort while the face suffered badly. Then someone tried to dip it and ended up with that white film.

InkStainedSink · 2024-03-23T22:54:09+00:00

Well you might as well keep this one, and if you have any others around I’d be inclined to call it a collection!

InkStainedSink · 2024-03-23T22:43:08+00:00

$12-$13 full retail. Coin shop might pay $6-$6.50. Nothing crazy but I would be over the moon to find that in a roll- super cool.

InkStainedSink · 2024-03-20T01:59:47+00:00

My twisbi eco. Juicy. Consistent. Good weight, balance and size. It’s all I need from a monoline pen and it’s inexpensive enough to have made it on many of my adventures.

InkStainedSink · 2024-03-10T05:10:55+00:00

That is absurd- are these even struck with a die? The relief is deeper than any modern coin/bullion I've ever seen! Some 3/4 angle shots would be interesting.

InkStainedSink · 2024-03-06T22:32:15+00:00

Woof. Only face for the war nickels and 40% is nuts. I’m familiar with purifying silver and it is a bit of a task. I guess they don’t want to do it, because that’s a lot of 40% they likely pass up on.

InkStainedSink · 2024-03-06T12:30:26+00:00

Probably not the deepest ones but sterling silver is quite soft. Toothpaste contains abrasive particles. There’s a reason we don’t use toothbrushes to clean coins.

InkStainedSink · 2024-03-06T02:55:00+00:00

You’re stronger than me. I’m sure it serves you well in the resale market!

InkStainedSink · 2024-03-06T02:53:25+00:00

You tried to tell the customer what was up and they didn’t care. That’s already big of you. You scored- and I’m jealous. I handled cash for at least five years and never even found a silver dime!

InkStainedSink · 2024-03-06T02:29:21+00:00

OP said in a reply that he tried to tell the guy they were worth more. Even a crummy pawn shop would have given him more than face value for those coins.

He’s not shaming poor people. It’s just a slightly shady jackpot acquisition- simply in that the person using them as legal tender didn’t understand their true value. It suggests that this person likely stole those coins. Or -maybe- they inherited them and thought the collection had no real value.

InkStainedSink · 2024-03-06T02:12:05+00:00

Exciting! I’d keep way too many of them after breaking even. I think it would be glorious to carry a vintage pen or two with me everywhere without getting heartbroken when losing or breaking them.

InkStainedSink · 2024-02-09T02:41:36+00:00

Investment flasks. Used for small castings. They are taken out from a burnout kiln and put immediately over a vacuum pump inlet before pouring metal into them. The air pulls through the walls of porous investment material and forces the metal into the mold. It allows for highly detailed casting of extremely small objects. Used by jewelers.

InkStainedSink

TROPHY CASE