.

No, John; not "everyone" is taking that position

I am genuinely interested in the possibilities, but have no experience of "the trade" … which is why I asked specific questions, on page_2 of this thread.

MichaelG.

.

P.S.   I presume that many of us are old enough to remember Hot Metal printing of Newspapers … Without wishing to  labour the comparison, I think there are lessons to be learned from history.

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 13/02/2014 07:46:35

.

{Note: for convenience, I have corrected the typo when quoting my question.}

Many Thanks, Jason

I'm beginning to understand the "workflow".

So; are the "Lost Wax" casters happy to accept PLA as Wax ?

That may seem a pedantic question, but I think we need clarity.

MichaelG.

.

If you roll up to the foundry I use with a part or pattern they will do it – no problem.

I have even rolled up with broken motor end cases that have been rough welded back together and the missing bits from the explosion replaced with folded up cardboard and bondo, they will still do them as a one off emergency repair

Roll up with a drawing and you get blank looks, lets face it that step from drawing to pattern is that vast you just can't afford it unless you want 10,000 off.

In fact i think I posted this before but perhaps not in this thread. When I took the project part up the other week I was offered some bronze regimental badges to print out as patterns.

They have had these years from the looks of them but getting someone interested enough to do the pattern is the stumbling block based on cost.

Personally at the moment I can't do it because of time constraints and I'm not that good yet on 3D CAD.

However something that has only just occurred to me is that this side of the hobby could replace the manual side as in winter when it's too cold to go out in the shop or being kept out of the shop thru illness.

Hi There

If you have some regimental badges you want to cast perhaps you could cast them in resin and use the resin as patterns. Yes, there might be slight shrinkage but not a lot.

With companies going bust, I am considering making patterns and then making resin casts of them.

Then I can send the resin casts to the foundry and keep the expensive or time consuming masters in case the foundry goes bust and my patterns are lost.

Only thing I need to do is find out what I can get away with with resin patterns.

I have all the bits to make the moulds and cast the resin.

regards david

MW's post has made me sad that my remaining 20 years will not be long enough to see all these exciting new developments.
I see little threat to the ME casting suppliers. Home foundries have always been around and local ones were more common. TIme and skills were more available in the past for wooden pattern making but as with tool choices – make or buy- model engineers have always chosen which stages they want to get involved in doing. Who runs a blast furnace at home just because it is possible. In practice we are seeing more people interested in ready cast and machined parts than wanting to go back a stage and make their own patterns. Fewer people are making their own boilers. Nowadays many of us have the money not time so we use the time we have for the bits that aren't available off the shelf.

Surely there is no point in having a 3D printer if you can't do 3D CAD

Rod

You are not wrong

It's one reason that I'm trying to get up to speed but life keeps getting in the way.

Fortunately at the moment a lot of what I want to do includes gears and Gearotic will spit an STL file out for 3D printing without having to draw the gear in 3D

.

Anyone ??

The reason I ask is … I know that the Wax is specially formulated to melt out, and then burn out, leaving almost no residue. But it seems reasonable to assume that melted PLA will not run like molten wax, and burnt PLA might leave some ash residue within the cavity.

Does any forum member have actual experience of using printed PLA as a substitute for the "proper" Wax ?

… Grateful for any advice.

MichaelG.

Thanks Jason

That's a useful start

… some discussion here

MichaelG.

Why would you make patterns instead of subbing out and having the parts made directly? – As Andrew, I also have used the subbys to make parts (finished and ready to go into assemblies) and if I want metal I would have them printed in metal – for those not aware, the search term you need is DMLS (direct metal laser sintering) and if you add the term "rapid prototype" it should take you to something of interest.

I would also agree with the comments about needing some file creating method, the only method that is likely to suit a model maker/experimenter is individual 3D cad and this is going to be hard to support in the magazine given the software costs and range of choice. Logically, this would be the place to start.

The way it seems to me, even though this is fast evolving new tech, there is little point making something that has limited ability (other than making simple models covered in stringy afterbirth) unless it is for the benefit of understanding the origins of the technology or for some fun. It seems to make more sense to concentrate on more "generally" usefully items to do with the conventional machines we mostly have. An example being the rotary laser thing that popped up recently. There will always be new ideas that you can cobble a prototype machine for (die sinkers and wire edm have all been done of late) but these are very special items suited to only a few people. As I get older, things that help me use conventional machines are getting more important, especially compensating for degrading eye sight!

On reflection, perhaps the reprap fitted with a mig torch might prove more interesting (although I would get some real ear ache about the electricity bill….)

Mark

Edited By John Stevenson on 14/02/2014 00:13:18

.

Andrew,

Thanks for that very useful link.

MichaelG.

.

Short answer, Mark

Where's the fun in that ?

.

Slightly longer answer:

I enjoy tinkering with Microscopes, Clocks, Cameras, etc. … Repair, Restoration, Modification, or sometimes just pulling things apart to find out how they work … This is a hobby.

Many of the Microscope parts were originally made from Investment Castings, in Brass/Bronze or in Aluminium Alloy. Inevitably; items get acquired with parts missing, worn, or damaged … or I might want to make a special part.

I doubt if I shall ever have the luxury of my own Foundry; so I must draw the "subcontract" line at pouring metal … but I am interested in doing as much of the other work as I can.

We are being encouraged to take 3D Printing seriously, and that is exactly what I am attempting to do; but I don't want to make finished items in plastic [be it ABS or PLA] … I am, however, keen to learn how to best use 3D printing for pattern-making.

I hope that explains my personal interest in this topic; 'though I fully accept that others may be differently motivated.

MichaelG.