All casting waxes are NOT created equal. Several types of wax are available and each can serve a different purpose. Often they are used in combinations to suit the needs of the professional caster. Generally, the harder the consistency of a wax media, the more dimensionally accurate and stable the model/pattern will be.
Modeling waxes tend to be soft and pliable like clay, easy to shape but difficult to obtain fine detail.
Carving waxes are of tougher consistency, are not very flexible, but can be filed, carved or machined.
Injection waxes are hard and brittle, with a consistency closer to plastic rather than to wax. As the name implies, injection waxes are used in conjunction with special pumps that literally inject molten wax into a flexible rubber mold. It takes only seconds to produce a wax pattern by this means. Because the mold is flexible, the wax pattern pops out easily. BUT, undercuts need to be minimal and not every geometry allowed by 3DP will be possible to mold. Virtually all lost wax production jewelry is made by this means.
3d printing wax media closely resembles injection wax. Hard, brittle, stable, like plastic. To the jewelry industry, the primary value of 3d wax printing lies in the ability to rapidly create a hi-res wax pattern of complex design. Due to the hi cost of true hi-res wax printing this #1 wax model would be used to create (cast) a solid metal pattern. This #1 metal casting would be cleaned up to perfection and then be used as the
master pattern from which rubber injection molds are made. These rubber molds are then used to produce large quantities of injection wax models which are subsequently cast in metal via the
lost wax process
But what does all this mean for the Shapeways community? For some who want to use the wax prints as is, this is great. To others already equipped for lost wax casting, absolutely great opportunity! For those wanting to do post processing of wax prints at home, and then DIY casting........... just understand that if you are intent on setting up even a modest casting operation this will require a sizable investment in time and $$$$.
-G