Low Temp Metal Casting via the Glowforge

Oh man, I do not need another craft, but it looks like I might have one! SO COOL!!!

6 Likes

Thanks so much for sharing your process! It looks like another thing I might have to try. Best of luck with your decks–I remember their artistry and uniqueness!

1 Like

awesome work. Next step: centrifugal casting. lol I got to do this back in college. You’re bringing back fond memories.

1 Like

That’s a really great process. Well done.

1 Like

I did the same thing a while back to make some challenge coins then used a paint pen to color them.

25 Likes

Are they double sided? If so, I’d love to know the technique…

1 Like

I had a lot of that material to bend silver tubing. You fill the tubing with it and then it all bends like it was wire. After which you heat it again all all the low melt flows out leaving round tubing for stuff like hollow earrings,

I wonder if you could Electroform on it and then melt out the low temp leaving a hollow shell that could be light enough as earrings while looking massive. I had always felt the low temp metal too low melting to use on its own

5 Likes

Yes, both sides are identical. I engraved them on wood, dusted them with talcum powder and laid them into a box just a little bigger. Then I built a thin dam (plastalina modelling clay) around the edges of each coin (I did 2 at a time) to prevent the silicon from wicking under them. I then poured about an inch of silicon mold max 60 over the top and let it harden. Then I removed the silicon and the dam and dusted with talcum. After pouring an inch or so of silicon on top I separated the 2 halves, removed the wooden plugs and cut a channel for the pour and one for the air to escape (in a V shape to keep them apart) from one edge down to each coin . Of course when the metal coins are removed there is a bit of hack sawing and filing to get rid of the excess metal “sprues”. Then I lapped them on sand paper to smooth the surfaces a bit.
Oh, the metal I had on hand is tin.

7 Likes

Sounds great. Would you mind posting a pic of your mold? Thanks.

1 Like

Here is a pic of the wooden plugs plus the mold I made:



I forgot to mention in the previous post that I also made the registrations bumps for alignment of the 2 halves using the modeling clay.

16 Likes

This is neat and relevant to my interests.

One thing that I think would help a lot in these projects is eliminating or reducing the laser char texture that we always get when doing a deep engrave.

image

I wonder if there is a good trick for that.

1 Like

I think some folks have done purposefully de-focused passes to smooth out the engrave. Not sure precisely how you do that and maintain detail where you want it to be crisp though.

2 Likes

That may also be partly due to my choice of wood for the plugs. It’s hardboard from HD. It also might have a smoother background if I had maxed out the LPI? They are pretty small to try sanding out the low spots and I actually kind of like them like this.

1 Like

I was going to ask if you used an image to create that cool background texture! :slight_smile:

1 Like

You can also use cold casting techniques, using metal powders with casting resins instead of metal/heat.

3 Likes

RIGHT! I gotta quit coming to this forum. The rabbit holes here are endless!

5 Likes

Faster cuts with very high LPI are cooler so burn less. Scrubbing down with Ammonia or Bleach (never both) will also leave really clean results.

3 Likes

Wonderful thank you.

2 Likes

Thank you for this write up. Very interesting process and result.

2 Likes

Excellent post. Thank you.
I make soap molds so I would be thru at the silicone mold state. Inspiring!