Printing and casting a challenge coin

I’m making some challenge coins for gifts. I will be printing in waxcast v2 edit: Castable wax and then casting in .950 argentium silver.

As it seems like printing the coin in two thin halves is the best way to get the best surface finish with no supports It brings me to my question.

I’m using waxcast v2 and need to join/glue the two halves together before mounting it to a sprue and burning it out.

Any suggestions on what to join them with? Was thinking wax, but I don’t want to start melting the wax in the resin. Not sure if CA glue would burn out cleanly.

I could probably just brush some wax on the seam to hold it together, and clean up the edge after casting.

I guess I have some experimenting to do, but I would love to hear some ideas.

Thanks!
-Ken

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Looks like all I had to do was ask a question, then my next result in my google search brought me to:

It seems CA glue burns out just fine. I’ll give it a shot and post back here with any disasters and/or successes.

-Ken

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The castable wax resin really works? I personally have found many problems in the casting and there are no good results. Someone knows some solution?

I’m also a glass artist, and we have also used CA (cyanoacrylate glue…in the US, marketed as Super Glue) because it burns out pretty cleanly. That would be my suggestion to try.

Have you cast these yet with Formlabs Castable Wax or Castable v2 on this project or any other projects? I didn’t know if WaxCast is a different manufacturer’s resin.

I have had some success with Castable Wax, but the main issue seems to be residual ash. I’m using PlastiCast investment and adding about 1% boric acid to the mixture to make the investment harder. I’m also using a can of air to blow out the mold after removing it from the kiln when it’s at the final casting temperature, then putting it back in the kiln to bring it back up to temperature.

I have also used Open Mode with BlueCast, and had pretty consistent results. I first tried it because it didn’t require curing, then Formlabs came out with Castable Wax (purple) that didn’t require curing. Most of the surface problems I’ve seen were either incomplete ash burnout or the models weren’t cured. That said, I bought a Form Cure but haven’t had the time to cast in awhile.

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@katkramer Yeah. My mistake. It’s castable wax. Haven’t even opened up the tank or the resin yet until I get good prototypes in the grey.

Also: Your ZBrush videos on youtube were a big inspiration. I’ve worked with wood, stone, steel, and glass in the past. This casting is going to be a fun adventure, I’m sure. I took a class at Creative Side in Austin a while back and the casting bug bit me. Just getting around to picking up the equipment recently.

Thanks for all the input here , I too have found that there always seems to be a residual ash , I find the same issue using a Envisiontec printer but not as bad . Your right Kat about blowing it out , I use an air compressor set at about 100 lbs. I figure that the plasticast won’t have a breakdown issue because there is at least that much force with the metal entering the mold . Blowing the flask out before casting has brought the quality of the castings up to about 85 out of a hundred and makes them usable and semi consistent

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