Paul ,Thank you for the explanation and tips!!
First, thanks to Monger Designs and Bob Krug for posting their casting photos.
much appreciated as this is the primary reason I ordered the form1.
also thanks to Paul Finelt for his casting information and expertise.
I would add to Paul’s comments the following.
If you are new to lost wax casting, centrifugal casting
will probably give you less problems than a vacuum casting setup.
Centrifugal seems more forgiving of imperfect temps etc.
That being said, a vac system is more compact and can do quite well.
(it just can be frustrating (especially if you put LOTS of work into a wax,
and it comes out with porosity))
Thanks, Perry.
The debate over centrifugal vs. vacuum assisted casting will go on… forever I imagine.
I would note that (as with anything we do) casting is a system… each step in the process depends in some way on others in a very inter-related manner. Understanding how the parts fit together/interact in YOUR shop is the key to making an process work. But you have to grasp the fundamentals.
I have been able to say “I screwed up, but I can fix it…” with confidence because of that knowledge.
Failure can be a great teacher. ;-)
BTW - the single most misunderstood operating factor in centrifugal casting is rotational speed and it’s effect on casting quality. Too fast will cause erosion but it’s enhanced when the gating/sprueing system is poorly designed & understood. Switching from one casting method/machine to another without changing the sprues might not yield better castings…
I have used both methods of casting and currently I use vacuum. I found that most of the reasons why i get porosity is from wrong sprueing or bad metal, some times burning the metal. In the case of this resin I believe there is a problem between the investment and the resin( when it burns it eats at the investment). I am getting some platinum casting investment to see if it works better. Now I could be wrong but I have done 2 separate castings now and had similar result both times. The second casting was slightly better after doing a much slower burnout.
BOM DIA COM ESSA MAQUINA EU CONSIGO IMPRIMIR EM RESINA RCP E WIC100.
responding to MARCELO COSTA
I think the materials used by envisiontec might be covered by patents (just a guess)
That being said, if plaster erosion durring burnout is the sticking point of the form1 plastic,
it might be worth experimenting with a thin wax dip (I will no doubt try this once i have a machine to
test with). I would guess the following might be worth a try.
hot wax (to the point where it is very low viscosity) dip and shake off excess to achieve a very
thin coat of wax. This could have several advantages, minimizing layering lines a interface
to the plastic that might allow for physical expansion durring burnout.(of course this might not
have the desired effect, but it is worth a try)
Alternatively if someone was to “leak” the composition of the nanowax photopolymer we might be able to
mix up our own “open source” version.
Hi,
I just read thru the best practices paper on the envisionted site for PIC 100.
the jist is to fully cure the object (ie uv light to all sides)
followed by a spray with krylon fusion (3 coats recommended with 15 min drying between coats)
They recommend a long burn-out and give examples for two different investment types (Plasticast and Doc Robinsons)
so fusion might be worth a try as well
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sorry for the multi-post made a spelling error in previous post.
envisiontec not envisionted (fat fingered on first post)
I would give the url but don’t want to cause problems for the formlabs folks so just google it if you want to find the papers.
After doing more research I found out there is another investment that is designed for materials that expand. I have ordered some and should be here shortly. I think this is the ticket. I will post results when I have them.
After doing some more tests, we came to the conclusion that the clear resin is not really suitable for lost-wax casting. We did have some good results, but with a lot of trial and error, and it’s just not worth it. The ratio of failed castings to OK ones is too great.
I hope form labs will release their lost-wax capable resin very soon. We really like our Form1 and don’t want to sell it.
I have to agree with Monger Designs! I have done about 10 different castings and have not had any of them suitable for production. The results might get better doing induction casting but as far as vacuum casting it hasn’t worked for me so far. I would think that Formlabs would be working on a castable resin because there are a lot of jewelers that would grab one of these printers if it worked on the casting end of things.
We’re well-aware of the value of castable resin, and it’s one of our top-priorities in terms of resin development. We have some new resins in the lab that we’re experimenting with and hoping will come out well.
Hi Sam,
I imagine the new resins will be some sort of wax-based polymers? Because that would work the best.
Do you know approximately when we can see these resins for sale?
good morning
I’m interested in the purchase of a machine for prototyping jewelry pieces but would need please if anyone of you and want to help me do a test print of the model attached as document. For printing quality jewelry must be really good because the pieces are very small and small details are present in all parts. I would ask someone of you please if you have programmed the machine to print if you wanted to print the attached model to see how it looks with the machine prototyping formlabs
I also pedieria someone of you I see they are doing tests to know if the resin casting with printing machine used for casting of jewelry and presents no failure when casting
thank you very much for everything and hope if anyone wants to help me to print the model of the ring and see the quality of printing
@ jorge serrano
I don´t have the printer yet and I have no experience in printing (I know 3d-printing only in theory). I looked at your ring and I found two areas that might cause problems when printed.
look at the attached screenshots there you can see little gaps. I don´t konw if I´m right but I think for printing you need a really “clean” mesh.
cheers
Klaus
Even if those areas circled above did print without any problems, that doesn’t mean they would cast well. Any sharp interior cracks like that will translate into sharp projections that stick into the mold. Since they are only made of plaster and silica, that means that they are subject to erosion when the metal enters the mold with considerable force. Any little pieces of investment like that which break off into the mold cavity will translate into voids in your castings, usually just where you least want to see them. Design your parts with smooth transitions, and your castings will come out a lot better.
Andrew Werby
Hello, casting direct from the the Form 1 is important to me too. This machine doesn’t have the detail quality of other printers. Small parts are hard to get the detail for the designs. I will be designing to it’s cappabilities. Still the need for the reisn to cast is the most important. There are good investment compounds that are made for casting plastics, ultravest and plasticast, are two of them. Both can go to very high temperatures. A slow and long burnout cylce is needed. the top end being about 1560 and held for 2 hours, and a casting temperature of 1100. They are very good on expansion and surface smoothnes.
The other investigation is into another resin. There is one called Somos ProtoCast 19122. This is a sla resin with investment casting ablities. The company that sells in th USA , sells it as it is packaged to them in 10 kilo bottles at $2640.00. There is no sample size offered. If there was a number of us who would like to try this resin we could buy the 10 kilos and divide it up between the parties. This might be a short cut instead of waiting for Formlab to come up with one of thier own. If anyone is interested you can reach me at mcfarlane@studio29.hrcoxmail.com.
Hey Guys,
Does anyone know 'digital wax’printers? I think they are based on the same technology,
maybe it’s worth ordering some resin from them to see if it works with the form1…?
Did anyone have any more success with the casting?
@Ben, the wax printers are a different tech (they are more like inkjet printers for wax) and the wax prints can be used to set stones in wax before casting as well, but resin prints are merely for casting, you can not set stones in the resin prints before casting (please prove me wrong!)
@ deepak
I ment DWS’s ‘digital wax’ thats the name of the model, printers…
And yes you can set stones in resin model’s, you just need to know how 
Best,
Did anyone try using the b9 resin on the form1 for casting?