I should be able to scan your sculpture on my Matter and Form laser scanner and produce a watertight mesh in STL or OBJ format. I say “should” because it’s all down to the shape. If this sounds like what you’re after, shoot me a message and let’s have a chat about it.
The wax needs to melt much lower for glass casting as the wax gets steamed out. One alternative that just occurred is to print the mould, the inverse. That would need to be in something very flexible and capable of withstanding hot wax
Is it possible to print the mould which is the inverse of the piece? A flexible and temperature resistant rubber into which I would pour hot wax? Attached is the glass piece
Yes, You would need to scan the glass piece to produce a 3d STL file, print it with moldlay filament, then encase in suitable material (concrete) place inside a baking oven at 270 degrees c, which will cause the moldlay to melt out and leave a negative of the glass piece inside; In to which you pour you final material.
Using steam to heat something up to remove it, Is using a very “wet” kind of heat;
You will get a better result with “dry” heat which at 270 c from a oven or even a hot air gun will melt most things pretty well to a liquid state.
Probably I need to get hold of some moldlay and try that technique as a technical test. Kiln firing glass using lost wax may appear similar to metal techniques, appear! it is not concrete that is used but a Quartz/plaster/clay investment mix. Glass goes in cold and melts in the kiln, it can be in there for days in a multi-stage heating & cooling cycle. Peeking into the kiln opportunities are limited. Cracks are not good and risk kiln damage. Unmelted wax will cause noxious fumes in a kiln etc.
Hey Jesse, sorry I somehow missed your comment. Just to clarify: we understand the importance of email communication and that of evaluating the printability of a job, among others. This is why we enabled the order flow page where both customer and Hub can discuss about the print in question, even before the Hub accepts or declines it the transaction.
Moreover, we made Hubs even more easily reachable for contact, by adding clickable user profiles here on Talk, on top of the Contact This Hub button on your Hub page. We certainly don’t want to limit communication with customers, on the contrary, we’re trying to make things as smooth as possible, for you not to always switch to other platforms (email, etc). But to have everything in one place.
In hindsight, my comment might have sounded a bit harsh, but this was certainly not my intention. Hope this clarifies things.
