Hi Chris, so good to see that you are using the direct casting in silicone. I used that technique 30 years ago in my Berlin studio, but for much larger sculpture castings. The silicone could stand 500 C = 932 F. I made my own tin bronze, casting temperature about 400-440 C. The problems that you had with the ' dry ' look of your casting: the metal temperature too low and the inner surface of the silicone not adequate. You can entirely skip the vaccum when u do the following: use graphite powder and brush it on the inner side of the silicone. Better is to cut open the silicone and prepare / have an outer plaster shell to hold it later firmly together. The graphite lets the metal flow perfectly smooth and the outer plaster keeps the silicone hot so that the metal cools evenly and creates a dense structure. For the first layer on your part: this is of course a delicate procedure and is essential to have a very good surface. To avoid a parting line on the metal when you have several cut silicone: use cyanoacrylate and glue the silicone parts step by step together. For larger parts also staple carefully across the cutting lines. Then put it all in your plaster mold. For larger castings it is best to prepare a sand box to place the plaster mold in, that is a mandatory protection feature and also extends the cooling process which is essential for a good cast. looking forward for your next experiments :-). Like 104 Herri

I don't own a pressure vessel, but I do own some gloves...

Chris! Your process brought back memories from when I started doing small pewter castings, in Germany, in the early '80's. Stationed there as an Army NCO 3 times total. Lived there twice as a child starting in 1953. I used a German high temp RTV available at German hobby shops at the time. Started by casting spoons and small objects to get the skills needed. The comments by 'erlinghagendesign' below covered other issues I needed to solve at the time. Now I use Smooth-On products for small automotive based items. I do have one desire that an even higher temperature resistant Silicone was available where Brass, aluminum and other nonferrous metals could be cast. I also learned about "Kirksite" from casting and stamping videos on KZfaq! That too is a very durable metal with a low melting temperature for stamping sheet metal parts in the automotive industry! Thanks for your post! Jesse

6:50 holy fuck, going to give me a heart attack lol

So helpful seeing the failed castings, it gives such a better understanding of why to have a warm mould and why to use a pressure chamber. Best video I've seen in ages, I wish more channels would show the ones that didn't work, it helps understand the process.

Man, lifting that molten metal, was on the edge of my seat :D

Subbed. I really like that you showed and documented the mistakes you made. People often underestimate how much others can learn from these mistakes. Loving your content so far.

Shocked by quality of the print then I saw the milling spindle. Out of the question! Strongest 3d printer. Ever!

THE best videos in terms of "Lets find out how to cheaply make a metal casted replica" ever. I am still grateful for this video. It shows that I don´t need a vacuum chamber as well but just a pressure pod.

The first casting failed because the silicon was still wet (with oils and catalyst), pre-heating in a oven (15 minutes @ 200~250ºC)would solve this. There is a iron oxide infused silicon that works better (less thermal expasion mainly, wich uncovers the silicon bubbles) but it is brittle and may not work well with very irregular pieces using single part moulds. Coating the inside of the mould with baby powder or graphite powder (graphite is best in my experience) before casting increase the flow of the molten metal and reduce it's surface tension allowing better details without the need of casting under pressure.

I was sanding off the layer lines at great distress. I never thought of using paint until your video. Thanks man!

Wow, that's great! The music was perfect and I watched the entire thing. Please make more of these 3D Printed casts, it's great! Subbed for more.

Interesting approach on the mold using pressure.. The traditional approach to making sure your silicon is bubble free is vacuum.. But I guess really tiny bubbles are just as good as no bubbles at all.. Thanks for sharing.

Pretty cool! A great example of the old adage, "If you at first don't succeed, try, try again"!

I appreciate videos like this where there is experimentation and learning from mistakes. Very helpful! Thanks!

That’s awesome!!! One of the best video I saw in last few years 😉 I especially appreciated the trial&error method you used to show us the improvements...very impressive and well explained 👍👍👍

Awesome video with great editing and music!

awesome video! it was fun to watch and i like how honest you were! :) make more!

From my previous casting of lead figures you could forgo the pressure pot for the casting of the metal. Mainly all you need to do create the mold as you did, then when casting it heat up the mold either by placing it in a toaster oven, or do what you did and just do multiple castings in a row which will keep the mold warm, also use a cone as the riser or half sphere thats larger than the object that way you have a resivoor of molten metal so when the metal shrinks a bit you'll have enough to keep it filled, also easier to handle and you don't have to fill it up 100%. The big thing is you could make a slight zig zag cuts on one side (back perhaps) to make the master and castings easier to remove you can use clamps and two pieces of acrylic or hard board to secure them so the clamps don't squish the mold, and then use use of talc (or baby powder) to liberally coat the inside of the mold which allows for air to escape out the edges and give you a clean cast, thus eliminating the need for the pressure pot for casting.

Everybody else has made appropriate comments, but let me say very well done video! Thank you.

Those are some amazing quality prints!

Great video dude and I loved the soundtrack aswell :)

I've always used a vacuum to remove air bubbles from silicon prior to pouring, this would no doubt have issues when using hollow printed parts, very cool to see your alternative method here with pressure. Also I like the electric furnace as a base for your heating the metal! Will keep that in mind for when I finally get mine finished too heh. Thanks for sharing!

Now glue the falcon to the hood of your car!

awesome video man! super informative.

1. 3d print the mold case 2. calculate the required silicon volume in the design software (Rhinoceros my case) 3. use plastic 10ml & 50ml syiringes to measure the given mold component volumes. 4. thanks, good video.

Brilliant! You have wide range of projects and great music, that is a extra plus plus!!!

love this video! answered all questions I had :) nice to see someone do mistakes and learn from it!

Wow! I learned so much with this video. Thank you!

I admire your persistence.

Very cool indeed, thanks for sharng. Which model of vacuum chamber is that ?

Deposition 3D prints (PLA/ABS) have TONS of air in them, and will bubble if not sealed. An easy way to seal is with primer and paint. Resin 3D prints are solid by nature so they make for best molding. When pouring metal into a cold mold, dust with baby powder. You'll get a reliable pour the first time.

Fantastic! (I hope you don't mind that I laughed when you showed that you hadn't mixed enough silicone the first time.) That was very honest of you! 😆👍

Came for the casting, subbed for the soundtrack

Great video, CDP; thanks for sharing. When I saw your excellent pressure chamber, I thought that you were going to pull a vacuum on the liquid silicone to draw all of the bubbles to the surface. I guess pressure works as well as vacuum. Using pressure during the cooling of the molten metal is a great idea. Good job. thanks

Great work!

Great Video thanks for showing solutions for bubbles in casting! Problems are more interesting than immediate success!

is there any way to use a similar technique for glass materials? I really want to make custom glass molds for things like cups.

Nice job. Thx for sharing.

The soundtrack is just awesome!

Great video. I wish you many more subscribers!

This is a good candidate for making name plates

Great video! Subbed!

Very nice work! I do some epoxy molding but I may have to try this as well. :)

Wow great vid! Does the primer and topcoat really smooth the pla over that well? Brill idea I’m after something similar, that hadn’t occurred to me I was trying sandpaper and it’s just not that smooth afterwards. Cheers loads I’ll try it. Edit I also like your persistence! I’m also persistent it gets a lot of things done :)

very good work!

Awesome, thanks!

This was a realy interesting project.

Well done!

Is bizmuth strong enough to use for gears?

And what device did you use to apply pressure in the video, it looked similar to a Insta pot but I would like to know where to get one.

Have this video playing in the background, and this music is excellent!

wow dude, you're not giving up also giving up your research free on youtube. thanks bro

could you makes gears for a robotic art thing like this? would dimensional stability be OK? also is there a more bronze looking metal i could use at low temperature? thanks

Sherlock would be proud.

Awesome!!! If I understand what you did. You used pressure to remove the bubbles? Does this work better than degassing by using a vacuum?

That looks like the start of an awesome chess set. Those would be great rooks. The kings could probably be that little Aztec-like statue from "Raiders of the Lost Ark".

what silicon are you using ?vacuum degassing helps take bubbles out of the silicon too

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD use a clamp or some grabbing tool, my fingers were burning just watching you move that mold into the chamber. Even KZfaq's recent product suggestion addition below this video are suggesting gloves and a set of tongs

8:20 - Instead of extra pressure you'd better go with a vacuum - it will not shrink the bubles in a smaller size, but let *all* the air from the metal which is much better!

I will be purchasing a pressurized unit for my modes in the future.

Dude I though I was very ballsy around molten metal till I saw you lift that mold full of molten metal.

Maltese Falcon is one of favorite Radio Mystery Theater shows 😂😂👍👍..... nice content on your channel

Its nice to see the steps you take.

Try, try, and try again. Until you get it right, or satisfactory, or moderately acceptable. Love this channel!

Hey, can you use just any pressure chamber for this, or is there something specific I need to look for?

Is bizmuth tin 281 safe to use as ice cube trays? And will it leach into ice made using a bizmuth tin ice cube tray?

I love the sound of polycarbonate on wood in the morning.

Trade names for that metal alloy are Cerrabend and Woods metal. They were used to fill copper pipes prior to bending, then heated to get it out. Now resins are used instead as the metal is very expensive now.

great video .was wondering if you could load the printer with to save making the first model.

Does anyone know how strong this metal alloy is? I've often seen it compared to solder in the way that it melts, but is it as weak if cast thinly?

Nice. Would like to see more videos like this.

Great video! I think that vibration could also work for removing the bubbles.

What printer is that? looks like a cnc machine that you have attached a extruder to. Second, what filiment is that? i really like it thanks

Now that's extreme casting.

Thanks that was cool.

Hi Chris -- Great video. Love the inclusion of missteps so we all learn the why as well as the what. Quick question, though -- what's your recommended setup for the mini-forge? I'm finding nothing on Google.

what is the pressure vessel you are using called? tryna find it online to do somthing like this myself!

Chris, excellent vid even after all this time. Question: What are you using to heat the metal, and what kind of pot are you melting it in?

how did you get rid of the bubbles?

what other kinds of metals could you pour into this kind of silicone mold?

As opposed to just crushing the air bubbles you could actually get ride of them. Flip that pressure vessel to a vacuum chamber! Poof bubbles removed from both silicone and metal

Is that a milling machine 3d printer?? I love it hahahahaha

Hi what do you use as mold, because it went to fast to hear what you use. 😀

Dumb question but could this be done with hotter metals like copper?

I'd like to cast in bronze, a Roman wall mounted torchiere, with an ancient bowl on top, that would be used to put out a decent bowl of fire, ... via propane or natural gas. It would be a good foot-and-a-half high (or more), and the bowl at the top would be about a foot in diameter (maybe a tad smaller).

Alumilite instructions say de-mold in 12-18 hrs and fully cured in 7 days. How long did you let the silicone sit before removing the 3D printed part and pouring metal? thanks for the video! waiting on my silicone to set up right now!

Where can you buy the materials used to make the mold?

came here from AvE, I love the ave logo on the shelf behind you :)

Instead of pressure, would vacuum not be better to remove the bubbles?

wow, using a giant precision mill is unfair!!😂😂 by the way, really love that setup, it's the dream of every maker!

How many times can I use the silicone mold for metal casting

That eagle was removed from the pink stuff very romantic. The sound is included 😁

Is it a health hazard to slice and sand the metal product without water or other things to trap the metal particles flying around? Wish to understand, thanks

This is some kind of Shell Mold Casting process isn't it? I mean, it seems like the same principle. Great video! thank you for sharing the whole process.

Hey brother, great video, very well done. I learned a lot. Thank-you! Have you ever cast using Pure Bismuth?

Ladies and gentlmen, when dealing with molten metal, please wear safety gloves. And treat your mold with kindness

Which 3D printer did you use?

Wait are you using a cnc vatical milling machine as a 3D printer ?!?? That’s awesome !! Subscribing now

I would like to get into making custom charms and pendants for things like bracelets and earrings that are made by my custom sizes. I don’t have any molds of them yet because I don’t know how to have them made. Would a 3-D printer be able to make me molds that have raised and recessed areas so I can paint in with colored enamel? Some I want to make out of acrylic, resin, and maybe some clay polymer, but I wanna make my bracelet charms out of alloy. Any information you could spare me like “what I would have to do to have a custom print made of my charms so I could mold them” would be extremely appreciated.