You know those ideas that keep circling back in your mind. This is one of those for me—mouldings. I’m not sure what it is—perhaps because I work in waste and recycling, and there is a lot of recycled granular matrix that could be squeezed into shapes.
So I’ve been trying to work through it, and this is progress so far.
Work flow 1 – Using Nomad Sculpt to produce the organic model and then importing into Shapr3D for the mould.
Just a basic model in Nomad (skills are limited in this currently).
Small Mould in Shapr3D.
Mould printed on Snapmaker U1 with Elegoo matte PLA. I’d got some modelling clay from the Hobbycraft bargain bin. I just wasn’t patient enough to let it go off. It was quite humid in the UK around the time. Despite the fail, if you look closely, there is some promise in the finish.
Work flow 2 – Full modelling in Shapr3D from a sketch or bitmap. Used V-Carve to turn the image into a vector and then extruded in Shapr3D.
I have an Ender 5 Max with a 400mm square bed, but I just don’t like leaving printers running for hours on end. I’m thinking that CNC in MDF would be better for this one—it wouldn’t have to be split then. I just haven’t turned the machine on in a while (fingers crossed).
I do think TPU 95A is a better fit for something like this, where it would benefit from a little bit of flex for removing. Hmmmm…
