Pattern for casting

[wiese]

I finally found the time to create this patter for sand casting a giant quarter of aluminum in our high school metals shop. The pattern is 6 times the size of a real quarter. Brady Watson has a laser scanner and offers his services for a reasonable fee. It must be a very cool toy, but I am pretty sure I couldn't afford to buy one. Instead, I had him scan the quarter and send me the 3D file in an stl format. I then used DeskProto to generate the toolpaths and NC code. It was machined from Renboard, which is a cured plastic material used in mold making and prototyping. We are fortunate enough to have a local company that uses this material and donates its leftovers to our school.

1030

[Brady Watson]

Hey Jay, that turned out really well! Looks like it machined really cleanly. RenBoard is a bear to sand!

-B

[myxpykalix]

Thats neat, but you're going to have a heck of a time finding any soda machines that take quarters that big!

[wiese]

Brady,
The only thing I sanded was the edges. I used a disk sander to put the 5 degree draft angle on the sides.

Jack
If I can get it in the machine, I figure I'll get a really big can of soda!

[paco]

Cool!... so... is that a $1.50 now?!

[jhicks]

Very nice work by both of you guys on design and fabrication. Can I assume a 1/8" ball nose with 8% or less step over?
That should make a great mold for casting. Cant wait to see the final piece(s)