Hi guys,
Did a little PLA to metal test.
do you think maybe i could cast gears with this method?
Casting never leaves a surface finish suitable for machine parts, no matter how good your mold. And the mold is limited by the sacrificial model, which in this case is 3D printed and has a rather rough surface finish to begin with.
Not saying it won’t work; it very well might, but it’ll never be as good as a properly machined part.
Then again, assuming you already got a 3D printer, just try and print some up and use them in a hand-cranked setup prior to deciding whether it’s worth turning them into mold positives. It’s not like filament is prohibitively expensive, and at least you’ll have seen for yourself rather than taking some Internet stranger’s word for it.
@Juan_Rial thanks, yeh i have seen people saying 3d printed parts can be cast and require no machining, but i think that may not be the case. Maybe dissolvable models printed professionally by http://shapeways.com and then put in a mold under vacuum that is a special high-quality mould would get me close. But I think I might do my own testing as you say.
There’s not just the problem of the precision of the initial parts, but assuming a perfect mold, thermal contraction of the metal you pour in.
At the very least, I’d guess you need some slight oversizing and then finishing off with stock removal methods.
Yes of course interesting. Maybe I could try resin in some cases.