Casting & Forging

How-To: Kitchen Floor Vacuum Former

How-To: Kitchen Floor Vacuum Former

Want to make custom plastic 3D parts without a fancy 3D printer? Using your oven to melt the plastic and a household vacuum cleaner to supply the suction, Bob’s homemade vacuum former is the way to go. All you have to build is a simple wooden frame and a hollow box.

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Casting Sugru in 3D Printed Molds

Casting Sugru in 3D Printed Molds

3D printed, two-part mold designed from original part specifications allows “factory-new” repair.

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Top 10: Propcasting

Top 10: Propcasting

In case you missed it, the theme for October is “casting materials,” chosen strategically, of course, to resonate with the mounting excitement about everybody’s favorite maker holiday—Halloween! Whether you’re making wearables or hand-held props, there’s probably a method, material, or technique in our archives that will inspire you to take your costume to the next level.

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October is Casting Month!

October is Casting Month!

Continuing our monthly materials themes for 2012, in October we’re featuring materials used in molding and casting.

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DIY Rock Climbing Holds

DIY Rock Climbing Holds

If you’re an indoor rock climber, the time might come when you want to build your own climbing wall. Rock climbing holds aren’t as cheap, even though they’re just a bit of plastic or fiberglass. So maybe you’ll decide make your own! On Wardie’s World, Wardie has a post up describing how his friend John […]

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Costume Piece Molded from 3D-Printed Parts

Costume Piece Molded from 3D-Printed Parts

James Bruton of Southampton, UK, (whose DIY vacuum forming machine project was featured on the blog) wrote in to share his technique for molding and casting parts for his Iron Man costume. I designed this part for my life size iron Man suit in Autodesk 123D and had it printed at Shapeways. Then I made […]

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