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Hello!

Has anyone any experience with casting jewellery using an Ultimaker 2? What is essential in casting jewellery? Is that the plastic model is completely removed from the gypsum-plaster mold while it is being heated in the oven?

Thanks,
Ivan

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Hi @ivanzartn!

I’m assuming here you’ll be using a metal for the casting process itself, so you have several options as to how to best use your 3D printer to help you achieve the results you want. Either ABS or PLA work, depending on the method of casting you plan on using.

ABS can be used as a mold for low-temperature alloys, like bismuth alloys, on it’s own. You can literally pour the molten metal into the mold and just dissolve away the mold in acetone once the metal is hardened, leaving behind only the cast metal. It is not recommended that you use ABS for any type of “lost- wax” or investment casting because the fumes it outputs when burning are hazardous to your health and can cause nausea, drowsiness and headaches. At the very least, you’ll be rather uncomfortable if you try to burn ABS out.

PLA is a great choice for “lost-wax” casting (called lost-PLA online); it’s just made up of sugars so it releases little to no fumes when burnt out. It also burns out very cleanly, so you get a nice cast out of it. I’ve seen successful casts of aluminum, bronze, and even stainless steel using PLA. This method should work for just about any metal, there’s just not much online with higher temperature material because most people playing with this technique don’t have access to the equipment needed to do it with metals that have high melting points. The one thing to stress is the importance of the quality of the print you use for casting. Any layer lines, gaps, or holes in the print will show up in your cast (usually exaggerated as well), so I highly recommend thoroughly sanding your part before casting to ensure that it is as even and perfect as possible.

The final method you can use is sand-casting, which I’ve seen produce great results for detailed flat pieces that would otherwise not be possible with casting methods.

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