Face pendants

[Ghene 14]

This is really hard for me to market. How do you propose to immortalise your loved one's face before it's too late? 

Anyway, scanned and edited faces then sent it off to be printed. I still haven't mustered up the courage to use my metal clay to make these as the clay is too expensive....

PS. I still haven't solved the problem of a squished nose tip with the Ultimaker. 

Edited October 31 by Ghene

[geert_2 243]

You could consider casting them yourself. 3D-print the original, make a high-temp silicone mould, or a mould in casting-sand or plaster, and then cast metal into that. There are metals that melt at low temperatures, such as zinc, tin, lead, and several alloys, and also rarer materials. There do exist special ovens for this purpose in dentistry, to make crowns etc. They might be usefull for small juwelry too, it's about the same size? Try to find an alloy that is stable and doesn't oxidate. Some dental alloys should work.

 

But if I were you, I wouldn't use low-temp metals like magnesium, sodium, potassium, cadmium, and plutonium. Some are highly flammable or explosive, some highly toxic, and plutonium, well, you know...   :-)

 

For printing the nose, I guess it is melting while printing, due to not enough cooling? If so, you could consider printing the whole thing under an angle of let's say 45° (head back, chin up)? Then layer lines would run in a different direction. Printing multiple at once, or a dummy block next to it, could also help a bit, but will not eliminate the effect.

 

 

[cloakfiend 809]

if you print four of them at once spaced not too close together on the plate then that should solve the melted nose issue. cooling is the issue. ive printed many many faces. printing a face upside down gives the best results in my opinion. also don't print flat, as you are greatly reducing resolution!

 

I've been meaning to try metal clay for a while!! i was going to try the silver clay. rather than my usual plate.

Edited October 31 by cloakfiend

[Ghene 14]

10 hours ago, geert_2 said:

You could consider casting them yourself. 3D-print the original, make a high-temp silicone mould, or a mould in casting-sand or plaster, and then cast metal into that. There are metals that melt at low temperatures, such as zinc, tin, lead, and several alloys, and also rarer materials. There do exist special ovens for this purpose in dentistry, to make crowns etc. They might be usefull for small juwelry too, it's about the same size? Try to find an alloy that is stable and doesn't oxidate. Some dental alloys should work.

 

But if I were you, I wouldn't use low-temp metals like magnesium, sodium, potassium, cadmium, and plutonium. Some are highly flammable or explosive, some highly toxic, and plutonium, well, you know...   ?

 

For printing the nose, I guess it is melting while printing, due to not enough cooling? If so, you could consider printing the whole thing under an angle of let's say 45° (head back, chin up)? Then layer lines would run in a different direction. Printing multiple at once, or a dummy block next to it, could also help a bit, but will not eliminate the effect.

 

 

Thanks ? Unfortunately, casting them myself would take making them too long & expensive for buyers. Also, I just send them off to be printed in gold, silver and  platinum whichever clients want to pay. 

I tried having a tower beside my prints, it's often annoying as they cause the whole print to fail due to adhesion issues. I'm going to try again with different angles though, I just hope I don't get fed up printing my face for the nth time ?

[Ghene 14]

3 hours ago, cloakfiend said:

if you print four of them at once spaced not too close together on the plate then that should solve the melted nose issue. cooling is the issue. ive printed many many faces. printing a face upside down gives the best results in my opinion. also don't print flat, as you are greatly reducing resolution!

 

I've been meaning to try metal clay for a while!! i was going to try the silver clay. rather than my usual plate.

I am currently taking icing decoration lessons before handling the metal clay. At least I should be able to make those delicate flowers at the end of it ?

As for printing the face, I will try printing several together. That might solve the problem and I can at last start my art project.