Today I show you how to take a 3D printed object and turn it into a mold for use in Lost PLA Casting. I start by preparing the print using some wax, then i set it in a mix of plaster of paris and sand. The next video will handle the burnout, pouring, and removal of the plaster mold.

The print was done with Prusa PLA on an original prusa i3 MK2s.

Here is a link to the 3D print of Jon Snow:

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Music: “Quirky Dog” by Kevin MacLeod.

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31 COMMENTS

  1. This is crazy. I had this very idea last month around the time you posted this video…using pla and burning it out to make aluminum castings. Great minds think alike (and apparently, mediocre minds do, too 😛 ) jk

  2. I guess using her toothbrush for cleaning parts is one way to get your daughter to stop coloring on the fun plastic toys that you are going to burn instead of let her have. My two year old likes to sneak into the computer room and help himself to my failed prints on my desk then sleep with them. It's a bit weird finding a pile of little, half printed stormtrooper helmets and debris under his pillow like he's some kind of giant, crazy ewok (giant compared to the helmets; he's a relatively normal ewok size in reality).

    Almost as weird as how I kept smelling the coconut oil as you were waterproofing the model. To the point where I had to pause for a moment to see if I was having some sort of strange and less unpleasant smelling stroke symptom.

    The only support related overhang luck I've had has been with touching supports. Any drop is bad, but a 0.05mm drop is almost fine. The problem is a gap that thin is practically solid and anything delicate is hard to keep safe. So either it has to touch and then you have to deal with cleaning that up – not my favorite, because if I were that artistic I wouldn't need a computer and fancy math to make my art for me – or soluble support, but then you need a second extruder and so on. In this case you might be better off chopping his head off around his nose, the printing the top and bottom from the middle and gluing it back together to get a no support model. Or do what I would do, and let the fur and hair hide the support sins and pretend it's supposed to look like that.

  3. lol, looks good so far. If you experience little BBs on the outside of the casting when you pour it, it's because of air bubbles that get trapped on it. A little tip is to take a paintbrush and paint some of the PoP on the part first before you shove it into the plaster, then it wont get those little air bubbles trapped to the outside of the part.

  4. I'm wondering if you could make a shaft for the air to escape by embedding a plastic tube or rod after you put the 3d print into the plaster. Or possibly carefully drilling a shaft after it dries.

  5. I can't wait to hear the story about how you bumped into that stick hanging over the edge of your bench, resulting in the 30-40 dollar "weight" falling and breaking. Maybe falling on your toes? Then as it was falling you tried to catch it but knocked over the plaster of Paris mix all over you and the floor and your crucible. Actually that would not be funny, but I bet if you don't do it I will.

    Also, how hard was it to set up that 3d printer? I had robotics in college but that was a long time ago, so I have been apprehensive about getting one. I also don't know the software you need to make your own stuff. Is there an open source library that you know of?

    Anywho great video and keep up the great work.

  6. I'm on septic system and when I first bought the house I had to hire someone to do work on my septic system, I had not learned it yet, and the service guy said "always use your wife's toothbrush to clean the pump filter".
    I don't think I would kiss her after that.

  7. Aha, I see what you did there. You made the print out of aluminum-colored plastic so you could make the thumbnail look like you had gotten a successful cast. Clever girl.

    Did you do shaking or whatever to try to get the bubbles out of the liquid plaster after cutting the camera?

  8. Gaaah! All this game of thrones stuff… If ol' snow there survives the fire, does that confirm his targaryen heritage? Also, I'm still waiting for a bronze cast hand – i shall wait years if needs be…

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