Does anyone want to build me a cnc router?

Are most of the moulds only used once.

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Originally Posted by george uk

Are most of the moulds only used once.

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Not what i want, i want to reuse the moulds multiple times, but i will seal them Thanks for your reply.

Hi,

My son trained as a goldsmith and he made his prototypes from hard carving wax and then sent them off to Birmingham to have vulcanised rubber moulds made. My thought is that wax would solve the dust problem and if it is messed up or just not right, then you can just recast the slab and redo it. Also, if that is all you are carving on the machine it could be quite lightweight, but I still would not advocate Chinese.
Marchant Dice make lightweight machines that might be suitable for wax :whistle:
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I recall that wax was advocated to make CNC trial pieces, but nobody seems to do that now, probably because CAD is used more.
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Just my two pennuth.

Cheers,
Rob

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Originally Posted by cropwell

Hi,

My son trained as a goldsmith and he made his prototypes from hard carving wax and then sent them off to Birmingham to have vulcanised rubber moulds made. My thought is that wax would solve the dust problem and if it is messed up or just not right, then you can just recast the slab and redo it. Also, if that is all you are carving on the machine it could be quite lightweight, but I still would not advocate Chinese.
Marchant Dice make lightweight machines that might be suitable for wax :whistle:
.
I recall that wax was advocated to make CNC trial pieces, but nobody seems to do that now, probably because CAD is used more.
.
Just my two pennuth.

Cheers,
Rob

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Hi Rob.

Thanks for your two pennuth, it was very useful. i will definitely have a look at that method of carving, sounds very interesting.

again thanks for your input.
have a good bank holiday

peter

Hi Peter,
I am a little bit puzzled as to how you plan to use the moulds again. As the images of the signs you wish to make are (in the second image ) a 'one off' design so unless you can make the number part of the sign changeable then a mould is just extra work to on avail.
So unless I have missed some point, I think it needs a rethink! Perhaps you should think of just doing unique signs, after all you will be doing them just to make a mould.

Peter

Peter, wax lettering for concrete casting ! there used to be a firm somewhere in Cheshire that made wax letters / numbers for concrete and plaster casting you just stick them to your base mould and cast after casting the letters are scraped washed out with hot water. that might be a cheaper way to do custom castings.

A small cnc desktop machine would be ok to make masters moulds in silicone so you could cast your own letters / numbers. Been more than 20 years since I sold my precast concrete business and totally forgot about the wax letters until I read Robs post.
Mike :topsy_turvy:

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Originally Posted by longy

Peter, wax lettering for concrete casting ! there used to be a firm somewhere in Cheshire that made wax letters / numbers for concrete and plaster casting you just stick them to your base mould and cast after casting the letters are scraped washed out with hot water. that might be a cheaper way to do custom castings.

A small cnc desktop machine would be ok to make masters moulds in silicone so you could cast your own letters / numbers. Been more than 20 years since I sold my precast concrete business and totally forgot about the wax letters until I read Robs post.
Mike :topsy_turvy:

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Hi Mike,

now that sounds great, {if they are cheap enough} although i was looking forward to having a play with a new toy{cnc} i can see that the wax option is a good one, can you recall how small in size you could go with your letters / numbers?
anyhow thanks Mike, i will google search for that company today. i have found metal reverse cast letters used by foundry's but they are to time consuming to set up.

peter :]

Have you got a machine yet Peter.?

hi jazzcnc

not yet mate, still looking, i would have bought one by now but the advise i here is to stay clear of anything Chinese so it has been hard to find

cheers pete

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Originally Posted by totally useless

hi jazzcnc

not yet mate, still looking, i would have bought one by now but the advise i here is to stay clear of anything Chinese so it has been hard to find

cheers pete

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What cutting area would you want.? . . . . I have a friend who's thinking about a larger machine so he may just sell is old machine, it's one I built him so know it's good and well looked after.

Edit: You have my number so give me a ring if you want to know more.!