Molding and Casting
Both Molding and Casting are ways to process materials where material is melted or poured into a framework to create final form. The difference are usually the type of material that is used when processing. Here are some pros and cons
| Molding | Casting |
|---|---|
| Process is usually faster than casting | Allows greater complexity of design |
| Injection Model can be very expensive | Typically hard to cast large parts |
Molding
As usual before using any machine Check for Emergency Stop Button Picture shown on the left is the machine with the emergency stop on the right of the machine. The photo on the right shows the menu screen for the machine. You can choose how close the steel frame gap close into the injection area.
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Example of the machine in action. When ready the steel frame will slowly move closer. The right GIF shows how the machine is processing the material. In this scenario the material "ABC" placed in is slowly grinded into liquid to inject when the machine is heated up to around 180-200 degree celcius.
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The result of the molding without the frame is shown on the left. When the frame is pressed on to the machine the sucessful result is shown on the right. Each of the side of this object has a different texture.
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Casting
Casting on the other hand can require a lot of time to create. First thing is to have a 3-D printed model or wax plate that is carved out to mix and pour gel into. Here is the first model we had printed out 
After mixing in gel from bags made in 2014 shown on the right. The ratio mixed 50:50 stirring for half an hour to an hour. Poured in the mixed gel into the shell 3-D printed.
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After the gel sit for a day the gel solidify the results are shown below. The gel above is the first model we created the one below was the second version with logo increased in size. （In this photo Resin Adhesive has been poured in the gap to form final casting )
To note that the 11 year old gel may not be the best material to use for casting. The A and B gel are both very chunky and hard to smooth resulting in a lot of extra material on the back and hard to smooth. In order for the gel to sit on a flat surface extra pieces should be cut off.
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Afterwards by mixing Resin Adhesive A and B we can pour in the gel case to finish. The two bottles on the right are Resin Adhesive A and B. The example on the left with blue liquid is the result. Note that the color is from color dye and intial color is clear
Example of Castings
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