Hi guys,
As I posted back in april I’ve been playing around with our new Form 2 to add some business to our goldsmith diamond dealer workshop.
Me, myself, I am more of a micro pave diamond setter who loves 3D modeling.
I promised to post you the results of the castings with the castable resin from the Form 2.
For the pictures below I’ve casted several pieces in silver to prototype.
Thanks to the ‘success’ we’ve already started casting in gold =)
Here you see once again the layout of some of my prints which I always angle to get the best end result. Somehow the software keeps messing up the ‘bottom’ of the ring or item when i place it vertical.
This zoomed in picture is an image of a ring that contains many small ‘figures’ that are displaying an overall pattern. The Form 2 did a remarkable good job on printer all the details but casting was rather difficult. As you can see there were some stripes and small very small porosity on several spots. (Which we luckily could repair with our laser welder 
)
The second image shows a nicely casted ring with even the good small prongs for the center stone and the halo which will be setted micro pave
This third image displays a ring that is supposed to be an eternity ring with bezels. However the surface shows quite a lot of small dents due to the plaster used and probably the position on the casting tree. We will have to do a lot of polishing.
Furthermore this zoomed in image shows some more finishing issues that will require a lot of sanding and polishing.
This image displays a signet /college ring with a lot of porosity issues and filled in wholes where clearly visible letters should have been. I am struggling with this design. The letters keep filling up in the casting proces even though the printing comes out fine.
The final picture is of an organic hearth ring which will be ‘iced’ with diamonds =)
I am quite satisfied with the result.
As you can see I’ve learned some valuable lessons from my first castings.
- I’ve played around with the curing times from 2 hours to 8 hours and did not notice a big difference.
- Angle your items and place enough supports (always at 0.40)
- Sometimes successful prints do not mean successful castings.
- When casting make sure the models get enough ‘hot’ gold. (meaning position them at the top instead of at the bottom of the casting tree)
- Very small details are doable but when you are creating thin lines (as I tried with the signet ring) make sure there is enough space around to not trap any plaster. I think that is what happened with the signet ring.
What do you guys think?
Let me know =)
Kind regards and enjoy the weekend!
Niels