Intro to 3D modeling - 2
2. This is the mold box and the mold it produced used
to make the door. You can see where I glued a piece of
plastic sheet to repair the broken wall.
2
of custom windows that would be difficult or impossible to
build with conventional methods. Fortunately I have a small
mill and lathe with digital readouts, and I set about develop-
ing what I call my “lost wax” mold making process. For win-
dows with straight lines, it worked well, but it ran into trouble
making curves. A CNC mill would take care of curves, but I’m
not too keen on spending $8000 for one. Although the quality
of the parts produced from molds created by my machines is
excellent, it has a couple of problems – you only get one mold
and it is difficult to provide pathways to vent excess resin.
I have been watching the development of 3D printing at vari-
ous trade shows. It has been slowly getting good enough
for modeling. Then at last summer’s C&O Historical Society
MRH-Aug 2014
