3D Print to Solid Metal, BETTER Than Lost PLA Casting
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- čas přidán 30. 03. 2023
- Lost PLA casting, but easier and without the problems.
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#metalcasting #lostpla #3dprinting - Jak na to + styl
Zamak12 available at rotometals.com
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The ducting you showed was single wall HVAC pipe. That garbage offgasses when heated, and if you're not in a well ventilated area, you can develop heavy metal poisoning. You should have a disclaimer in there. Great video though, gonna try this.
This feels like therapy or something... A Paul video with no spilling, stuff works, result looks great, Paul is happy... very nice
I definitely tried to screw that skull up but sometimes things just work lol
Pro tip…no vacuum chamber? a counter top foodsaver or equivalent with the hose attatchment for sealer jars👍
The ducts might be and are probably galvanized. Be mindful that heat will cause the zinc coating to vaporize. When zinc vaporizes, it can create zinc oxide fumes.
Great tips love your content
Yes they are galvanized. Fortunately everything is already well ventilated for the plastic that's burning out and the propane 👍
@@PaulsGarage Bad answer, heavy metal poisoning wont make you sick or dizzy it will permanently ruin your life
@@PaulsGarage Good video nonetheless
That’s all I could think about when I saw that part. Zinc oxide is potent fatal. I did like the video otherwise 😊
You're focused on the micron-thin layer of zinc on the ducts, which never gets especially hot in the first place, rather than the hundreds of grams of molten ZAMAK, which is 96% zinc.
Can't wait to see the "right way" to do it, bc I have a vacuum chamber, and perforated flasks. Great stuff, always enjoy your videos! Keep it up!
I'm a couple pieces of equipment away from that but it's coming eventually👍
Claim - this stuff works, well wow it really does. I’m new here and this is a breath of fresh air! Good clear advice or info delivered at a fast pace and good shots of casts that are just fab. Like it a lot, thanks Paul.
Thanks!
Polycast is great, the tip about prepainting with plaster is genius, especially for people without a vacuum chamber, so yah I concur, good advice here. I would suggest making sure you only use that vent tube outside only cuz it will poison you otherwise, and if you want higher resolution resin printing with burnout resin works the same as pla printing with burnout PLA but at a much higher rez. Couldn't have given better advice myself.
It is always nice to see people discovering decade-old technology when looking to improve their new found technologies.
Zamak is cheap-ish (not much cheaper than the alternatives anymore), easy to handle, relatively strong.
Of course it also has its downsides - it is extremely susceptible to contaminations. Ever touched lead with the tongs you use to pick the Zamak? You just contaminated your zamak and it might rot away with just a few years. And while it is strong it loses strength with time and lacks some of the nice-to-have properties other materials have. Aluminium i significantly lighter and corrosion-resistant, iron (yes way harder to melt) is stronger and cheaper, copper has higher electric and thermal conductivity while also being more pliable etc.
But for pure decorative parts casting Zamak is great.
Want me to personally teach you how to use your 3D printer to learn sand casting? Click here: paulsmakeracademy.mykajabi.com/
PolyCast Filament: amzn.to/3ZrfXkF
so... building a lathe out of Za-12?
I am indeed yes
I thought the question was a joke, but … cool! (A Gingery type thing or something more modern?)
@@DEtchells modified gingery lathe
The only problem with Zamak, aside of relatively low melting point, that its kind of brittle material. In comparison, nylon is much stronger and actually sometimes even PLA is a better choice over Zamak.
Many parts will work well done in Za12.
Honestly glad I found this channel.its a no bullshit channel so far.pretty neat
Man this is a great video filled with non-stop useful information thank you for your service 🙏
Thanks! Glad to ramble non stop, extra glad it's useful!
I used to do lost wax casting for Jewelry at a college and I wanted to get back into it for a long time.
Thank you so much for this video.
I just found your channel.
Really looking forward to using Zamack Ingots and experimenting with all that, can’t wait to start making stuff!
That's great! You can join the discord and share it with us if you want. Another good channel to look at is @vogman
When I was like 14 I met a retired dentist in my neighborhood who had a whole jewelry casting workshop in his backyard. He taught me how to do lost wax casting and nickel and gold plating.
One of the best memories of my childhood, I stopped playing videogames and football for a few months I went to his house almost every afternoon
That sounds like an amazing opportunity. I wish more people would get that opportunity!
For jewelers who want to cast small parts with fine details, a resin printer may be a better option. There is a resin equivalent of polycast that has (casting) properties very similar to wax, and a lot of jewelers have started to use this.
Glad i got your video..its something new in this way you shared. And im actually planning on casting something in a lost pla method. I will use pla as its what i have. 😅
Love Zamak. Looking forward to the next vid!
I've used MoldLay before with great results. It's the same price as polycast, but it's a wax filament that's easy to print with and melts out of the mold super easily.
LOL, your comment on John Snow was fantastic!
Great advice that I will remember as I start putting together my foundry setup. =]
Apparently the algorithm has blessed me today by recommending this video. Very cool and interested to try your tips. Thanks!
The algorithm has been very kind to me lately
I love this channel. It reminds me of the RedGreen show, but I learn some real, actual, good tips. Thanks!
One day I hope to live up to the example set by red green 🤣
CZcams did that crap of just not showing me your videos on my subscriptions as if I had unsubscribed... Anyway, glad to have your videos back.
Yeah they do that lol it happens to us all
Thanks for this really useful info on the Polycast filament and the Zamak alloys. Just the stuff I need for some steam engine castings👍
Sounds good! Zamak is a bearing alloy too I think, it should work better than aluminum
Aside to the great content, I find you are also very funny, the narration is a joy when someone´s so funny !!!
I recently thought of molds made with PVA, as it is water soluble, but with PVB it makes more sense mainly because it is easier to print, PVA ends up getting moisture very easily, which makes printing difficult, maybe HIPS would be an option , since it is soluble in delimonene.
For those who still prefer PLA, Esun has PLA High flow, perhaps because of its ease of melting, it helps in the lost casting process.
you can add silica sand or the red material like on the tennis court in the plaster for better resilience to heat and it doesn't crack as much when you do the burnout. 50/50 proportion sand and plaster
This is great 😃I've looked for easily castable (low temperature) alloys before, but didn't find much worth having. Zamak looks like it's pretty much perfect for most applications, unless weight is really an issue. Zamak 5 is known in the EU as Z410 and has mechanical properties close to 6061 aluminium. By weight it's cheaper but by volume it's around the same price as aluminium (at least from the suppliers that I have access to). Thanks for the great video 😊
I've been looking into ways of 3D printing a steering knuckle for my kid's Go Kart. It's got suspension, big wheels and a top speed of just 40kph, so I think it won't hurt giving Zamak a try for that purpose.
Polycast is definitely a solid step up from PLA, been using it for a couple of years now. It works great for small scale casting but gets a little squirrely when casting larger prints in ceramic shell. Good video, dig your channel.
Good to know about the larger prints, thanks!
what infill do you print Polycast for burn out? 80% 20%?
I usually go as low as possible, 10-20% for most prints and I made no adjustments for polycast
@@PaulsGarage thanx, you are really cool, I didn't even know this stuff existed
@@privateprivate3767 @paulsGarage The amount of infill for me depends on the size of the print. smaller prints are closer to 20% larger print (over 12" high) ill drop to 10%. The other variable is whether the print /object is a solid vs a thin walled hollow. Less for a sold, more for hollow. Ideally the less material you need to burn out the better.
Great info. You had me on the edge of my seat waiting for a big bed pour…
So about that lathe bed... I have the pattern, I made those big flasks and then (dramatic pause) I realized I didn't have enough casting sand lol. I ordered more and the box just came in yesterday 👍
What an info dump! I got tips for printing, glueing, smoothing, casting, and marital advice!
Just remember I'm not legally liable if you end up divorced 🤣 my advice *might not* be great
Looking forward to your further experiments with Polycast. Like to see how it smooths out with pla
I still like the idea of making a silicon mold using the pla print, casting in wax or simular other materials then casting a master mold by heating and melting the wax
My preferred method. It also gives you the option to tidy up and smooth those print lines on the wax model before the final cast. If I'm making multiples then I'll silicon mould from the improved wax model. Personally, this is the necessarily long route through the woods I have to take because I'm not a sculptor and rely on the printer to do the hard work. Not sure I'll rush to use Zanak... I think the fumes issue outweighs the convenience for me.
Hey Paul! Been a sub for a long time and I gotta say, love your vids brother! Thanks for sharing the info in this video. Definitely going to try your method! 🙂👊🏼👍🏼🍻
Thanks and good luck!
@@PaulsGarage thanks, I’ll definitely need it!
This one video got a thumbs up and a subscribe from me. Thank you for this. I own a small business specializing in restoration of vintage automotive related hobbies such as racing karts, motorcycles and specialty cars and trucks. I am a professional fabricator and often times I have to methodically recreate broken or worn out parts that can not be purchased at any price. I have been seriously considering purchasing a decent 3d printer just for this purpose of assisting in sand casting and slurry casting of one off parts. Everything you said is music to the ears. Thank you again.
That sounds awesome! That's why I got into metal casting, i wanted to make car parts. I got a bit distracted with 3d printing and fell way down the metal casting rabbit hole while my car project just sits there haha! This video isn't the ideal way to do it, actually. For plaster investment casting, I would use jewelry wax for sprues, and a vacuum casting machine. Any big car parts should probably be sand cast, but things like metal radio knobs, door handles, hood ornaments could be resin printed for better quality. I've always wanted to make a custom set of cylinder heads or intake manifolds or something, but that's a "one day when I get to it" kind of project, you know? 3d printers and 3d modeling is a great way to get patterns for casting. I would add 3d scanning to that, too. It's not the scale you're talking about, but I scanned a power wheels toy mustang and printed a full new body for it to look like greased lightning (video sometime in the future), so you're in good company here!
I will say though with sand casting, it's vital you get the gating right to avoid porosity and sand and junk in your metal castings. Good luck and let me know what you're making!
@@PaulsGarage I currently have a small part for a vintage racing kart that I'm trying to recreate. It is a small carburetor intake reed valve body that was originally probably die cast aluminum. The part has a rather complex shape as it holds either 4 of 6 metal or fiberglass reeds and stands about 2 inches tall by about 2 inches round at the base. Material wise there is maybe 4-5 oz of aluminum. Originally this part cost $6-$10 in 1966 when it was developed. If you can even find one today that is good usable part, expect to pay north of $100. I know of at least 20 other restorer's actively looking for multiple parts for current projects. Even if I made them in batches of 20 or more at a time, I bet they would sell out quick. I would like to utilize the 3d print to cast method for short runs of parts like this before I dump thousands into a cnc made billet steel die and a pressure casting rig for a $40 part.
Another idea for burnout containers is sections of Exhaust Pipe, especially stainless exhaust pipe.
As you sort of mentioned if you do lost PLA you absolutely have to use natural PLA with no colorants.
Good point, I think as little junk in there to leave ash the better
Amazing, they are spot on!!
Thanks for the whole walkthrough bro, now I know. Legit
Looking forward to the future “ideal” way. Thanks!
I'll give you a sneak peak, every part except the burnout material and metal alloy is different 😉
Great tips. Well done
Ive done this before with polysmooth! Works so well.
How is polysmooth to print with?
@@NM-wd7kx If its dry, it prints a lot like PLA but doesnt bridge as well. If its wet? Youre in for a bad time.
All I can say as thank you! Off to design custom truck emblems!
Go for it!
I've just gotten into Lost PLA, I started using Ovature Black PLA and using an air compressor to blow it the mold after burn out and Its been working really well. I'm going to look into poly cast filament though.
word to the wise though, those galvanized stove pipe will burn up and oxidize way too fast, you are better off getting a cut off of square tubing or steel pipe. stainless steel if possible.
Air compressor is the only way I've heard of people successfully cleaning a PLA burnout, but I'm worried some molds might not get clean enough with that. No idea though, never tried.
And good call about the thicker steel. These pipes don't look too good after use but the temps weren't as high as if I was doing bronze. Eventually I want to do vacuum casting so beefier flasks are totally a must
Fantastic video, thank you so much!
Thank for watching!
Really cool! I'm starting to lean toward plating pla though. Recent videos show that if you paint it with a conductive graphite paint, it can be plated with nickel, and then other metals like gold on top of the nickel.
That plating stuff is really awesome. It looks great in my opinion, but the end result is different. I'd rather have a piece that's solid metal, with all the weight, but not everybody is like me.
I recently saw a video of testing different methods of getting a chrome finish on a part and the winner was this chrome nail polish stuff
still: 1st plate with copper, then with nickel. Nickel-plating directly isn´t easy...
You can also smooth the polycast with a Polysher or just plain Isopropyl alcohol
Thanks for the heads up on the Zinc alloy, i was going to play with Aluminum Bronze but damn does it have a high melting point
Aluminum bronze is pretty awesome for sure, but this is super easy
Love your t-shirt!
Yet another reason to try Zinc alloys. Always wanted to do white metal model trains. This plastic and Zamak might be better. I found white metal a little soft.
Very cool stuff!
If you want another tip, they make burnout resins too for lost RESIN casting from a 3d printer. They cost like 50 bucks a kilo, but they are WORTH IT. The quality is 100 times better than any fdm printer you own.. my fiance and i are doing our wedding rings using it to make a really pretty set of custom rings.
Awesome stuff thanks
Finally, a Lost Wax casting process using 3D printed patterns that will make parts that work for real-world machines. Hi Point makes their firearms out Zmac ZA-12
Hey Paul,, 7 min's in and I hit the subscribe button,, I like your style and your explinations..
Thanks!
Thanks for the video! I never comment on videos but you seem like a decent guy so I wanted to say please, please don't melt zinc alloys in steel/iron alloy containers. Molten zinc acts like a solvent on iron alloys and will dissolve them. You'll lift your soup can from your foundry and have 4lbs of 1,000*F liquid dump out of the bottom. Also, since the steel is dissolved into the alloy, you can have weird pockets of rust develop over time which isn't really a problem for decorative things like you made in the video but if you were to make something structural or for outdoor use it would lead to pockets, bubbles, and weaknesses that you won't know are there until it breaks apart.
I truly didn't mean to rant, zamak alloys are a life saver for detail work. There are several engine parts that can be great sources of cheap zamak also, carbs and throttle bodies in particular. Thanks again and good luck!
Very few coffee brans still use steel for there containers. Chuck Full O'Nuts is one brand.
Can you do a video on melting zamek or zinc in a lead hotpot useing plaster for a mold
On, not to forget about this re:zamak
It's nice and conductive, so it electroplates easily
I don't know if you're in that world at all, but I wonder how this could be used for the 3D2A world. Zamak used to be used in a lot of mass produced Saturday night specials back into he day. With PLA+ already being plenty strong, zamak could be that next step, especially for some frames that need the barrel pinned directly to it.
No idea what 3D2A even is but if PLA can do it, zamak probably can too
@@PaulsGarage printing firearms and firearms accessories
Ah ok that's pretty cool. I'm more of an archery guy personally 🏹
some HiPoints are made from Zamac except the barrel.@@iphoneawesome123
I bought a lot of PVB spools recently to experiment with. One thought was to try a silicone mold over a print, then dissolving the internal form with isopropyl over a month or so through a channel of some kind- I imagine it will not be quick. Could be totally bone headed, though i'd like to try it.
You never know until you try it out!
I did try various experiments of this form; for parts that are hollow it will work decent; but if you have solidly printed detail bits with a high length/width ratio it can take very long. Also, how well this dissolving works strongly depends on temperature (and also moisture; do not use wet alcohol). Ive kept it in a slow cooker under the boiling point with good results, it cast with some really nice detail using zamak.
US cent coins since 1982 are 2.5% Copper and balance Zinc. Add in about 10-12% Aluminum and you're in range.
Don't break any laws.
another/better alternative to cast your investment into:
instead of steel investment tubes, try PVC pipe or drainage segments, cut them to shape and give them a cut right down the center from end to end, tape the cut up and put your casting blank on a piece of tape and tape it to seal the bottom.
after the plaster has become dry-wet, untape it and work the center split to release the whole mould from the PVC and then without waiting or using another tube, you can just keep going making more moulds from one piece of tube.
and best of all, you never have to "clean out the plaster"
when I started I did this simply using the caps of my tiny torch refill cans. so any flexible straight piece of tube plastick will work.
maybe you dnt even need to spend a dime!
I'm immediately curious if you can blue (nope) or anodize (yup, but don't yet know how practice it is to do at home) zamak, or how well it takes a powder coat or what paints will bond the best for a part ment to be handled... I'll dig around, just sharing the thoughts your video prompted 😊
I love the couch comment! I’ve told people for years that a comfortable couch and working 24s was the secret to a long happy marriage.
They also sell wax filament. Every try that? (I've been wondering if it's worth buying or not, but by your description of the PLA ash that's left behind, it might be.)
That triceratops skull came out Great! For ornamental applications, it's hard to beat Zamak.
I don't know if you need more gadgets, those castings would have been almost impossible using sand casting.
Any thoughts about using a pouring basin and tapered sprue setup ?
Have you picked up the zinc package yet? I wonder how it did in mail. Heavy for its size, not sure if cardboard was up to the task.
Cheers from Alaska
Hi Gregory! I did indeed pick up the package yesterday! I think I'll open it on a Livestream.
I use a pouring basin and tapered sprue for sand casting, and I know VOGman does for investment prints, it's a good idea for sure.
Cool.
Let me know when the livestream happens.
Really glad I watched this before I went out to buy the aluminum I was going to get to throw at someone. Now I'll be sure to get Zamak instead 😂
Nothing worse than inadequate throwing metals 🤣
@@PaulsGarage If I'm going to do a job, I should do it right!
I too have that 15 year old t-shirt. What a show.
It was really good. It's the only time I saw something on Broadway.
There's a reason we use wax in "lost wax method". Printing in wax is a pain but back in college we'd dissolve grocery bags in the wax to harden its solid form to prep bronze molds. Point being, try polyethylene filament (grocery bags) and that may be the next best material to wax. Should be inexpensive.
Could you elaborate on this? Link to filament?
Brilliant thanks 👍. Cheers J
My pleasure!
Please make a complete beginning guide to casting after you do it in ideal conditions. I'm looking to build a casting area in the shop... No idea the full scope of things.
Good idea! That's quite an undertaking, id have to separate it up into sand casting, investment casting, etc... Most people don't do all of it. I've never done ceramic shell casting or vacuum casting for example. But it's a good idea to get it all in one place. That would be a super long video though haha
@@PaulsGarage that's super fair. I am currently figuring out the melting of metal. I have no idea what a crucible is or where to get/make it. Kiln vs. forge vs. oven etc.
I will research it once I have a solid project to execute, but this is so niche... The basics are often over looked and everyone kinda starts at step two, and assumes we know step 0 and 1.
Like can I build a ceramic kiln that can melt steel... It seems like it should be possible... But does anyone actually do it? Why not?
If you hadn’t poured directly into the mould I.e. a pour basin and the turbulence thing you have do you think it would have filled a lot better?
Have you tried printing with wax filament? Would be interesting to see the differences between the two.
Hey that's a pretty good idea for a video right there
Great video! but wouldn't a different alloy be better for making functional parts that need to survive higher temperatures?
Yes definitely. People use this to make bronze stuff too, that can handle far higher temperatures. Maybe special plaster could handle iron too? But definitely not plaster of Paris
You just saved my poor mexican ass, where I just can't get good ceramic plaster and resin prints lol. love u man
Glad I could help!
Since PVB is dissolved by alcohol, and since plaster does not dissolve alcohol, could we consider clearing the PVB from the plaster in an ethanol bath?
Foil tape is a little more annoying to use than duct tape. Understatement of the year? It's an early year so maybe. Great videos too, glad the algorithm lead me here.
Brilliant!!
Say, is there any kind of plaster that doesn't break/splinter when heated, and is somewhat dureable, so you can make reuseable molds?
I use this lightweight PLA for printing RC airplane stuff. Well, it basically prints out styrofoam, and I wonder if it would work for burning out molds.
Not sure. That stuff expands a lot right? I would be worried about it expanding too much and cracking the mold. Do you print the 3D lab print stuff? I have a few of those models, they are really cool
Love your videos but I’m apparently extremely lazy. I bought some pvb minutes after watching this video. I placed my print directly into my molding sand and burned it out. Then poured a perfect casting with silver. You should try it.
My buddy uses a wax based resin in his resin printer. Casts beautifully
a resin printer is definitely on my list. The resolution is amazing
Rotometals has your video linked on their ZA-12 product page. Time to ask for some metal.
Lol they asked permission to do that, and also sent me a surprise box with a t-shirt and stuff already because their sales went up. Rotometals rules. I'll be opening the box on stream probably next weekend. It's HEAVY
Thank you for showing,I do have a quest, could you Try Esun Emate low Temp PCL filament for casting, as you can melt it at 65C but would love to know if it would be any good. as it prints pefectly with no layer lines.
Great suggestion! I've never heard of that filament. Ive used esun black pla and its great for the price.
@@PaulsGarage I love Esun Products, and to say Mainly I use the PLA + for tools
I hope to have a go at casting using Esun Emate low temp as much cheaper than Polycast
Black pipe works too and you can get different sizes for it. Less nickle coating on it.
Hey that's a good idea. Black pipe is tougher too
@@PaulsGarage Thank you. Its from experience. My mom was a silversmith/goldsmith and we did lots of casting together. we used black pipe (large,) with jeweler casting. We used a terrifying centrifuge to fire the molten gold/silver into the material at an impossibly high speed. I don't recommend that to the casual user as you can spray molten gold everywhere. Exciting? Yes, but not safe.
@@maarkaus48 I've seen those things and I'm definitely going to pass on that! I'm going to build/buy/something a vacuum casting set up though
Helo Paul, some thing still i dont undestand... did you put the printed piece under water before you fill out the mold with metal casting? i know the PVA material cab be diluted on water but in your video i didnt saw that part, or maybe you replaced the PVA with the metal directly? whatever, thanks for your video!
Well, now I know what I was doing wrong with my prints! My aluminum casts looked a lot like your John Snow. I'm gonna have to get my hands on some PVB...
Have you tried PVA? Does it have similar properties?
I haven't tried PVA but not all PVB is the same. Polycast is specifically made to burn out clean, unlike other PVBs
duct tape commercial grade makes a permanent seal. no breakdown or oxydiizing.
everywhere that carries a large selection only has cheep stuff or has one small size
of one fair/good type at a very high price
This polycast might be a good way to sand cast those fancy new Toroidal boat props. Been in a foundry where they cast Aluminium Bronze boat props, but hard to make a two piece mold for this new style. I think zinc is used as sacrificial anode on boats so Zamak props might not be a good idea. Useful to test if one piece casting works?
Zinc would be a great cheap way to test a mold before trying bronze, but yeah it would make a bad prop. Short term ok, but certainly not decades like an aluminum bronze prop! I'm not sure how they make the molds for props. I suspect it could be done with machined sodium silicate sand patterns? Or CNC'd match plates? I'm certainly not going to try it
@@PaulsGarage Seen others Copper plate wood and 3D printed plastic Ironman armour. Plating Zinc should be easier. Copper, Nickle, Chrome. Done Immersion Gold over Nickle for PCBs. Never thought about Zinc before. I wonder how well Zinc CNC machines? Casting Brass is not something I want to do , but those Vevor Furnaces are having a tug on my wallet:) $21 AUD for a Carbon Crucible.
Notes on the ZA alloy casting, it is toxic and can make you sick if you get the zinc oxide dusty vapors, also ZA27 is mechanically tough like for cutting or drilling, much harder to drill through than mild steel, its just zinc and aluminum.
zink alloys melt under 500C if you dont heat to 900C you are fine
Any thoughts on PVA filament?
I'm thinking PVA for the print and high temp silicone for the mould
Never tried PVA. That's the water soluble one right? What you suggest would probably work but I've never tried it.
Also question about the zinc alloy. what aluminum are you comparing to bc there are alot of different alloys
It flows better and melts colder than all aluminum alloys, but the closest comparison is probably a great sand casting alloy like A356. This still needs about 400 degrees less heat, and still flows better than a356, while being stronger too. It's not light like aluminum though, it's really heavy.
It took me about halfway through the video to see what was on Paul’s sleeve and then I realized it was Monty python Spamalot
I'm still not dead yet. Maybe I should cast a holy grail prop replica in aluminum bronze? That would be fun
That stuff is super expensive and Ive used it several times. I started just using the cheapest clear stuff I could find and making the walls and supports as minimal as possible.
How does this process compare to resin prints and lost wax casting? Could you make rings, etc from this technique?
The burnout and casting process is exactly the same. Whatever you can print with polycast filament (or castable resin), you can cast in metal. Layer lines come through though, so beware of that. Polycast smooths with alcohol (IPA) which helps. I have some more recent videos with lost resin casting, all using plaster, but FDM prints might be better with ceramic shell casting, since that works better for larger prints. Not saying you can't use plaster, but the plaster can get expensive in large quantities
Can you give a quick and dirty guestimate of what it would cost, equipment wise to do this on the cheaper end, but not so cheap I'd end up buying better equipment soon after? No need to take the time break it down, just in the ballpark is fine. Assuming all I already have is a printer. TIA, Great info!
Hard to put an exact number on it but at minimum you need something to burn out the mold and something to melt the metal. One foundry furnace set up from an Amazon seller like vevor might work as long as you keep temperatures low, but a devil forge would be a step up. You could use the furnace for both like I did here. Plaster, filament, and the steel vents/soup cans etc... Are expendable, though, so prices go up the more you do it. Ideally you would have a small electric furnace to melt the metal and a small burnout oven, but prices go up considerably
Had a look for that zamak after you last video, doesnt appear to be easily had here, I will keep looking as it intrigues me. Just worried about off gassing though. Zinc is nasty stuff to breathe.
That's a bummer. If not for rotometals here I'd probably be out of luck. The fumes arent too bad with zamak if you don't over heat it. The fumes are usually from melting brass (with zinc in it) or welding galvanized steel (zinc plated), both of which use heat above zincs boiling point. Melting zamak should be well under zincs boiling point. Barely melted. Also if you're melting anything there should be great ventilation, regardless of zinc or not
@@PaulsGarage yeah, I know I shouldn't be getting near temps that are an issue - I've just not done a lot of casting and I get nervous about my ability to not to overcook things!
@@jackdawg4579 from what I hear, zamak is best poured about as cool as you can manage and still fill the mold. Still, ventilation is always a good idea
@@PaulsGarage wrote "The fumes are too bad with zamak if you don't over heat it" (clearly your intended meaning is "the fumes aren't too bad")
I'm curious why there is a recent (maybe starting five years ago) uptick in this "omitted negative" tendency, which prior to then I'd generally encountered seldom from Americans (occasional exceptions as noted below), and pretty much never from other Anglo countries.
I wonder if it's partly because of dictation taking over from typing. American speech tends to omit consonants whenever they require extra effort, which is probably why the saying "I couldn't care less" changed (sometime in the last century or two) to "I could care less", but only in North America.
If you don't mind satisfying my curiosity: did you type your post, or dictate it?
@@Gottenhimfella definitely typed on a phone. Could be auto correct, or could be stupid fingers and no proof reading. I do have some nerve damage in my hands so maybe that? Who knows.
What 3d printer are you using? Source of your polycast filament? Thanks 👍
Right! The link for polycast is in the pinned comment. My bad for forgetting. The printer is a prusa i3 mk3s
thanks for a great video - do you know where to get zamak in europe ? regards Frank Fenriz
Should be a link in the pinned comment on my zamak video. There is a guy there selling it
@@PaulsGarage the link seems to leed to amazone where there seems to be 2-3 companies selling it, if you search for zamak
What type of metal casting alloy is the best for mortar pestle, which must be adequately hard and heavy?
Not sure I'd go with metal for that. The reason stone is used is because the hardness of silica is way above most other things including metal. I don't think I'd want to risk metal bits in food. Some metal can be toxic. Rocks bits (sand), other than being sharp, are chemically inert.
Lol.
That John Snow looks like Louis Gosset jr. In Enemy Mine.