Hey guys, this week I was baffled by brass… but we’ll get to that later.
I’ve a confession for you. Many years ago I used to enjoy painting Warhammer miniatures.
I still do every once in a while, but my eyes aren’t as good as they were.
So the other day I was browsing through Thingiverse and I was thrilled to see hundreds of similarly
themed 3d prints. I found this one, a Traveling Dwarf Merchant
and I loved it. Out of courtesy I contacted the artist and asked if I could cast it in
a Video, and he was kind enough to say yes. The 3d print was in three parts and used structural
support, which is fairly new to me as a newbie 3d printer. But I found with a little clean-up
everything came together perfectly. A little positioning wax helped cover over
any imperfections. It also acted as glue, holding the pieces
together. I designed and printed a sprue system and
attached 3 models with PLA and wax sprues. Everything was then covered in investment
plaster. This was cooked for several hours in my home made electric foundry, allowing
the PLA and wax to melt away. I decided on a brass pour and as the weather
was quite pleasant, I decided to do everything outdoors.
When it came to the pour, it just didn’t look right. Maybe it was the daylight or maybe
I’d taken too long, I wasn’t sure, so I quickly had to shove everything back in
the foundry and reheat. A couple of moments later, I tried again and it looked much the
same. Perhaps it was my inexperience with brass, or maybe it just wasn’t hot enough.
Either way I swore profusely, cursed the casting gods and kicked nextdoor’s cat in my frustration.
It had all gone wrong. I just knew it had. It was a terrible job.
But as the plaster was washed away, things didn’t look too bad. This technique, using
my home made vacuum system, is surprisingly forgiving.
I turned to my vibrational tumbler to remove any stubborn plaster.
Now this is a barrel tumbler. It uses steel shot, water and a spot of laundry detergent
to polish metal items like jewellery. Oh well, I guess I’m down to two… and
at this weight, I thought it best to clean one at a time.
And here you go guys. Not too bad I think. One of these is going to go to the original
artist as a thank-you from me. The other is going to be given in a prize-draw to one of
my Patrons. If you were thinking of becoming one of my Patrons and fancy a chance of winning
one of these chaps, sign up before 5th March and you’ll be entered. Details of the competition
are on my Patreon page. I hope you enjoyed this one guys. Take care
and thanks for watching.