3d Printing and the Future of Piracy

Soygen

The Dirty Dozen For the Price of One
<Nazi Janitors>
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OK. Starting my next set of prints. This will be to print a form to then sand cast in metal. (First test run will be aluminum, and then if that works brass) Who doesn't want to make their own maul?
View attachment 590441

I'll print two of these (they can connect via peg holes on the bottom). Then probably a day or two of post work with auto body paint/filler and sanding to get as smooth as possible, then multiple coats of gloss enamel to get smoother. (Smoother the mold form, the less you need to sand/polish the metal when done which is far more work).

Then pack is in casting sand, remove the mold to leave a cavity, and melt/pour in metal.

When all is said and done this should be around a 7lb head to put on a hickory handle probably. And sure, you can say "But why the hell do you need a 7lb maul that looks like an art deco hark head??!?" but I'll ignore you because I don't need that kind of negativity in my life.
This is awesome. Can't wait to see the finished product.

I did some pretty basic metal casting not too long ago. I 3D printed some numbers, then took a bunch of copper pipes that my sister had ripped out of her new house when they remodeled it. I cast her house numbers in copper and then put them in a little epoxy cube and put it on a plaque for a housewarming gift. I've mad a ton of ingots that are just sitting around for some future project. Unfortunately, smelting/casting is really rough in the Florida heat, so it's rare I find the motivation.
 

Haus

I am Big Balls!
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This is awesome. Can't wait to see the finished product.

I did some pretty basic metal casting not too long ago. I 3D printed some numbers, then took a bunch of copper pipes that my sister had ripped out of her new house when they remodeled it. I cast her house numbers in copper and then put them in a little epoxy cube and put it on a plaque for a housewarming gift. I've mad a ton of ingots that are just sitting around for some future project. Unfortunately, smelting/casting is really rough in the Florida heat, so it's rare I find the motivation.
I've done a number plaque too, did one for my grandmother's house. Yeah, I'm in Texas so it's the same heat scenario. I recently rebuild my "smelting area" behind the garage and put in a shade awning/tarp thing.

I thought I had worked through the details on the maul, but I'm starting to notice I think by the time I put the two halves together it's going to be too large for the amount of metal I can melt at once in my crucible. Might have to do it scaled back on at least one axis to make the maul head skinnier.
 

Haus

I am Big Balls!
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This is a github project I stumbled across today which I am keenly interested in seeing come to fruition...


TLDR: AI Model to design multi part 3d printable parts off photos.
 

Soygen

The Dirty Dozen For the Price of One
<Nazi Janitors>
28,611
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This is a github project I stumbled across today which I am keenly interested in seeing come to fruition...


TLDR: AI Model to design multi part 3d printable parts off photos.
Wonder what this will take to run locally.