Wax models made on a Roland MDX 40 with Rhino and RhinoCAM

Students work at the UPB's RhinoFabLab

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Comment by Brian Ringley on November 5, 2012 at 4:24pm: US distributors of Du-Matt carving wax: http://www.dumatt.com/Distributors/dist_usa.html

Comment by elijah porter on November 5, 2012 at 4:00pm: RhinoFabLab: Thanks- can you give me a brand name?

Brian: Thank you.

Comment by Brian Ringley on November 5, 2012 at 3:49pm: info on rubber: http://www.mcmaster.com/#about-firmness-ratings-for-rubber/=k19k8t

Comment by RhinoFabLab on November 5, 2012 at 3:39pm: Try this wax, you are going to love the finish you will end up with, much much better that a STL RP machine!!!

Comment by elijah porter on November 5, 2012 at 3:32pm: These are all great leads, Brian-- thanks very much! Hadn't considered rubber. I'll look into that.

Comment by Brian Ringley on November 5, 2012 at 3:21pm: Yeah waxy things could burn up on the cutter. I suspect plastics would be the way to go, but they're so expensive in large cubic volumes. I'd also be curious what end mills you end up using, as places like Vortex have specialized cutters for soft vs. hard plastics, among other materials. Oh, and medium to medium-high hardness rubbers machine very crisply and would give you some flex for release. Let me know what you find out!

Comment by elijah porter on November 5, 2012 at 3:06pm: I need to do some experimentation. I have it in my head that something waxy/plasticy would be best, and I want to avoid "post-production" (gesso, etc.) at all costs. I've actually contemplated using parrafin, but I suspect there is a risk of creating a huge waxy mess using a material with such a low melting point. The goal is to pull a piece straight off the mill and be able to cast into it with no release. I'll let you know if I find anything.

Comment by Brian Ringley on November 5, 2012 at 2:58pm: Yeah I think it's pretty expensive (the bars we have in stock were purchased before I arrived). Especially if you want to do architectural-scale molds. High density polyurethane foam tooling board would be a cheaper (but still pricey) option. For REALLY inexpensive mold work I use glue-laminated MDF sheets or even low-density styrene insulation foam - with the latter you should use gesso paint to fill in the air gaps so that your release agent works properly.

Comment by elijah porter on November 5, 2012 at 1:50pm: Thanks very much Brian. I suspect it's a little expensive? I've been wanting to mill some molds to cast plaster into... this seems like it might work. I thought maybe a thick block of polypropylene would work too? Looking for something relatively inexpensive.

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