#Mold casting

[brushfeather]

So I definitely like the cup method best, at least for tiny guys like this. Made my first successful two part mold. I highly recommend this person's tutorials, they're very thorough and easy to follow.

They use foam board instead of cups, but it's the same process. Instead of acorn nuts, I used rubber pin backs. I may switch to acorns in the future, as the thin handle of the backs tends to be hard to release.

[homebrewstims]

Batch of masks!

- The making of Sebastian silver fox - x x x - Wolf mask | Theatre props | Halloween mask | Cosplay party by InzSowa on Etsy

Though this isn't my footage, I took the time to make the gifs. See my terms of use BEFORE you reupload!

[topwellmoulding]

What is the Difference Between Hard Mold and Soft Mold?

Mold manufacturing plays a crucial role in various industries, from automotive to medical devices, electronics, and consumer products. Understanding the differences between hard mold and soft mold is essential for selecting the right molding solution for specific production needs. This article explores the key distinctions between hard molds and soft molds, their applications, advantages, and considerations for choosing the right one.

Hard Mold vs. Soft Mold: Key Differences

1. Material Composition

Hard Mold: Made from durable materials like hardened steel or high-grade aluminum, designed for long-term and high-volume production.

Soft Mold: Typically crafted from softer materials such as aluminum, epoxy, or pre-hardened steel, suitable for prototyping and low-volume production.

2. Durability and Lifespan

Hard Mold: Offers superior durability and can withstand hundreds of thousands to millions of injection cycles without significant wear.

Soft Mold: Has a limited lifespan, usually ranging from a few thousand to tens of thousands of cycles before requiring replacement.

3. Production Volume

Hard Mold: Ideal for large-scale production runs where consistency and longevity are critical.

Soft Mold: Best suited for short-run productions, prototyping, or situations where design modifications may be needed.

4. Cost and Lead Time

Hard Mold: More expensive to manufacture due to the high-quality materials and precision machining required. However, the cost per part is lower in high-volume runs.

Soft Mold: More cost-effective for initial tooling and has a shorter lead time, making it ideal for rapid prototyping or small-batch manufacturing.

5. Surface Finish and Precision

Hard Mold: Provides high precision and excellent surface finish, which is essential for complex and intricate designs.

Soft Mold: May have slight variations in precision and surface finish, but it is sufficient for many applications requiring quick turnaround.

Applications of Hard and Soft Molds

Hard Molds:

Mass production of plastic components

High-precision parts for medical, automotive, and aerospace industries

Consumer electronics requiring tight tolerances

Soft Molds:

Rapid prototyping and product testing

Low-volume specialty items

Market testing before committing to large-scale production

Choosing the Right Mold for Your Needs

Selecting between hard mold and soft mold depends on several factors, including budget, production volume, timeline, and product complexity. Companies like Topwell Moulding specialize in delivering tailored molding solutions, ensuring that clients receive the optimal mold type for their specific application.

Conclusion

Both hard molds and soft molds play vital roles in the manufacturing process, each serving distinct purposes. While hard molds offer durability and cost-effectiveness for high-volume production, soft molds provide flexibility and lower initial investment for prototyping and limited runs. Understanding these differences enables manufacturers to make informed decisions, optimizing efficiency and cost-effectiveness in their production processes.

For high-quality injection molding solutions, visit Topwell Moulding.

[creativeera]

Die Casting - An Insight into the Intricate Metal Forming Process

Die casting is a metal forming process where molten metal is injected at high pressure into steel molds or dies. Due to the high pressures involved, it results in products with very tight tolerances and precise dimensional specifications. This helps produce intricate components with complex internal passages in high volumes, at competitive costs compared to other manufacturing processes. History and Applications It is a relatively old manufacturing technology that was first developed in the late 18th century for producing metal buttons and thimbles. Over the years, advancements in metal alloys and casting equipment led to expanding applications of it, especially for zinc and aluminum. Today, commonly die cast metals include aluminum, zinc, magnesium, copper and tin-based alloys. Major industries using die cast components include automotive, industrial equipment, electronics, hardware, and household appliances. Common applications are engine parts, transmission components, housings, casings, and covers for electronics, tools, and consumer goods. It accounts for over 60% of all aluminum cast parts produced globally. Different Methods There are two main casting methods in use today - hot chamber and cold chamber Die Casting . Hot chamber machines maintain molten metal at a high temperature inside a holding furnace. Cold chamber machines solidify molten metal in a shot sleeve before injecting it into the die under pressure. Within these, there are further variants depending on the type of filling method - gravity, low/high pressure, and squeeze casting. Hot chamber casting is preferred for zinc and tin-based alloys, while aluminum alloys are commonly cold chamber die cast. Each method has merits suited for certain alloy compositions and part sizes/thicknesses. Process Steps The key steps involved in casting are: 1. Preparation of die and mold cavity 2. Melting and alloying of metal 3. Metal conditioning and transfer 4. Shot delivery into the die cavity 5. solidification under applied pressure and cooling 6. Die opening and part ejection 7. Finishing of cast parts The die or mold containing the cavity of desired part shape is first prepared using tool steels. Molten metal at 700-800°C is transferred and conditioned in the shot sleeve of the Die Casting machine. On trigger, a shot of melt is injected rapidly into the die cavity under very high pressures of 600-1500 kg/sq cm before solidifying. Accurate temperature control is vital to obtain quality castings. Design Considerations for Die Cast Parts Designing die cast parts requires careful planning to ensure production feasibility, dimensional accuracy, and assembly/performance needs. Key factors considered are part size/weight limitations, wall thickness variations and thick/thin sections, draft angles, gates and risers placement, machining/finishing requirements post casting, functional lives under service loads/temperatures, and surface finish needs. Finite element analysis involving thermo-mechanical simulations is often used at the design stage to validate castability. Functional designs help achieve dimensional consistency and elimination of defects in high volume production. Get more insights on Die Casting

Vaagisha brings over three years of expertise as a content editor in the market research domain. Originally a creative writer, she discovered her passion for editing, combining her flair for writing with a meticulous eye for detail. Her ability to craft and refine compelling content makes her an invaluable asset in delivering polished and engaging write-ups.

(LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vaagisha-singh-8080b91)

[gudmould]

Really confused: what is roughness 0.8, 1.6, 3.2, 6.3, 12.5?

Do you know why roughness is 0.8, 1.6, 3.2, 6.3, 12.5?Let’s take it slow 1. Concept of surface roughness During machining process of parts, due to influence of plastic deformation of metal surface, vibration of machine tool and tool marks left by tool on the surface during cutting, various surfaces of parts, no matter how smooth they are processed, even observed under a microscope, can see…

[vintagehomecollection]

Country Kitchens, 1991

[autumnslance]

Normally I'd agree many Final Fantasy games have rather young protagonists. It's because they're usually single-player JRPGs made with the assumption of younger players, and like most Young Adult media, create characters that cater to that, even if it ends up with teens running the world and fighting in wars. And for many players, the first time playing these games is in childhood/adolescence/very young adulthood. So it's YA anime.

Final Fantasy XIV does not fall into that same mold, despite the "Teen" rating for legal and distribution purposes.

The majority of the FF14 cast, including the bulk of the main characters, are between 20 and 40 years old (the Scion Archons, Ishgard Elf Husbands). Many other characters are between 40 and 80 (Ishgard's Counts are all late middle aged to elder dads/grandpas, Gaius is mid 50s, Jehantel and Ran'jit are elderly, all still active). The younger characters (especially with any authority or special position) like the Leveilleur twins, are actually outliers. And the youth of the characters between 16 and 20 years old tends to be plot relevant, where that inexperience and naivety causes problems and drives story (Nanamo's arc at the end of ARR into HW, Alphinaud and the Crystal Braves, Ryne's determination of self in ShB, etc).

Characters have a variety of appearances; some characters in the same age ranges look very different. Varis is only 4 years older than X'rhun but Varis's model shows the stress and disagreeableness of his life a lot more than the RDM trainer's. Cid's in his mid-30s but with the beard looks older--and without it he has a baby face (hair color doesn't matter, cuz they do keep the anime trope of "everyone's got white or silver hair"). Lalafell are designed to be anime-cute halflings so it's hard to tell their adult ages even if they've got facial hair like grandfatherly Papashan. The pad'jal of course look like kids, but the youngest main pad'jal is A-Ruhn in his late teens; all the others are adults stuck in adolescent bodies. E-Sumi is a few hundred years old. Kan-E uses various methods to look older so other leaders and people from outside Gridania will take her seriously as an adult. The padjal introduced in the StB WHM quests is a child, and that's the plot; she's not in charge of anything, or has any particularly advanced-for-her-age skills. She's just a kid having a really rough time.

This inability to determine age by looking and assuming isn't just due to limits of the game engine and character creation options; it reflects real life. I met my work team for the first time in person recently; one person looked older than I know them to be, thanks to months of stress and health issues. While all of them were shocked to remember I'm in my 40s as according to them, I "look much younger". Most people are actually pretty bad at guesstimating ages based on appearance, due to the variety of folks' lives.

Speaking of kid characters, many of the children we interact with, like the Doman Adventurers, are between 12 and 14 and act much younger. Khloe has this going on too, with her age "corrected" to 13 (when previously listed as 10), but she acts way younger to me. Most of the actual child characters are treated like children, and it's not until they get to 14-16 (Honoroit, Leveva) that we start to see them treated like maturing adolescents and having some responsibilities, but still young and prone to the kind of choices one expects of less experienced and more emotional youth.

As a MMO, FF14's primary audience is actually adults; teens do play the game, but also age up with it if they keep playing. If a 15 year old began playing with ARR's release, they're in their mid-20s now. Having a primarily adult cast, and treating child characters like children, and adolescents like young people figuring out how young adulthood works, makes sense for this game.

FF14's time bubble is also part of the issue; a developer tool to keep it so they don't have to worry too much about character ages, new models so often, or how long things take in game. Timelines are then intentionally left malleable for the players' benefits, to create our own stories and determine how long things take for our WoLs and their tales. Some folks have their stories pass in real time, some compress it to a year per expac, some expand it out even longer. So the ages the characters have listed in the lorebooks and rarely in game (which is then reflected in online resources), is a starting baseline. Personal headcanons as always should be applied (including changing around some character ages to fit one's own story if necessary).

Also, FF16, made by the same team, has a brief prologue/tutorial section where the main trio is between 10 and 15, guided/trained by adult characters, experience the inciting incident trauma--and then we spend the majority of the game with the main cast in their 20s and 30s. The game also has a mature rating, featuring some sexual situations, lots of violence, and stronger language than other FF games. It's made for adults, and its cast reflects that.

So it is a matter of audience expectations; for a MMO, you're going to have an older and aging player base, and the varied ages of the cast reflect that, as do their varied appearances and experiences as adults. The young characters are treated closer to how their youth should be; still with respect for those in positions like Nanamo, but also prone to errors due to inexperience that drive story. In other FF titles, which were made to be more YA-focused, a teen and young 20s cast were treated much differently. But even in the single-player FF titles, if they are made with adult players in mind, their cast and stories likewise reflect that.

[aiscapades]

we've all had thoughts about what makes leander a monster, but what if it's literally just that he's a horrible human. that's it.

[lafioris]

Final pictures of my original ball jointed doll. She is so incredibly beautiful and I'm so proud of her.

Also enjoy my cat always trying to be the main character...

[darewolfcreates]

lost wax casting

Behold the sweatshop

[topwellmoulding]

Topwell Hard Moulds is a one stop for the right solutions of product design and development

Discover expert Hard Moulds  services at topwellmoulding.com. We offer innovative and precise Hard Moulds solutions tailored to your specific needs, ensuring quality and efficiency in every project.

[sukibenders]

This Children of Blood and Bone casting is not it. Amandla....bestie, listen----

[ectogeranium]

the autism may have won tonight, but I stay winning every day

[ebsculpts]

making new master casts from plasticine sculpts 😸💕

[mr-geargrinder]

I've been poking away at the creature project. I wanted to do some test molds to see how an all-in-one print with a base and pour spouts/support sprues would work and it mostly works just fine. Unfortunately, I had some minor cure inhibition from the resin and some tear-out, but some of that might be from the silicone being pretty old.

This does mean these molds are a failure, but they did help me spot a handful of issues that I can easily correct on the next iteration, and if I just print them slightly larger, that will also alleviate some problems too. I think I'm mostly just getting impatient because it's been so long since I last did very much resin casting. But I'll get there eventually and when I do... watch out.

[headcanon-fodder]

She/Him Sculpture by Gora Donovan, 2024

"This is not just a statement of my gender, it is a love letter."

This is my favorite thing I've made all semester and words cannot properly describe the joy I feel looking at it.

The road to it was a masissive headache; we even had to break the shell of the mold to get it out - but, God, was it worth it!

For anyone curious it's a plaster cast of a rubber mold I made.