3d printing and metal casting for resto project

[jimc]

so i was given an interesting restoration project by a customer. an old safe which i estimate to be around the 1920's era. this thing was in sad shape as you can see in the picture. this spent its life along the shore and was under water in sandy. i took this thing apart, media blasted it, did the body, paint work and gold leafing on it. the problem i had or i should rephrase, would have had a year ago was that the small brass detail pieces that thread in on the hinges were missing. obviously you cant get parts anymore for such a thing. i found an old picture of one of these so i jumped on rhino and modeled this, printed it out and i sent it off to matt at printed solid. he made an investment casting and cast these in solid brass. he was also good enough to cut the threads and polish these for me. i had been thing about getting set up to cast metal myself. i think it would be cool but honestly for what matt charges to do this it really wasnt worth my time. i have other things i could be doing. its great what we can do with 3d printers now. what used to be a big problem is now no problem.

here is what i started with

IMG_3519.jpg (142.55 KiB) Viewed 13509 times

end product

IMG_3577.jpg (138.73 KiB) Viewed 13509 times

IMG_3578.jpg (138.69 KiB) Viewed 13509 times

[Dale Reed]

We're not worthy! (At least I'm not....)

That's some seriously nice work, jimc! Even if I never need that particular technique, it's further proof that 3D printing is going to revolutionize the world of semi-custom and custom fabrication -- which is just critical for parts for restorations. Based on what I see on cable networks like Science, SyFy, Discovery, Velocity, and several others, there are a whole lot of people interested in restoring old cars and other old stuff. (I have some old calculators I want to restore and display.) Maybe we'll stop throwing away perfectly good stuff and go back to FIXING things!

Dale

[sprior]

That's incredible work, just beautiful.

[jimc]

thanks guys. i was really impressed with the pieces matt did. i was expecting voids or air pockets somewhere but they are real clean. he did a great job.

[jdacal]

Yikes! Awesome!

[jsc]

How much did it cost for a single piece the size of one of those ornaments? Web site says $5/cc, I assume it has to be a solid object (no interior voids)?

[jimc]

Jin, yes they are a solid piece. They cost $32 a piece. That was with him polishing them and cutting the threads on the end.

[jimc]

for anyone interested here is a link to a video that matt's partner made while he was casting my parts and some others. so far i only watched the first 5 min but it looks like he goes through the whole thing step by step.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20iYekoQUUA

[jdacal]

Interesting, very talented. Definitely would want to pay someone to do that for me if I ever need it done!

[Capt. John]

Jim, do you have a drop knife cutter that made the stencil for the lettering, or was that freehand?
Nice work!