Jewelry Casting

[MadScists]

So, after spending the last couple of days getting bills and other things caught up from being out of town for the last couple of months, my dumbass made a horrible decision for my wallet and went to Microcenter.

I ended up leaving with a Creality LD-002R resin printer and now I have some questions.

As far as I’m aware, we have everything needed to cast metal jewelry like rings, pendants, Etc.
Am I correcting my understanding on that?
If I am, is training required (I would imagine yes)?
If training is required, is there going to be any classes coming up because I have not actually ever seen one on the calendar as far as I can remember.

As for the printer, does anyone have any good recommendations for lost wax resin?
I don’t need the super expensive stuff, I’m just looking for the “good enough for government work” quality since I really don’t have much experience with resin printing so I know there’s going to be a few failed prints and things that just don’t come together right.

[jast]

@MadScists

If training is required, is there going to be any classes coming up because I have not actually ever seen one on the calendar as far as I can remember.

Like this one?
https://calendar.dallasmakerspace.org/events/view/18582

I think that’s what you’re after…

As for the rest…
Chris did a pretty extensive writeup here that might get the wheels spinning.

My First 3-D Printing Project Assistance Needed

Recommendations from the wax manufacturer (Senertek): PLASTICAST (an R & R investment) Mix the investment with 39 parts distilled water with 100 parts investment (39mls water per 100g of powder). You can also test with 36:100 ratio. Mix as long as possible for maximum strength. Adding 0.5% - 2% boric acid in the investment powder can create better surface quality. Just mix boric acid 1% with 60 degree water (140o F); dissolve it as you dissolve sugar in water. Let the water come to 50 degree…

OH, and congrats on the new baby…

@MadScists

I ended up leaving with a Creality LD-002R

[MadScists]

@jast

Like this one?

Well, s#!+…I should probably slow down on my scrolling not that I’m apparently “getting older”

@jast

OH, and congrats on the new baby…

Thanks!
We’ll see if this one cuts into what little sleep I already get, lol

[dryad2b]

Jewelry was doing some regular casting days. Not sure where they’ve gone with that. If you look over in their area, I think that they’ve got their own Discord server, and the link is posted there. I know that there used to be some classes that’d be full before I could spot them…

Sue is going to be working back there Sunday 9/4, but according to the listing, she won’t be working on casting.

[John_Marlow]

@MadScists

As for the printer, does anyone have any good recommendations for lost wax resin?

I have not done a resin comparison in the last six months or so, but we have been using Senertek resin. I see that the price has gone up a fair amount recently, but as castable wax resins go it is one of the more affordable ones. I believe they call it Dental resin, but it’s what you need.

It comes from Turkey and is only available on ebay. This listing is for one liter; I previously bought 1/2L from them but didn’t spend any time searching today for that size.

The higher end jewelry casting resins are several hundred dollars per liter.

The other issue is layer exposure time. This resin is clear orange. On the Mars 2 Pro, I use 2 - 2.5 seconds per layer depending on the layer thickness. All of the other resins I researched (6 months ago) had much longer exposure times per layer.

You need more resin than you think, because of the vat. Even though you might not need a lot of resin for your part(s), you still need enough resin to have at least 1/3 of your vat filled. And 1/3 is skimpy …

EDIT: John K bought the (green?) casting wax resin that they sell at MicroCenter and he has been happy with it. I don’t have any personal experience there.

[darrent]

These are the folks that I ordered Senertek resin from: DLP SLA LCD 3d printer castable wax resin for dental & jewelry | eBay. I feel like the senertek is good enough for government work.

[MadScists]

Awesome, thank you!

I’m going to start looking into these suggestions and research on the brands that were recommended.

I’m not going to make a move quite yet though because I want to get my washing and curing stations first, which should be sometime in the next 2 or 3 weeks.