I need help casting resin grown by Shapeways

Discussion in 'Materials' started by maya2012, Jan 19, 2016.

  1. maya2012
    maya2012 Member
    Has any body cast the castable resin grown by Shapeways? I ordered one and Shapeways told me that they do not have casting instructions. I am going to cast it in silver.
     
  2. Rick1633
    Rick1633 Member
    I don't think Shapeways even has castable resin. They offer castable wax...... which is what you could use. Although it's expensive . 10 dollar fee upfront and then you pay for the volume. It makes printing multiple copies of a wax model impossibly expensive.
     
  3. awerby
    awerby Member
    If your model is wax, it's probably coming out of a Solidscape printer. In that case, it will cast like any other wax model. If it's a waxy resin, it will need a little more air in the kiln during the end of the burnout. I drilled a hole in the front of my kiln and ran a line from my air compressor into it, with the regulator turned down very low. Plasticast investment helps too, since it will tolerate slightly higher temperatures.

    Andrew Werby
    Juxtamorph.com
     
  4. Rick1633
    Rick1633 Member
    You CANNOT properly burnout anything printed by Shapeways except their castable wax. All of their other materials will leave ash. Shapeways is now obsolete since you can print castable resin with Formlabs. Shapeways has refused about 75% of all of my wax printing designs because they are worried of breakage. AND they will not allow you to pick "print anyways" even though wax can be melted back together.

    sorry, Shapeways... if you don't offer castable resin like Formlabs... I can only use 3d Hubs which as people with Formslabs and castable resin.
     
  5. Andrewsimonthomas
    Andrewsimonthomas Well-Known Member

    We could potentially use castable resin if there's demand, have you had good successes with it?
     
  6. Rick1633
    Rick1633 Member
    Hello, yes. Sorry I was so harsh on my experience with Shapeways but it is frustrating. Yes, castable resin burns out cleanly. You simply follow FormLabs castable resin burnout instructions for temp. and time.

    You guys reject almost all of my wax models because you say it might break, (even though I offer to repair my own model if it breaks since it's only made of wax).

    The beauty of castable resin.... it HARDENS under UV lamp so you guys can strengthen the models before you ship them!!!!
     
  7. Andrewsimonthomas
    Andrewsimonthomas Well-Known Member
    @Rick1633 can you share some examples of what you're making with it? feel free to send them to me as a PM if you want to keep them private.
     
  8. Rick1633
    Rick1633 Member
    Sure, my latest project is not really of a unique design so I don't mind showing it.....

    Here is a perfect example of a model that is impossible to get printed in wax by Shapeways because your technicians believe it may break during shipping. (Which, they could be right about).... (But... wax can be welded back together).

    These are entire trees of anchor chain links to make a necklace. I had both of these printed in Formlabs castable resin for a total of only 36 dollars on 3dhubs. These are about 65mm high in total for each of the two trees. Andrew, the beauty of castable resin, is that it hardens under UV light. So if you do this before shipping, they don't break if well packed. Both of these made it to me fine. I strongly recommend you get a castable resin so you don't miss out on sales.

    Ask your printer technicians if they would print this in wax and you will only here no, no, no.
     

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