Shapeways vs. cast and mold resin

jheilman

Sr Member
I have a project that has been sitting in perpetual gridlock for way too long. It's the contract from the original Willy Wonka film that the kids sign. The graphic file is complete. But, there is a large wax seal on a ribbon that has been giving me fits. It's about 3" in diameter with a stamped "W" symbol in the middle. I have built a wooden "W" stamp and molded wax seals in air-dry clay, then stamped them. They look OK, but not as good as I'd like. Next, I tried actual wax. Melted, pooled and stamped. Not as accurate in shape, and not consistent, but they had the benefit of being genuine wax. Problem was, because of the varying thickness from edge to center, they curled terribly as they cooled.

So, that's where the project ended last year. Then, my mom was diagnosed with lung cancer and we had a terrible spring. She passed in May and I've been unmotivated to get back to projects, until now.

I see two ways to proceed. I have a friend who can build a 3D model of the seal for a price. I can then get them made at shapeways. Or, I can contract with someone here to build a master, mold and cast resin replicas. I'm looking for advice on which method would be preferable. Both can achieve accurate results. Not sure which would be most affordable since I'd have to pass the cost onto the final customer. I have not investigated if shapeways can print in specific colors. The seal is red. Painting is an option of course. Any advice is most welcome.
 
well i guess it would depend on how much shapeways charges and how many you need.
if you were to do just a little run casted it would cost you around $75 in materials plus what ever some one charged you to do it.
with the casted ones you could also have the option of adding color to the resin or painting them after they come out of the mold.
 
You said you used wax. Was it candle wax or actual sealing wax? That might make a difference. That and if the wax was on something it could stick to while it was cooling.
 
Just my $0.02 worth.

I use parts made by Shapeways on my MAGs and when done in "polished", they look pretty good. They seem to be durable but in the end, the parts are just plastic. I am gearing up to make a new version of the part from rubber. Molding and casting will cost (me) more, but is way more fun than waiting for a small brown box to arrive in the mail.

Don't get me wrong, 3D printing is awesome because for the first time, we can actually have truly symmetrical parts. I think for rapid prototyping or even making the masters, it is perfect. I think we are relying too much on it for actual parts though and the "art" of actually making something might die if we are not careful.

I have only recently taught myself to mold and cast and wish I had done this years ago. It really is fun to make something.

So if you can mold and cast your wax seal, that is the route I would recommend. You could even cast in an elastomer so the 'seal' is flexible.
 
One-off: Just 3D print it and cover it in that new 3D printing resin or acetone polish it or something.

Multiples: 3D print or mill it in jeweller's wax and use that for a lost-wax casting for a metal stamp. The stamp could be used with sealing wax, as part of a one-part urethane mould... Whatever.

On the other hand, either of those could probably be done by a sculptor, at a slight premium, I imagine. The advantage of the 3D method is that the original OBJ/STL isn't going anywhere or degrading. You can reprint and recast on demand. Commercially speaking, that seems the way to go.
 
That is a nice tutorial from Juno. I would probably start with 25, but would need more over time. I'll look into shapeways more to figure out pricing. May also look here. http://www.letterseals.com/pictureseals.html I think the problem I would have with this, is I'd have to put down so much material, it would start to harden before I could stamp it.

I used a 1lb brick of modeling wax from Michael's.
 
I'm a die-hard fan of printing, and use it for most of my projects these days, but in this instance I'd go the traditional route, assuming you're trying to achieve the organic look of melted wax.

You can absolutely do it in 3d, but it's easier to get a fluid, organic shape using clay. Unless the person doing the modeling is exceptionally skilled at organic shapes with complex curves you run the risk of it looking "stale".

The hot-glue method works but the downside I see with using hot glue is that paint doesn't adhere to it well- and if you're mounting it to something smooth it can peel off easily.

Why not melt some clay, stamp it and mold it? (It might not curl the way the wax did.) Or make one hot-glue master and mold that instead of making multiples.
 
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Sounds like a plan. :)

If you want to use 3d printing just for the sake of giving it a try, then by all means go for it. (Again, almost everything I do these days build-wise is printed.) I would suggest applying a fluid dynamics system of some sort on the mesh to give you a more "natural" and physics-based look to the melted material, instead of hand-modeling. Most of the "big" 3d programs should have this readily available. Also, if you're going down this route, then why not prep the model for molding by embedding it in a box, printing it as one object, so that you get a "perfect" mold. You could also forego silicone completely and print the actual negative mold, but it would fairly be rigid, so any castings you do would need to be flexible or you'll never get them out. (I've done this before but it turned out being much easier to pour silicone in a printed "molding box".

Just keep in mind though, that when producing an organic shape like this with complex curves and asymmetrical details, you will still get nice results quicker, easier and probably cheaper by using more traditional methods...
 
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