I have done some in-house experiments with the clear resin. The last I tried was to remove the ashes residue from the investment then casted. The result was quite clear to me that the surface of the ring I casted was good, only build lines were visible. “ It’s a simple ring “. I’m convinced now that much more complex jewelry pieces can be achieved this way until such time FormLabs team release the new direct casting resin.
A) The ring was built at 100 microns layer with 2 rods on both sides extend to base for removing ashes.
B) 12 hours burnout cycle with 2 hrs max hold at 800 C. Then Leave to cool down completely.
C) Suck and blow the ashes out using a silicon tube.
D) Put back into the oven and run a 5 hrs burnout cycle as you would do with wax and cast.
Just a thought of sharing this experiment with jeweller folks like me who use Form1 printer for their jewellery production. I also wish to extend credits to Monger Designs for the amazing efforts in the forum in-search of direct casting resin.
Wow! that looks amazing! how did you get it finished? did you do it yourself? Also, I have no idea how this casting stuff works, is there a good place learn about it?
Nice work Don! This is similar to what you can see Asiga users doing in their forums. It seems like all RP resin leaves some ash residue (even the resin for those expensive printers). What makes a good castable resin is that the resin can liquify/melt before it burns, therefore minimizing the ash residue left behind. (the b9 resin does this)
The compressed air trick can be used for simple rings, etc, but for complex jewelry I don’t see it working.
I’m currently working with someone to help test their resin for the Form1 and direct casting and have high hopes that it will work. It’s a very low viscosity “stinky” resin that cures to a smooth detailed waxy finish. Unfortunately the Form1 overcures it past the layers, and since there is no way to adjust the intensity and cure times in software, the resin formula will need to be adjusted. Will let you guys know when I have something.
@Andrew, the work was done in house from start to finish (CAD,CAM,Cast,Completion). After casting, it took less than 1 hour to complete. It’s a simple ring. A bit of effort when filing/grinding to rid of built lines follow by sanding, polishing, setting stones, more polishing then finishing it of with 18k electroplating. I think if you go to jewellery’s tool store, you will find helpful salesperson there that will help you out with what you need to do. @Jesse, thanks for the complement - I wish I could cast multiple pieces in one flask. @Monger Designs, I tried with compressed air before. Ashes residue was pushed to the bottom of the flask and end up with fail cast. Good to know that you are still expediting your effort in search of direct casting resin. I hope and wish that you will get the right formula soon. I will buy the resin from you. I will continue to test out this method with more complex jewellery pieces until such time Monger Designs or Formlabs release the direct casting resin.
Hello. I did try it also. But with big holes after casting. What kind of gypsum investment material do you use? Do you have a detailed description of them?
Eduard, I used R&R white gold investment. I tried a few more experiments with more complex patterns, the result was messy and did not cast well. For a simple pattern like the ring above was easy to attach channels to push out the ashes residue. I’m currently trying out other resin by MadeSolid which so far works for me. Good luck with your next try.
Thongie
Thanks Gideon, its been a long wait. Just placed an order of your half litter bottle and a resin tray to try out. I’m excited, please send it quickly.
Thongie.
As many traditional casting jewelers, I’m very intersted in your resin research.
I’m a product designer working recently in jewelry projects and waiting to recieve my FORM 1+ machine.
I hope it will work out.
Have you tries ENVISOTEC or MADESOLID resins with ten FORM1+?
Now that the form1 has a castable resin, which is incredibly good, why would I want to pay for the Envisiontec resin? Or even the MadeSolid resin.
Stick to the formlabs castable resin, you won’t be sorry. My caster just put 3 rings I gave him on a tree with other WAX items and cast it perfectly. He said people will not believe he did that, because nobody wants to risk the entire casting to go bad, but the formlabs castable resin is just that good.
Hi Monger,
Did your caster mounted in temperature like as for traditional wax jewelry cycle?
Or did he mounted as for dental casting with higher and longer cycle?
PD: thanks for your contribution and comments I have been reading lastly
He has his own casting process/cycle that he uses for wax. The only thing he changed was casting it with the plasticast investment, but I suspect that even satincast will work fine, however haven’t tested that yet.
We casted it using various methods, and even the recommended ones provided by the plasticast people and they all work fine with the formlabs castable resin.
Hi Luis,
I agree with what Monger_Designs has mentioned. This new FormLab’s castable resin works very well for me. I’m convinced now that you can cast the jewellery pieces with this resin in the same way as most traditional jewellers have done with wax for years. I have done a few castings with this resin already. One of the casts contains 11 jewellery pieces in a one flask. The cast came out clean, and my jewellers have no problem finishing them off. I have no doubt that you can mass produce your jewellery pieces with this resin as long as your printer can print them. At least now, you don’t have to do what I did with the clear resin I posted above. I will post some picts to share with the comminity soon. I hope you will receive your printer soon and try out this new resin, I don’t think you will be disappointed.
Thongie
I have done a cast with three different materials in one flask (Wax, FormLab cartable resin, and EC500 from ET)
. The cast came out clean, the surface of FL castable is a bit grainier than the other two. The final products were very good. 18K yellow gold cast using a normal lost wax burnout cycle.
I see the same bad surface on your ring that was printed on the form1. In that regard it was successful casting, because what you had on the print came out in the casting.
However you should be able to print that ring with a much nicer surface quality. Which settings did you use? Did you clean the ring well and did you let it cure all the way?
@Aaron_Silidker & @Monger_Designs , I did not follow the burnout schedule. Instead I bent the rule a bit, I put it through a 5 hrs burnout schedule which I often do with wax and ec500 when I try to complete the job in a hurry. The ring was printed at 50 microns, and that was as best as I could achieve. The two sides of the ring were a bit dirty due to my dirty fingers when I tried to mount the ring to the sprue base after post cured (after post cured the ring was still a bit tacky and sticky). The finished job after polishing was very good, almost a mirror finish, I could not ask for more from this resin.
