Friday, July 5, 2013

Castings Have Come Back!

3 weeks ago I sent my items to the caster to be cast into multiples. And today they came back! So excited to see what's possible!

This is what the original or 'model' was cast in- non-shrink silicone. It's very flexible. My son liked smooshing it! The 2 halves fit together because of some unusual shaped ridges. I don't know how they did that!




Here's a closer view. I was impressed with how the mold was able to capture some of the under-cutting of the granules.




The original is on the left, the copies on the right. Pretty nice! They are unfinished, I still need to abrade/clean the surface and polish them. 




A sprue was soldered to the original model and then it was cleaned up, but my feeling was maybe not well-enough. I can see some residue still present in the original, that seems to have been casted in the copies. You can see that especially inside the bezel.




Another piece I had casted.




Again you can see some residue inside the bezel that was casted in the copies. Also, the surface of the castings has sort of an orange-peel texture.

I will be putting them in my tumbler with abrasive media in order to smooth out the surface. Then they'll be polished.




This one didn't make it through the sprue-soldering and ultrasonic cleaning operation- granules came off in the process. Dang- back to fusing! And it was my favorite one!




2 comments:

  1. Fascinating. I really admire how you have the patience and the foresight and the teaching instinct to create these wonderfully informative posts.

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  2. Thanks, Mary! I appreciate you taking the time to indulge me by reading them!

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