It’s a casting Face-Off… Who’ll take the title?
Hey guys, It’s experiment time.
Today I’m going to take four materials and put them through their paces
in a Lost Casting bout so we can analyse the results. So let me introduce the contestants…
In the Red Corner, It’s Ordinary Resin… Well folks keep asking if it will work,
so let’s try it. In this instance it’s Phrozen 4K standard printing resin,
definitely NOT intended for casting. But there’s amazing detail in the print so lets give it a go.
In the Blue Corner, It’s Injection Wax… An obvious choice and a favourite of the
tried and true. You saw me make the mold when reviewing the Arbe Wax Injector,
and this contender will certainly pull no punches.
In the Green Corner, It’s PLA… I’m not sure if I was the first to introduce this
style of casting to PLA, but if I wasn’t, I never found any other videos on the subject.
Back then everyone was trying to melt it inside sand. It’s great to now see so many
casting channels doing Lost PLA the same way I do. I often get asked why I don’t PLA cast anymore
and it’s simply the fact that I like detail. I find getting fine detail with
FDM printing about as easy as trying to pick my nose wearing boxing gloves.
So I kept the challenge as easy as possible for our FDM chum. And before anyone asks, this is just
ordinary PLA which I bought from Amazon and I’ll place a link in the description is that helps.
And finally, in the Yellowy Greeny Bluey Orange Corner, it’s castable resin…
You knew it was coming and here it takes the form of the Bluecast X10. This one has been printed on
the Sonic 4K so it’s had every opportunity to stand it’s ground against the chiselled form of
Wax and the god-like physique of 4K resin. WEIGH IN
I often get asked about shrinkage and at my age,
maybe that’s no surprise, and certainly cold water doesn’t help. But having a keen,
scientific mind, I generally can’t be asked if I’m honest. But you guys ask and I try my best.
Our overweight contender is PLA. It’s printed just a tiny bit over sized, at least according to my
callipers which are only cheap things from Amazon – but for such a great price I’m not grumbling.
4K Resin is looking lean, just a smidgen under ideal.
Bluecast Castable is also a little under, but not as much as 4K, and this is interesting
as people often talk about size calibration being an issue with the Resin Printers, but as this is
the same model and the same printer, it seems to suggest that resin has a major part to play in
dimensional accuracy. So if you’re looking for the same size every time, stick with the same resin.
And finally wax, our feather-weight contender. I was surprised by how much shrinkage there
was here. Maybe it’s just my choice of wax… but as the wax comes from a print,
it’s certainly factor. Seconds out…
To keep things as fair as possible, all contenders will share the same casting tree, the same burnout
cycle and the same metal. However, many could dispute this and say each should have their own
optimal burnout cycle. But this is my experiment, not theirs, so they can just push off!
I’ve marked the trunk of the tree so I know which is which…
(terrible singing and worse song) This is the last chance to place your bets…
Luckily the markings have come out clearly.
In case I didn’t make it clear, this one is the PLA. But what about the others…
Let’s give everything a basic clean-up and then we’ll see.
This one is STILL the PLA. And at a quick glance,
it’s not too bad. You can clearly see the layer lines from the printing process.
But you can also see marks that weren’t on the print. These are evidently flaws.
This one is, well, pretty awful and if you hadn’t guessed, it’s the ordinary 4K
resin. It’s no surprise that something NOT made for the purpose should do so poorly at it.
Sure, there may be some resins that produce better results than this 4K and maybe a hotter,
longer burnout might help, but that’s speculation into something that doesn’t really interest me.
Instead I’ll look to the products that give me the results.
Such as this one… And this one as well.
So we have a close contest between the Bluecast X10 castable resin and Injection Wax.
Who do you think should take their share of the gate money?
For me it’s close, it’s very close, but I have to give it to wax. Neither was especially tidied
up before casting and neither has been now, so nothing is perfect. And I’m not sure if
the size difference is as obvious to you as it is to me. So let’s have another weigh in.
PLA has barely changed. Wax has shrunk a little.
So has castable resin. Ordinary resin seems
bigger… er, well, er… I dunno. If we can replicate that with gold, we’re laughing.
Let’s look at the numbers more closely. With both castable resin and wax,
it looks like a fairly similar shrinkage on the bronze of approximate half a percent,
which I would say is about normal. Personally I plan for 1% but if anything ever actually casts,
I’m generally so shocked and delighted I never to stop to think about it.
The PLA shows a very small shrinkage overall and as for resin… let’s just ignore it.
I guess that brings us back to looks and it has to be said
the right materials for the job got the best results.
If you’re wondering why this is, is all about the burnout. Proper materials burn out cleanly,
leaving nothing behind, but improper materials leave soot, ash and other deposits behind
which spoil the finish. In fact some so-called castable resins do the same thing…
So for me guys, castable resins and castable waxes win the day, but maybe you feel differently.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this little excursion into the land of experimentation.
Take care, and thanks for watching.