3d Printing a mold?

I am wanting to scan a car part for an old vehicle of mine and then get a new one poured at a foundry.

Can I scan the item. 3d print it using some sort of filament and then send it off to the foundry? I though this forum section was for just that but I seem to reading posts about injection molding rather then moldmaking.

... ask the guys at the foundry, what's best for them.

Here in Germany I can send them a "positive" part for making a mould (did this with some SLA-fabbed parts) or a part made from wax for a one-off lost-cast-moulding ... or only the CAD-data, so they will 3D-print the mold on their own - but then pretty expensive too

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Viktor
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Thank you VDX

Is there a wax filament available on the market or do I need to make a cast and then pour wax in?

... wax is, when molten, not viscous enough to be usefull for FDM printing - it's mostly used with "ink-jetting" types of 3D-printers.

You can 3D-print a cast to make a wax counterpart.

But IIRC, you can use parts printed from PLA for lost-cast moulding too, as it will burn/evaporate without residues too ...

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Viktor
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Aufruf zum Projekt "Müll-freie Meere" - [reprap.org] -- Deutsche Facebook-Gruppe - [www.facebook.com]

Call for the project "garbage-free seas" - [reprap.org]

Quote
VDX
... wax is, when molten, not viscous enough to be usefull for FDM printing - it's mostly used with "ink-jetting" types of 3D-printers.

You can 3D-print a cast to make a wax counterpart.

But IIRC, you can use parts printed from PLA for lost-cast moulding too, as it will burn/evaporate without residues too ...

machinablewax.com has a wax filament. its very prone to warping so i would highly suggest a heated chamber before printing large objects but it does print pretty darn well.

You can 3d print a mold using a filament called polycast and probably others, which prints like PLA but burns off better. You cannot scan a part and expect it to come out properly though, for one thing your print will shrink as the plastic cools, secondly the cast metal you make will shrink as the metal cools. You can design the part and design it with the shrinkage in mind, I know Solidworks can even alter a design for casting.

I will add, I don't know how much force the part is going to take. If it is an area that will require something of high strength, than finding a part that was forged would be better, if it doesn't receive a lot of force like a manifold than casting is a solid way to manufacture it.

Hi there , I know its a long time ago , but did you sortout your casting wax problem ? I went through this to , but after a lot of wax filament !! I mean lots !! I have finally got it up and printing . I also make replica parts for cars and motorcycles , infact anything really .Hope to hear from you all the best Harry

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/06/2020 09:17AM by zurferjoe.