Resin Casting a Success

I started today of with some great news. The casting of the new Projet 1200 resin was a success! I was told that there was minimal porosity as well as cleaning on the casting and it was a huge improvement compared to the previous Projet 1200 resin (green in colour). I am not certain if it was due to the new resin or the R&R investment powder or maybe even a combination between the two. I plan on contacting Rapid Print 3D and asking for more Resins so that I am able to further my investigations on casting this resin.

Investing the new Projet 1200 resin

Having received the R&R investment powder I couldn't wait to see what the outcome would be with the new Projet 1200 resin....Surprisingly enough the process is very similar to our  normal lost wax casting except for the resin needing to be dipped into a special solution before being invested. The piece is invested and ready to go into the kiln..... if the casting goes well there might be a 3D printer purchase in the near future. crossing fingers!

R&R Plasticast Investment

After a very long wait, my R&R Plasticast investment has just arrived! after paying almost  This very expensive investment powder is said to work the best when investing and casting printable resins.

B-Tech Title Reasoning

During last weeks B-tech meeting, I was asked to try and redefine my title on the spot and I came up with ''The use of automobile design as a reference for creating jewellery.'' I was then questioned why I didn't use the word car instead of automobile, I must admit that initially my response was very weak as I replied ''it just sounded better.'' However I have sat and given this some thought....


I'm not sure if this is just my way of thinking but when people refer to a car my mind always associates it with some form of sedan available on the market... and I usually never think of SUV's or Bakkies.....as people often refer to it being a SUV or Bakkie and not a car. My plan is to use a variety of images on Pinterest being any sort of car ranging from sedans to SUV's. I feel that automobile is the correct choice of word to be used as it does not limit the type of vehicle I am able to use as a reference. 

Redefining My Title

Last year was a very confusing year for me, I initially based my inspiration/reference around sculptures and during the course of the year I found myself looking  at cars. My B-tech title as it stands at this very moment is ''The use of sculptural forms as a reference for creating jewellery.''  whilst I am able to still use this title due to the fact of a sculptural form being any 3-Dimensional object; I was advised to redefine my title to suit what I am doing.

Prong Stone Settings

So when it comes to setting stones/ creating settings you need to be very careful....reason being is all the stones on Rhino are "calibrated'' and are exactly the same size....where in the real world they aren't always the same sizes....The guidelines for settings are;

Stones must be placed a minimum of 0.2mm away from each other

The claw diameter for setting stones are a minimum of 0.5mm thick with a minimum height of 0.7mm (in my previous post I discussed the volume of metal and how if there is enough volume it will be a successful print/cast... this is another one of those examples)

How thin is to thin?

When designing and manufacturing using CAD/CAM technology there are certain limitations you have to adhere to. One major limitation being metal thicknesses. The minimum metal thickness for you to have a successful print/ cast is ;

Wire work : 0.6mm
Metal Thickness : 0.55mm (although it is not always successful)

However everything is dependent on volume due to casting and the metal being able to flow...

Example:

Even though the image above has a metal thickness of 0.3mm at the top; it will still be a successful print/cast due to the article having volume....

Ring Sizes

When inserting a ring size onto Rhino, you always add 0.3mm to the inner diameter of the shank. This is due to slight shrinkage caused through the printing and casting process.

for example if the ring size is a ''M'' size (Diameter of which being 16.70mm) I would then add 0.3mm to that making the ring size 17mm on Rhino

Ladies Shank Guidlines

To create a Ladies Shank that is going to house a setting of any sort, you need to remember 3 things, all involving metal thicknesses. The bottom of the ring must be a minimum of 1.5mm, the side of the ring must be at least 1.8mm and the top of the ring must have a minimum height of 2mm.

Sticking to the Guidlines

So I am finally back home after spending a good few months in Johannesburg where I have been trying to improve my skills using CAD to design and manufacture jewellery. Before I left to do this course I was under the impression that there was a specific recipe/ method in creating jewellery using CAD , but what I learnt was that there are various ways of doing things to get the same result, all you have to do is stick to the basic guidelines for manufacturing. The next few posts are just some of the guidelines you have to adhere to in order to get a good print.