I enjoy creative projects. I like to test my skills and develop new ones. I don’t like to be mis-led into experimenting with materials that do not work. I have been fooled into attempting to cleanly burn out a resin-based plastic used with three-dimensional printing to produce investment castings.
I have tried three types of three-dimensional printing resins designated to be suitable for burn out. The materials must be suitable in certain, highly controlled environments. They don’t perform anywhere near acceptable for my needs and equipment.
I was not trying to invent a new casting process. I was led to believe that what I was attempting was a viable commercial process. I simple would have to scale it to my equipment. There is evidently a vast difference in curing resin with a low powered printer and a much higher powered professional system.
My desire is to cast silver, not pioneering a material unsuitable or incapable of cleanly burning out of an investment mold. I already know how to do perfect casts using wax material designed for burn out. It appears to me that is not the case with castable printing resins I have been using.
I am willing to try the process again if I discover a printing material that actually will burn out of an investment material with no damage to the mold. Three-dimensional printing is an excellent companion to lost wax investment casting.