Whats the investment?

After some browsing on the TDM forum, I saw that a jeweller used 36 parts water to 100 parts investment (Plasticast). I decided to give this a try as well as use the existing investment powder used for normal wax castings.

The results are as follows : (Normal Investment Powder)

 

(Plasticast Investment 36:100)

 

 

The normal jewellery investment powder cast very similarly to the Plasticast Investment powder which means that the investment powder might be the problem.

 

Same old, same old (burnout)

After realizing that the resin can only cure to a certain point (colour doesn't change) I decided to have a go with the burnout. Instead of doing a quick 2 hour burnout I decided to do the usual burnout that we did in the workshop (6 hour)

As you can see, it was a complete failure as the shape didn't even cast properly. cant help but feel that the investment powder cant handle the heat of the 2 hour burnout, causing it to cast bad surfaces.

Reaching Boiling Point

After attending the Jewellery council meeting the other night, I was advised to try boiling the resin in the microwave as the usual problem with resins was it absorbed to much of moisture whilst being invested which caused it to swell during burnout hence distorting the casting due to the investment sometimes cracking. I decided to see the difference between just using the UV curing station and boiling it in the microwave.

Both pairs of earrings were cured for 23 hours

Flask 1 - contained just the cured earrings while Flask 2 - was UV cured as well as boiled in the microwave for 150 seconds.

Flask 2 results were better than the casting I had done the previous day however I feel that it didn't help much in terms of the finish.

Flask 1 results were better than flask 2 but there is still the need to cure porosity....I think I should gradually drop the temperature next time.

Flask 2 (results) :

 

Flask 1 (results) :

 

 

Dehydrating Light

After flashing the piece 20 times, and having to come back and switch on the curing unit every 10 minutes, I decided to invest in a little curing station. I purchased a biltong dehydrator because that is essentially what flashing does, it removes all the moisture from the resin.

 

I left a freshly printed pair of earrings in the dehydrator for 24hours and didn't see the result I was hoping for. The UV light actually sped up the process and if I kept using the 40w bulb that came with the dehydrator id have to wait for over 2 weeks for it to cure properly. The addition of UV lights were needed in my dehydrator.

 

 

Above are images of the new UV lights  installed in my dehydrator

 

Printing Rings Sideways

Having my printing and casting done by a company in Johannesburg, I noticed that they always print rings to the side as opposed to upright. After questioning why this was done I was told that it is a time saving technique that they use when printing as it saves more than half the time printing it on its sides as opposed to upright.  I decided to give this a try.

 

As you can see from the pictures above, it was not a successful print. This had happened to me before at design@50 and the only way to overcome this was to add a 5 degree angle to the article being printed.

 

After printing with a 5 degree angle of the ring, the print was a success.

Whats the best angle? (Part 2)

Still very curious to find the best angle for printing, I printed the same pendant at a 45' angle.

 

this is the turnout

 

 

As you can probably deduce for yourself from these images, doing a flat print is the better print option of the two.  

 

After this failed print, I noticed pieces floating in the resin whilst still in the printer. Trying to remove the cartridge I saw that the corner of the film was about to open and a tiny spout of resin was already leaking out. Afraid of what happened the last time I quickly removed the cartridge and contacted the reseller. I was told that there was probably a problem with that batch of cartridges and he will try and source some new cartridges of the FTX cast resin. The problem now is that I am stuck without any of the FTX cast resin so I am forced to now use the FTX green resin. Lets see if I can make this work....

 

Whats the best angle? (Part 1)

After a very time consuming, thorough cleaning of the printer, I was finally ready to start printing again curious to see the outcome I decided to do two prints, one completely flat and the other at a 45' angle. The first print that was done was printed completely flat.

 

The print was almost perfect apart from just one of the claws on the a setting not printing.

Maybe the 45'angle print would be better?  

Removing the cartridge

So whilst trying to remove the cartridge after my failed print, I noticed that some resin had been spilt in the machine. Upon further investigation and removal of the cartridge I saw that the cartridge film had opened up on the corner and the resin was slowly seeping out.

 

The images are of the cartridge after all the resin had leaked out...

 

 

 

After contacting the reseller, I was told that it could have been a defective cartridge which will be replaced, all that I had to do was remove certain parts and do a thorough clean as the resin would harden and damage the machine.

Pendant Print Retake (FTX Cast)

After the casting for the first pendant didn't work out, I was asked to see if I could print the pendant in sections so that it is easier for cleaning and assembling thereafter. This didn't seem like a difficult task at the time so I even got sprew's included in the print so that the print would be definitely cast properly.

 

All the elements for the pendant wouldn't fit on the build plate if seated flat so I printed 2 parts upright and the other flat....this is the outcome....

 

 

Certain parts of  the pendant did not print so after some technical assistance from the authorized reseller I was advised to print the parts  either at 45' angle or flat against the bed. I was advised to print so that there isn't as so much of empty spaces as the machine will need to create extra supports and will be even more difficult to clean later. I was also advised to remove the resin cartridge and make sure that there is no built pieces that have fallen into the resin as this would affect the next print.

 

Printing with the FTX Cast resin

For my first print using the FTX Cast resin I've decided to do two pairs of earrings which I've done previously using the FTX green resin. I thought it would be interesting to see the differences between the two resins.

 

The first difference that I've noticed even before seeing the final print was that the time for a complete print  was almost double that of the initial FTX green resin. The other differences were that the supports as well as the completed pieces were significantly larger than the other resin. This was due to the machine automatically taking casting shrinkage into account and increasing the articles size by a specific percentage so that it would be the exact  size when cast. (so I was told by the authorized reseller, still waiting to cast and see for myself)

Pendant Print (auto support)

After having a failed print of the pendant using manual supports,  I redid the print with the auto support function. It was a perfect print.