Metal Melter

[JMS1972]

Emboldened by two pints of Henry Weston's last night, my lad brought a cow home from the pub (he did ask nicely).

I quickly knocked up 6 sheets of A4, taped together, with segments marked at 15 degrees.

Took 24 photos around the perimeter, 12 from above and 12 from below.

Ran through Zephyr.

Didn't work!

View attachment 341204

Shadow doesn't help you need diffuse lighting. Put sheet of white paper Infront of the light sources....

The lines may be confusing things too as the algorithm can't differentiate between them. Try putting a different symbol on each line too. Or number them or something.

 

[Onoff]

Shadow doesn't help you need diffuse lighting. Put sheet of white paper Infront of the light sources....

The lines may be confusing things too as the algorithm can't differentiate between them. Try putting a different symbol on each line too. Or number them or something.

Or give up!

 

[m_c]

As it's only the head you need, could you cut a hole in a bit white paper, so it isolates the head from the body?

I suspect the colour probably isn't helping things either, but as others have said, more even light and less shadows will probably help.

 

[Onoff]

Meshmixer seems to be getting somewhere. Lad's been able to take one of the better meshes and remove the rubbish. There's a "sculpt" tool. Fingers crossed he'll have a workable STL shortly.

Thanks for that @JMS1972 !

 

[Onoff]

Nearly!

 

[Onoff]

Moved it up a tad and added a support. Thinking though the support looks "wrong", too clinical, not antiquated enough. Tbh the lhs of the face is better. The rhs is sculpted a bit in the program. Not sure on the mouth either.

Test print running now.

 

[Onoff]

Woke up this morning and my lad had finished the print. I would say this is now almost perfect with it's imperfections!

The "hand" sculpting he did in Meshmixer makes it look less a product of the digital age and more old school handcrafted. It adds a personal touch.

As happy as I am with this I'm really happy he's done as he errs to self doubt albeit always gets there.

I suppose that's my job as Dad to push him and say if you fall down get up and try again.

Thanks to all who helped us get here, special thanks to @JMS1972.

Now for the hard part, mould making and casting!

I think this is maybe crossing a line between an old, flat horse brass and jewellery. Wondering now at "lost wax" or similar casting. Perhaps print this in PVA?

The journey continues!

Won't be long now @Kram !

 

[Anguz]

interested to see how you get on with lost pla casting....
something i intend to try very soon

 

[Onoff]

interested to see how you get on with lost pla casting....
something i intend to try very soon

Lost PVA we're going to try, not PLA.

 

[Kram]

Pva, as in the water soluble glue? Didnt know it could be printed.

Looks good. I'll try and get the melter reassembled!

 

[Onoff]

Pva, as in the water soluble glue? Didnt know it could be printed.

Looks good. I'll try and get the melter reassembled!

Yep. Just Google "lost PVA casting".

 

[JMS1972]

That looks awesome well done for sticking with it

 

[Onoff]

That's some PVA filament ordered. Expensive though!

https://www.amazon.co.uk/ICE-FILAMENTS-ICEFIL1PVA157-Filament-Naughty/dp/B017HAIPWK/ref=mp_s_a_1_16?

 

[Anguz]

Whats naughty about it?

 

[Kram]

Just the price

I had a google but couldnt find much about lost pva. Is it burnt or disolved out?

 

[Onoff]

Just the price

I had a google but couldnt find much about lost pva. Is it burnt or disolved out?

Only really just started to delve into the process. First understandings are you mechanically remove some and dissolve the rest. You dissolve in water but it takes several hours. I may be wrong.

Whatever, PVA arriving tomorrow!

I assume you would print in PVA then lay in the mould tray and pour "plaster" or whatever over it. When set immerse the while thing in water to dissolve the PVA. What material though for the "plaster" that wouldn't be affected by the water?

 

[Onoff]

Who knew you could print with PVA? Well you can & we are:

Have also read the best water to dissolve it in is distilled.

One PVA cow coming up!

 

[Onoff]

Give a big, warm welcome, to the forum's first PVA cow!

A bit stringy so printing a second but with the retraction settings changed to known "good" ones used here for PETG. This was printed at 215degC nozzle, 55degC bed, 40mm/s:

It's a darn sight harder, the wispy bits, than I expected. I reckon it'll need a bit of tidying with the Dremel.

One oddity is it "pops and crackles" when printing. Similar noise to when things are cooling on a bed. This is apparently moisture burning off!

 

[Dr.Al]

Give a big, warm welcome, to the forum's first PVA cow!

A bit stringy so printing a second but with the retraction settings changed to known "good" ones used here for PETG. This was printed at 215degC nozzle, 55degC bed, 40mm/s:

View attachment 341456

View attachment 341455

It's a darn sight harder, the wispy bits, than I expected. I reckon it'll need a bit of tidying with the Dremel.

View attachment 341454

One oddity is it "pops and crackles" when printing. Similar noise to when things are cooling on a bed. This is apparently moisture burning off!

Looks good. I've never tried PVA but I've heard it's a b****r for soaking up any moisture in the atmosphere. It's supposed to be good to run it straight out of a dry box if you've got one.

 

[Onoff]

I have this investment powder as per the attached two PDFs. Says it's ideal for gold and brass.

The plan is to place the model in a tray and glue it down with regular PVA glue.

Then mix and pour the investment powder slurry over it.

It says let it set for 90 minutes before "burning out". I presume that means if the model is wax?

What will happen then if I let the investment powder set then immerse the set mould in warm water to dissolve the PVA?