Casting Glass from 3D Printed Molds

I taught a similar course at Pilchuck in 2015, which was the first 3D-printing/digital fabrication course taught there, and was also up there taking a flameworking course when Amos was TA'ing for Yoav and Angela.

First off, Pilchuck is amazing, and if you're at all interested in glass, you should seriously consider taking a course there.

Second, modulo a few tricks for clean burnouts, if you can print it, you can investment-cast it in whatever material you want. It's amazing how powerful cheap printers become when you combine them with a little casting skill - you can access nearly arbitrary geometry in some useful, high-performance materials without a $100k printer.

Re: Casting Glass from 3D Printed Molds

#5

Post by itsEtai » Tue, Aug 06, 2019, 2:57 AM UTC

This is great stuff!! As a hobbyist glassblowing and 3d-printer, this is exactly the kind of content I’ve been looking for. Thanks!

Re: Casting Glass from 3D Printed Molds

#6

Post by itsEtai » Tue, Aug 06, 2019, 2:59 AM UTC

itsEtai wrote: post #5

This is great stuff!! As a hobbyist glassblowing and 3d-printer, this is exactly the kind of content I’ve been looking for. Thanks!

I did some pate de verre lost wax casting to make glass armguards a while back but they turned out too rough to wear. 3d printing might be the answer! (Check out my attempt here: https://www.instagram.com/p/Bk45IFqBhbL/?igshid=16fgxi4oubho...)

Re: Casting Glass from 3D Printed Molds

#7

Post by greeneggs » Tue, Aug 06, 2019, 3:43 AM UTC

msds wrote: post #4

I taught a similar course at Pilchuck in 2015, which was the first 3D-printing/digital fabrication course taught there, and was also up there taking a flameworking course when Amos was TA'ing for Yoav and Angela. First off, Pilchuck is amazing, and if you're at all interested in glass, you should seriously consider taking a course there. Second, modulo a few tricks for clean burnouts, if you can print it, you can inv…

Do you know what kinds of results are possible with a standard consumer 3D printer? (A PLA printer?) The page says, "Any layer lines in the print end up transferring through to the glass, which makes polishing a lot more difficult," but does "a lot more difficult" mean impossible?

(I have an Ender 3 printer, and a microwave, so it looks like I can possibly get started for <$100. But both because of price and turnaround time, I am not very interested in using online resin printing services.)

Re: Casting Glass from 3D Printed Molds

#8

Post by samplatt » Tue, Aug 06, 2019, 3:49 AM UTC

greeneggs wrote: post #7

msds wrote: post #4

I taught a similar course at Pilchuck in 2015, which was the first 3D-printing/digital fabrication course taught there, and was also up there taking a flameworking course when Amos was TA'ing for Yoav and Angela. First off, Pilchuck is amazing, and if you're at all interested in glass, you should seriously consider taking a course there. Second, modulo a few tricks for clean burnouts, if you can print it, you can inv…

Do you know what kinds of results are possible with a standard consumer 3D printer? (A PLA printer?) The page says, "Any layer lines in the print end up transferring through to the glass, which makes polishing a lot more difficult," but does "a lot more difficult" mean impossible? (I have an Ender 3 printer, and a microwave, so it looks like I can possibly get started for <$100. But both because of price and turnarou…

I've got no practical experience with 3D printing, but surely dremel + grinding/sanding bits = no more layer lines?

Re: Casting Glass from 3D Printed Molds

#9

Post by samplatt » Tue, Aug 06, 2019, 3:58 AM UTC

itsEtai wrote: post #6

itsEtai wrote: post #5

This is great stuff!! As a hobbyist glassblowing and 3d-printer, this is exactly the kind of content I’ve been looking for. Thanks!

I did some pate de verre lost wax casting to make glass armguards a while back but they turned out too rough to wear. 3d printing might be the answer! (Check out my attempt here: https://www.instagram.com/p/Bk45IFqBhbL/?igshid=16fgxi4oubho... )

I'm curious about the too-rough-to-wear bit. Would an extra (leather/plastic) layer below the glass be impossible?

Re: Casting Glass from 3D Printed Molds

#10

Post by wlesieutre » Tue, Aug 06, 2019, 4:29 AM UTC

samplatt wrote: post #8

greeneggs wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you know what kinds of results are possible with a standard consumer 3D printer? (A PLA printer?) The page says, "Any layer lines in the print end up transferring through to the glass, which makes polishing a lot more difficult," but does "a lot more difficult" mean impossible? (I have an Ender 3 printer, and a microwave, so it looks like I can possibly get started for <$100. But both because of price and turnarou…

I've got no practical experience with 3D printing, but surely dremel + grinding/sanding bits = no more layer lines?

Yep, sanding is an option. I've also seen people fill the valleys with some sort of goop filler and then start sanding from there, just to get it a little closer to smooth. But I can't say if introducing different materials like that might interfere with casting. They were doing it to paint over.

Another approach is vapor smoothing - you can use acetone vapor to smooth ABS prints. Acetone won't do anything to PLA though.

I've heard of other chemicals being available for smoothing PLA, but they're nastier than acetone and I don't know anyone who's actually tried them.