Hello from Nottingham

[deadmeat30]

Hey all,

Thanks for the warm welcome!

Let me answer a few questions.

Rogue
Re: Hello from Nottingham

Hi Alan,

The Midlands seems to be very well represented on this board, nice to see another member joining the fold!

I'd offer to let you pick my brains but there's nothing there to pick. Besides, as my forum history might show, I'm taking the slow approach - currently averaging 12 months in between purchasing each component. In fact the toroidal transformer(s) for the PSU got delivered this morning, based on my last thread on the matter in September 2012...

Thanks Rogue,

Do you have a build thread at all?

m_c
Re: Hello from Nottingham

Hello!

I'm interested in the bit about the little plastic injection moulding machine, as that is something I might be looking into at some point in the not too distant future.

As for a suitable machine, unless you have a huge budget, you'll be looking at either a very compact/sturdy scratch build, or possibly something like a X2/3 and retrofitting it.

Thanks m-c,

Ill come onto my Plastic injection machine later, its only a small thing.

Sadly i dont have HUGE budget, but my thoughts are, that over time getting the mould presses made, I could instead invest in a milling machine now, and over time save money. What kind of investment is this going to cost to get a nice compact/scratch build?

One thing i dont have is the workshop full of wondrous precision pillar drill and milling machines or lathes, im sure that would make my life much easier.

GEOFFREY
Re: Hello from Nottingham

Hi Alan, welcome to the forum. You certainly have a several of very experienced and competant members fairly close to you. What sort of items are you planning to mould? Good luck. G.

Thanks GEOFFREY,

Thats good to hear, looking forwards to learning about milling machines. Im hoping to make some little wargaming miniatures. I currently cast models in resin with silicone moulds, but im always interested in trying new things, so plastic injection moulding is the next step!

John S
Re: Hello from Nottingham

I'm based in Long Eaton. Couple of miles from M1 J25

You are welcome to pop round but don't forget the Hobnobs

Thanks John S,

Thats a lovely offer, and something I'll be greatful to take you up on sometime! Im just located at J27, so not far at all . Plain or chocolate Hobnobs?

JAZZCNC
Re: Hello from Nottingham

If your just wanting to mill small materiel sizes like this then milling machine will be by far best option, either buy manual mill and convert to CNC or pay thru nose and buy ready made.!! . . . John S is your man to see for milling machine on both counts.

Thanks for the advise, I'll be sure to question John S to death ;)

deisel
Re: Hello from Nottingham

hello alan what moulding machine have you got?manual/pneumatic?hydraulic?.its some thing im dabbling in but havent run anything through mine yet.

Hi deisel,

I'll give some more details of my machine as a number of people have now asked about it. I have a little Arburg C4 machine, it runs on compressed air. It has both automatic and semi-automatic modes. The machine was built in around 1953, so it rather old. I have spent the past few weeks cleaning it up and it. It can hold little 95mm x 95mm mould plates (hense why im looking at a milling machine to make them). I'll attach some pictures of it, I won it on ebay a little while back, and cant wait to get it running fully.

Heres my little beauty!

Here is the Electronic timer and old thermostat

The mould plate area and injection nozzle

Inside the new Thermostat i just finished

View of the PID from the front with on/off switch

[John S]

Thanks John S,

Thats a lovely offer, and something I'll be greatful to take you up on sometime! Im just located at J27, so not far at all . Plain or chocolate Hobnobs?

Plain, we are not all philistines on here, anyway chocolate melts when you dunk them.

Like decent coffee do you ?

PM sent with details.

[JAZZCNC]

Like decent coffee do you ?

By that you mean crude Oil. .!!

[Fivetide]

You have my attention Deadmeat3d love the injector would be interested in how you go with that , keep us posted :)
coffees fer girlies , nice cup of tea if yer bloke with an almond slice or Batternburg Cake :) Yes and its late I know just spent four hours watching Autocad tutorials and now I cant sleep lol !

[Clive S]

spent four hours watching Autocad tutorials and now I cant sleep lol !

Been down that road a few years back but fine with it now, if you get stuck give me a shout. You can do a lot with it with just a few simple commands. ..Clive

[GEOFFREY]

That little machine looks like it will be very useful when up and running. War gaming figures sounds interesting, I make small scale dolls houses and have considered doing some "derelect" structures for the WG market. I think making the moulds for your figures (I presume not flatback) would be quite difficult as I believe the most common method is wire errosion. Do you sculpt your figures yourself? Interested to hear you cast resin into silicon at present, I do a bit of white metal casting (centrifugal) into silicon moulds. G.

[deadmeat30]

Fivetide
Re: Hello from Nottingham

You have my attention Deadmeat3d love the injector would be interested in how you go with that , keep us posted :)
coffees fer girlies , nice cup of tea if yer bloke with an almond slice or Batternburg Cake :) Yes and its late I know just spent four hours watching Autocad tutorials and now I cant sleep lol !

Hi Fivetide,

yeah its almost ready to go! Just need to hook my compressor up to ensure the pneumatic's are working fine, then it'll be time to get the mould done! There is a german company called Hasco who make small mould blocks, so can pick up everything i need from there, bar the actual cutting of the tool. I tested the PID lastnight with the thermocouple, and worked a treat, definitely better than the old dial one.

GEOFFREY
Re: Hello from Nottingham

That little machine looks like it will be very useful when up and running. War gaming figures sounds interesting, I make small scale dolls houses and have considered doing some "derelect" structures for the WG market. I think making the moulds for your figures (I presume not flatback) would be quite difficult as I believe the most common method is wire errosion. Do you sculpt your figures yourself? Interested to hear you cast resin into silicon at present, I do a bit of white metal casting (centrifugal) into silicon moulds. G.

Yeah i hope it will be. I managed to track the original manual down online, so have good reference for it. Ah nice, have your pictures of you work? The WG scenery market is becoming a flooded area, so make sure your product is different, and well priced ;). Whats flatback? Hehe, this is why im here, to find the best way to go about making the moulds. I dont sculpt myself, i generally get 3d artists to sculpt stuff and then i print it off my 3d printer and cast it in resin. Ill attach some photos at the end of my work. I just picked up a centrifugal casting machine and vulcanizer off ebay dirt cheap (infact you can see part of it in the pictures) as the mis-spelt centrifugal, so no one else found it.

Heres some pictures of my stuff.

3D render of the model

Resin cast of the torso (you can see the blue 3d print just behind it)

Baby version of the torso as i was play about.

Front render of a spaceship

Rear render of a spaceship

3D print ready to be moulded

Finished model cast in resin and built

Just another view

Front to an engine port

[John S]

3D print ready to be moulded

Finished model cast in resin and built

3D Printer ??????????????

Tell me more................

[GEOFFREY]

That 3d printing is awesome. I didn't spot the vulcanising press or centrifuge in the background, but you obviously had a bargain. is your centifuge bob-weight or pneumatic clamping? By flatback I meant your moulds be two sided or just have the pattern in one part of the mould (hence flatback), but I can see they will be full 3d figures. Excellent. G.