Early test show that the clear resin IS lost-wax castable!

Projects & Prints
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I was able to cast some test pieces and they came out great. I will post some pictures in a few days.

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Awesome, that’s excellent news! A lot of people are going to find this info very useful. :smiley: Pics! Pics!

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That’d be good to see!

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Here it is. The early casting test in sterling silver.

Keep in mind that the objects printed were not meant for casting. They were printed as a test of the machine on the 100 setting and the supports were all over it using the default settings, and it’s very rough. For jewelry, we would need to be able to move the supports around for optimum placement.

All these are straight out of the oven. No tumbling. No cleaning. No filing or polishing. All the imperfections (or detail) were on the resin.

The cross came out surprisingly well. Even the thin frame around it is intact, which is awesome.

Also here is a ring that was printed and casted. There is some distortion on the ring, but that’s from the print, because I used minimum amount of supports and the ring was distorted.
The prongs came out perfect, which was a big concern.

We are in the process of casting a bracelet (photo included). It’s getting ready to be casted this weekend. I will post pictures after it is casted.

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I dont know much about lost-wax casting, but its interesting & I like your cross design!

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Fantastic tests - great flow through your supports and fine detail.  Can you share the type of mold material you used for the cast?  What kind of cleanup process  are you planning on using?  I’m fascinated!

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I am in the process of casting some models as well. it seems to be much like casting walnut shell, the stuff doesn’t melt like wax just burns. I haven’t seen much expansion like earlier thought and it doesn’t have much smell or smoke much either. I think that’s good. I will be posting my pics as well at the end of the day.

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Hello

It’s looking very nice!!

I now there is a resin that is special for the lostwax methode. But if this working then it is briljant!!

How long wil it take to print a ring with 100 settings?

Is it also possible to print  more percisely?

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The ring on the 100 setting took 1:15 to print.

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Here is the bangle casted in brass. I took 2:20 to print.

Printed at the 100 CLEAR setting, it did not come out as smooth and clean as the same bangle printed at the 100 GREY setting.

I hope Form Labs can weigh in on this. Should we just print everything on the GREY resin setting?

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What type of casting are you doing ? vacuum-centrifugal-induction? I use vacuum and my castings did not come out as good as yours but I may have burnt them out to quickly.

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I think the trick is,  leave it in on a low temp for an hour or two before burning.

I’m not the one doing the casting, or else I would give more details on how it’s done.

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Hello Bob

What did you cast ? i think also that the temp is very important to burn the model out.

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I casted a robot from G. Wygonik and a Mushroom that I did. These are the second castings and my results are not as good as the others. There could be many reasons for this. Type of caster- Type of casting investment- length of burnout schedule. The castings in the picture I used about a 10 hour burnout. It looks like the resin eats into the investment when it combusts. I noticed in the other pictures the pieces are not that heavy so not as much resin to burn. I’m going to try some other things if I can get some more prints.

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HI!

Great results! Can’t wait to print my own designs and cast them! :slight_smile:  A few days ago i asked my casting company if they would take my form 1 prints for casting. They wanted to know some facts before doing so.  Would you be so kind and help me out here?

What kind of material did you use to embed the print? Any special casting methods, like overheating the material, so that it flows better?

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I will help out as much as possible! My investment is Kerr Satin cast 20. I think the flasks should be heated very slow and make sure you keep it at 1350 to 1400 F for at least 2 hours so the ash burns out all the way. Keep in mind the resin does not melt! so it acts more like wood and kind of a funny thing it smells like dirt when it burns.

1 Like
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Thank you very much! Thats very kind of you! As soon as my printer arrives, i will test it! Really looking forward to it! :slight_smile:

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The castings look ok but not perfect yet… still some area’s which are éaten’in the metal… maybe you need to cure the resin longer?

I saw somewhere someone used to spray a bit of silicon on the cured resin jewelery print before the casting proccess. It might help protect the resin from reacting with the gypsom / plaster - creating thouse annoying cracked - ruff surfice. If you have a chance maybe it’s worth trying out.

I’m sure everyone appreciate’s you sharing your photo’s. great job - thanks.

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Ok you jewelers - Here is the low down on getting a good casting out of ANY acrylate… in standard gypsum-bonded investment -  Kerr Satin Cast 20, et al

The following ASSUMES YOU HAVE GOOD AIRFLOW IN YOUR OVEN. GAS-FIRED OVEN PREFERRED.

  1. Keep the volume of resin you are burning out to a minimum. (NO SOLID SPHERES)

a. this applies to the part(s) themselves as well as the TOTAL resin weight.

b. Use a small flask-  it forces you to keep the resin volume low.

1. it has the added benefit of better temperature control inside the flask ie your flask temperatures are more likely to match your controller/desired oven temps

c. DO NOT OVERLOAD YOUR BURNOUT OVEN.

d, notice the parts that others have had success with and those that have failed… ( the key factor is the Volume / Area ratio - solid spheres=failures )

  1. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO STEAM DE-WAX THIS MATERIAL. It doesn’t.

a. Don’t even steam de-wax the sprue/tree. You are risking failure.

  1. Wait AT LEAST two hours (preferably 3-4 hours) after investing before you move (yes move) the flasks.

a. standard practice , but I’m reminding you… touch the flasks after you’ve set them aside to dry and you are looking for trouble. Someday you’ll find it.

  1. Burnout Cycle

a. Dry the Mold & Dewax the sprue/tree - minimum 2 hours at 200degF for most flasks sizes.

b. Get the Acrylate out before the investment goes through it’s weak temp - ramp from 200degF to 550-600degF as quickly as possible. Hold for 1 hour.

c. Finish the burnout cycle -  Top out at 1200degF for your normal hold time.

d. drop to your casting temp - hold at least 30 mins before casting

Have fun.

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Please:

  1. don’t burn(overheat) the metal  and/or use 100% scrap or filings and blame the resin for your poor castings.

  2. Write down / take pictures  (gather data) on what you’ve done… so you can learn from failure.

  3. Share your results,  as I’ve just shared my 40 years of casting experience with you.

  4. Try platinum investment.

  5. Try other investment powders

  6. Try investment hardening additives.

  7. Share your results.

“The big secret is … There are no secrets.” - A.F.