Wax Resin Alternatives and Settings/Use for Jewelers

#1

Hey Guys;

We are production jewelers and own a variety of high-end printers built for our industry.

Just learned about Moai. F*****ing awesome… We’re going to make a major investment in this.

I see the MakerJuice wax resin has been discused a bit in a topic… And, I’d like to open up a broader discussion thread here for the jewelry community and the subject of resin alternatives, settings and use. The quality of the wax resin used is essential to the profitability of a jewelry factory (and hence the potential production use of Moai). Casting quality is the difference between life and death in our world.

So, Has anyone tried different wax resins? What were settings and results? What research should the community focus on??

As soon as our Printer arrives we are going to start testing B9 Yellow resin (which we’ve had awesome success with)…

cheers and best

rogerramjet…

:wink:

Test 4 corners printing failed
What Is The General Consensus On Which Is The Best Castable Resin?
Investment powder for casting
Get Better post-cast results with Waxcast!
Injection molds
#2
To all casters how to burn out
#3

We are working hard on our own castable, hope to release in a month.

there are some castable in the exposure reference:

#4

Yeah B9 was brilliant for me when I was using the LittleRP with flexvat. I just got my Moai so I will be using my remaining amount of B9 soon.

Another maker on this forum is having better success with Fun To Do castable blend. Makerjuice’s Waxcast is extremely temperamental! Especially in the burnout process.

I think B9 will work a treat! :slight_smile:

#5

Well Team;

Looks like we have four (4) castable resins in the community evaluation/refinement grist mill.

  1. Waxcast: reviewed in posts in other misc. threads on this forum (see above). Includes settings for use.

  2. Fun To Do Castable Blend: reviewed in posts in other misc. threads on this forum (see above). Includes settings for use. Very affordable.

  3. B9 Creator Yellow. Results in shortly thanks to Hashra. A mid price point resin…

  4. Soon to be released, Peopoly’s own… Castable Resin.

Feels like there is some solid energy/progress here… Stay tuned…

roger

#6

Let’s get some feedback from you guys as well. What characteristic would you want in a castable resin? Please share as much detail as possible like preferred burnout temperature, level of surface finish and etc. There is a balance between, how easy it is to burnout, vs how easy it is to print and of course cost.

@Bobby_Allen

#7

In my world the key factor in selecting a resin is defect free and accurate casting. Everything else is a distant third or fourth place (including resin cost). Time spent repairing and smoothing new castings is vastly more expensive than any amount of resin.

To produce perfect jewelry castings every step of the process including print, investment, and pouring requires laboratory precision and cleanliness. Precise understanding of how to handle/process the resin/print is therefore important…

Burn out profile generally does not matter as long as it produces a perfect cast… can be as long as necessary…

Tyler Teaque of http://www.jettresearch.com/ has some chemistry expertise here. May be worth a chat with him when formulating a resin. In fact he has a volume production resin that you may want to eval… seriously smart guy…

#8

I think one of the most important thing is a perfect burnout (very little ash) which results in a very good cast. I hate cleaning up dirty casts. Especially with casts that have porosity and defects from burnout. If you could achieve a surface like it’s just been sandblasted, then you’ve got a great resin! The clean up after casting should be easy.

I would like the resin to be opaque too. And a colour where I can see visible defects, maybe grey?

#9

Also bluecast should be evaluated- I don’t have a bottle but it’s next on my list after FTD

#10

Hashra is right on… no ash is key…
also, the opaque idea is wonderful… many castable resins are somewhat translucent which makes evaluation of the quality of the print difficult…

It would be useful for each of us do a statistical run-off (with photos) across the various resins after we get the Peopoly resin…

roger

#11

From my experience ive had great success with B9’s Cherry resin and that’s due to the ability of how it’s heat curable.

alot of the time failed casting is due to improper curing, and using heat to cure rather than a uv lamp gives a better consistent cure all over the print exterior and interior.

I was one of the early backers and received my moai fairly early on in the campaign and have concluded that the b9 cherry just doesnt work with the moai (just from my experience). So really looking for alternatives here. Still havent had a chance to send out a ftd cast print for casting yet.

am interested in the b9 yellow though if that’s an option would like to use that as the casting houses around here prefer b9 resins. So if theres any luck with that can we get some pics of the results. Thanks.

#12

I just got a bottle of bluecast in yesterday…I’m now working on it…I’ll let you know…so far 50/50. I’m trying to figure out if it needs more laser power or less?

#13

thanks miguel, would love to see models when they turn out.

#14

testing new wax next week. if it works out, will let you guys know

#15

ok…after a week of testing, I have some results…

First, Blue-cast is worth the money…

I’ll include pics but the only downside I found is that this resin is sensitive to foggy PDMS, but aren’t they all?

All my prints stuck to every part of the vat with the exception of the front left part of the vat where I printed over 30 times with MakerJuice wax cast (which I will never recommend for casting…it is complete garbage during burnout and it will never print on the middle or right side of the vat, never…stay away!!!)

SETTINGS:
Z moto speed 10
Pm moto speed 35
Laser power 58
Pm reset position 30

Mark @peopoly , you can add this information to your settings spreadsheet with confidence, I did extensive testing

Oh…More good news…NO CURING UV necessary…3 quick dips and washes between alcohol and water is all that is needed…I use denatured alcohol because its relatively cheap and easy to get at Home Depot…$15 a gallon…

For Jewelers, I think this is one of the best if not the best burnout resin…

I use R&R Ultravest which is one of the more common investments $50 for 50 pound box.

The burn out process is less than 1 hour…Yes!!! 1 hour with furnace preheated to 1550 DEGREES F. They say 30 MINUTES but I left in for 1 hour…I had a 2mm sprue so ventilation is not an issue.

Keep in mind, with bluecast, I’m finding I have to strain the resin through a filter ever 5-10 prints…there seems to be gelatin like formations after 5 prints and that has affected my prints…that’s the biggest downside I’ve encountered so far…

This stuff is very similar to wax, however and very easy to sand…
I printed at the 3 resolution settings (100, 50 and 25 microns), no issues.

Some Pics…remember, left fail is because of foggy overused side of vat

IMG_4214
IMG_4214.JPG3024x4032 1.3 MB
IMG_4208
IMG_4208.JPG3024x4032 1.33 MB
IMG_4207
IMG_4207.JPG3024x4032 1.62 MB
IMG_4209
IMG_4209.JPG3024x4032 1.66 MB
IMG_4212
IMG_4212.JPG3024x4032 2.04 MB
IMG_4215
IMG_4215.JPG3024x4032 2.03 MB
IMG_4218
IMG_4218.JPG3024x4032 2.22 MB
IMG_4217
IMG_4217.JPG3024x4032 2.23 MB

@Bobby_Allen @John_Chang I highly recommend this resin…It cost me $225 with shipping, but I got a 15% discount because I asked to trial the product…I think they’ll do the same for you…

Order from Italy @ www.3dgarage.it
I was a little concerned about the PayPal email, but it’s legit

They’re customer service, by the way, was amazing. I’m very pleased with this resin and company, overall.

Resin arrived within 3 day, from Italy to the states, that was awesome.

Enjoy!!

#16

thanks for the awesome news, I will be ordering the resin today. thanks!

#17

awesome!!

Oh and I’m testing new settings that they just gave me that someone else tested with perfect results…I’ll write them in here if they work…

#18

Ok…I tested the settings for BlueCast Original and they seem to be better…not much difference, but the print did improve slightly…enough to mention and make the changes…

Z moto speed 10
Pm moto speed 35
Laser power 58
Pm reset position 30

#19

thanks for the info… but the new settings you mentioned are the same as the settings you posted previously.

and was that laser power set for 50um resolution?

#20

no…sorry…I edited the first one, that why…go with the settings shown…