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• Last few molds

  Valeriy Novytskyy • 5 hours ago • 0 comments

  Last week I finished two more molds for shin shockplates. The only other "required" part left is the chest plate, one of the biggest and coolest-looking parts of the exoskeleton. There are a bunch of optional parts I would like to cast as a stretch goal, notably the tiny details placed on the hands, the vacuum tube holders with light-up tubes, and some tech gribble for the face to complete the cyber ninja look.

  Fig. 1: Finished making the first part of a two-part mold with 3D-printed model suspended in clay

  Fig 2: Preparing to pour the second part of both two-part molds

  Fig 3: Resulting two-part molds I will use for casting wax positives

  Fig. 4: Resulting wax positives that will be shell-cast by adding 10 layers of ceramic shell and melting the wax out before pouring metal

• Box Casting & Sheet Metal parts

  Valeriy Novytskyy • 03/21/2019 at 21:00 • 0 comments

  I successfully cast the chest plates this fall (see Shell Casting Success), but after many casting attempts on hip bones this winter, I finally ran out of slurry. I can't order more because it would arrive frozen, resulting in permanent chemical damage.

  Issues included areas that cooled too fast, porous surface, and pieces of the mold breaking off prematurely:
  

  So, I am switching back to box casting. Here's the breakdown of the parts I have left to cast:
  

  Shell casting with SuspendaSlurry

  • Hip Left
  • Hip Right
  • Chest Base
  • Shin Snockplate Left
  • Shin Shockplate Right

  Box casting with UltraVest

  • Hip Bottom Connector
  • Spine Top
  • Spine Bottom
  • Spine Middle Left
  • Spine Middle Right
  • Foot Upper Shock Plate (2)
  • Foot Shock Plate (2)

  I also started working on polished sheet metal bracelets to attach arm bones without using elastic belts or gauze (like in the movie).

  The prototyping session:

  The parts I uploaded to RSM RapidQuote:
  

• Logging temperature and more casting attempts

  Valeriy Novytskyy • 10/25/2018 at 05:48 • 0 comments

  I have some mixed news from my attempt this weekend. I got all the data, but the act of observing the temperature and filming combined with more trouble from my regulator caused a decline in casting quality. I suspect it mostly came down to metal that got too hot, thus absorbing more gas from the atmosphere. I also had to move the camera and take laser temp readings, so I didn't remove the mold from the kiln as quickly as last time, and didn't pour as quickly.

  First three attempts on the graph was me messing with camera and lights to try and raise "production values" so I left the crucible in the kiln for too long. The last attempt the crucible was in the kiln for about the right amount of time, but the kiln was over-fed by propane.

  This week I am sick, so next week I will retry all of this and hopefully have some video worth publishing. I took some time to setup lights, and the video quality was significantly better - next time I will already have that experience so I can setup lighting quickly and before doing anything important to the casting process.

• Trying out USB temperature logger

  Valeriy Novytskyy • 10/13/2018 at 22:36 • 0 comments

  I got a USB temperature logger that works with my K-type thermocouple, so I can overlay a live temperature feed on my next metal casting video.

  Here's what the output text file looks like when opened in the app that comes with the logger:

  ...and this is the raw output. CSV with sample ordinal, date/time, temperature in F, high alarm, and serial number

• Shell casting success

  Valeriy Novytskyy • 10/05/2018 at 06:01 • 0 comments

  Today I nailed down the shell casting process (with a great amount of help from The Home Foundry) I can use to finish off remaining parts.

  ...without pre-heating:

  ...with pre-heating:

• First successful shell cast, with minor surface issues

  Valeriy Novytskyy • 09/04/2018 at 04:15 • 0 comments

  I followed advice on building more shell layers, pre-steaming the pressure cooker before putting in the shell, steaming for a short time (30 mins instead of 2 hours) and repairing cracks /adding another shell layer after vitrification. I have one final problem with a frozen surface in parts of the cast. Here's the video of this attempt:

  Here's the frozen effect. I poured at 950-970 and I skimmed a film of metal off the top, but it filmed over just as I was pouring.

• Second iteration of sprue planning

  Valeriy Novytskyy • 08/05/2018 at 19:05 • 0 comments

  Another iteration of sprue planning for the chest pieces: https://github.com/01binary/sprue-planning/blob/master/chest-sprues.stl

• First dips

  Valeriy Novytskyy • 07/22/2018 at 23:31 • 0 comments

  The first attempt at shell casting with the two chest plates has started. Sprued wax model:

  First dip

  Already developing cracks in the fist layer - most likely because the slurry needs more water

  Second dip

• Planning sprues

  Valeriy Novytskyy • 07/20/2018 at 19:58 • 0 comments

  Sprue planning for models to be cast using the shell casting process is more serious than with vacuum-assist casting, so I am performing at least two rounds of review with metal casting experts before proceeding:

  https://github.com/01binary/sprue-planning/blob/master/chest-sprues.stl

  https://github.com/01binary/sprue-planning/blob/master/hip-sprues.stl
  

• Back to shell casting

  Valeriy Novytskyy • 07/20/2018 at 03:03 • 0 comments

  The last 7 parts cannot be cast using the jewelry process due to geometry that requires a very heavy custom flask and tons of investment. The weight of the finished piece makes it nearly impossible to manipulate fast enough to insert into a vacuum chamber and pour metal in 20 seconds, before shell-shock.

  I am going back to shell casting after some advice from The Home Foundry forums, and I will post a video after the first failed experiments.

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