For the final assignment, Belen and I created eight chess pieces with an ice cream cone body. This piece was created using EasyFlo 60 Liquid Plastic that was cast into a silicone mold produced from CNC and 3D printing. The steps to achieve this are as follows:
- An ice cream cone was created on SolidWorks. This ice cream cone was sliced in half, edited by adding air tubes and mold holes, and then convert to a .stl file. This was then sliced on 3D PrinterOS, converted to gcode and then printed.
- The half ice cream cone was then imported into Vcarve to create toolpaths. Two separate toolpath routines using a 1/4″ and 1/8″ endmill were created. This resulted in a .crv file which was then sent into carbide motion and converted to gcode. The file was then CNCed on Shapeoko. After the first iteration of the CNC half was printed, we determined that it was 0.8 times smaller than the 3D-printed half. Because of this, we had to go back to SolidWorks and VCarve and change the CNC file.
- Cardboards were secured onto both the 3D printed and CNC halves of the piece using hot glue.
- Silicone molds were then poured into these cardboarded halves and they were left to solidify for about 12 hours.
- Both these halves were then aligned and secured together using rubber band. EasyFlo 60 Liquid Plastic parts A and B were then mixed together and immediately poured into the hole between the two silicone molds using a syringe. The volume of the piece was 10 mL.
- After letting the liquid plastic sit for 20 min, the silicone molds were pulled apart and the casted liquid plastic was revealed.
- Using scissors and sand paper, the extraneous stuff was removed off of the chess piece. Steps 5-7 were repeated 7 more times. The last 4 times were repeated using dye during the mixing of liquid plastic parts A and B. The following 8 pieces were created.
Cost Estimation
- Cost of FDM Print (provided by 3DPrinterOS) = $1.56
- SLA Printer Resin ($180/L) = $18
- Shapeoko Power Usage = $1.67
- Silicone Mold ($0.06/ml) = $11.6
- EasyFlo 60 Liquid Plastic Kit (A+B) ($20.68/kg) = $20.68
- Labor ($20/h) = $460
Total Cost = $513.51
