I’ve been wanting to try metal casting in printed molds for years, but never had a use for the heavy, low melt alloys that would work in a printed mold. When I saw this mod for anti-backlash weights by Pratyeka in the Tiko 3D forums, I figured I’d finally give it a try and ordered a block of metal.
Post processing
post processing prints
Vibratory Tumbler – Ceramic
Here’s some pictures from a test using a vibratory tumbler* filled with ceramic media. Some of the ceramic pieces were broken to make smaller pieces.
The original Ollie in dark grey PLA.
Tumble Coating 3D Prints – Part 4
Stainless steel can work too, and creates a much brighter look, but it takes much longer. This one ran for a couple of days and the coating isn’t as even as the others I’ve tried. I also used larger/longer screws, which I don’t think worked as well as the 1.25″ deck screws.
Tumble Coating 3D Prints – Part 3
You can also tumble coat in brass, as seen above, but there’s a few things you should know. Brass may contain lead, even it says “lead free” (at least in California). You probably shouldn’t be breathing in brass powder or using it to coat your children’s toys.
Tumble Coating 3D Prints – Part 2
Here’s the process I used to get the results in the picture. I’m sure there are many ways to do this and I’m still trying different variations, but I’ll describe what has worked so far. I’d encourage experimenting, just be careful when working with alloys that contain lead.
What you need:
- 3D printed part
- rock tumbler
- screw tumber media
