Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

3D Printing Sex Toys

billieruben.info

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 152 posts

Re: 3D Printing Sex Toys

#61

Post by yarcob »

dTal wrote: post #43
Freak_NL wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> […] presumably because silicone bonds to itself […] Silicone absolutely loves silicone. If you pour silicone into a silicone mould you end up with one piece of silicone — which now includes the mould. So a barrier is absolutely essential.

Yes, that's why I typed that. The question is, why make a silicone mould in the first place?

I guess silicone is a good material to make a seamless mould of a smooth object. Since it's flexible you can remove it from the original object without cutting it.

Re: 3D Printing Sex Toys

#62

Post by linsomniac »

You can go a long way with just 3D printing a mould in PLA and then just filling it with silicone. I've done some parts this way, and haven't felt the need to use mould release for either the silicone from the mould, or the resulting glass reinforced epoxy parts from the silicone. Not for body use in my case.

I modeled some plastic parts as a meta-mould to make a mould for some parts I wanted to make.

Re: 3D Printing Sex Toys

#64

Post by botverse »

isoprophlex wrote: post #48
Griffinsauce wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I’ll probably stick to figurines instead of sex toys though That sounds painful.

Everything's a dildo when you're brave enough

My urologist friend has removed some of that everything out of those brave people’s bladders

Re: 3D Printing Sex Toys

#66

Post by BillieRuben »

linsomniac wrote: post #62

You can go a long way with just 3D printing a mould in PLA and then just filling it with silicone. I've done some parts this way, and haven't felt the need to use mould release for either the silicone from the mould, or the resulting glass reinforced epoxy parts from the silicone. Not for body use in my case. I modeled some plastic parts as a meta-mould to make a mould for some parts I wanted to make.

yeah but silicone will pick up microscopic details, so you will retain the grooves from your print doing it that way, which retain moisture, which gives bacteria a chance to grow.

Re: 3D Printing Sex Toys

#68

Post by BillieRuben »

dTal wrote: post #18

The core of this technique is the use of beeswax to act as both a filler/smoothing agent and mould release. A clever hack - but I'm confused by some things: - the assertion that 3d printed materials are not body safe; PLA (the most common 3d printing material) is nontoxic and used for utensils (although agreed that the layer lines are a hygiene hazard) - the description of the "traditional" method as printing a posit…

- PLA as a material is at least food safe (though food safe and body safe aren't the same). But! The material passes through nozzles which probably have lead in them etc. even if that's of negligible consequence though the main issue with making something body safe is the layer lines, which retain moisture and breed bacteria.

- yes, concave surfaces are dang near impossible to smooth.

- plenty of household release agents don't work in a silicone to silicone mould, or impede the cure of platinum cure silicone (the body safe kind), and if you bugger it up you're just wasted the mould and the dildo's worth of silicone which is $$$.

- I just used PLA. the beeswax doesn't touch it for long, you literally pour it in and immediately back out. Because the print is hollow on the inside and because beeswax has such a low specific heat capacity it cools instantly, and this all works, my pics are proof.

- silicone doesn't bond to PLA, no, but you need to smooth the layer lines, which brings us back to point 1....

Re: 3D Printing Sex Toys

#69

Post by BillieRuben »

yarcob wrote: post #61
dTal wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, that's why I typed that. The question is, why make a silicone mould in the first place?

I guess silicone is a good material to make a seamless mould of a smooth object. Since it's flexible you can remove it from the original object without cutting it.

this is the reason.
Post reply on HN