Lost 3-D Printing Casting Filament

[nhengineer]

Greetings,

My ultimate goal is to cast aluminum using the lost 3-D printed pattern method if such a filament is available. Seems like it should be ultra low molecular weigh stuff so that there's not a great deal of residue remaining after the pour.

The preceding, of course, is all conjecture since I'm still trying to make a functioning DIY foundry. I know just enough about 3-D printing to be dangerous and I guess the same goes for making a foundry and casting aluminum. Being really good at collecting aluminum cans is about all I can claim at this point.

My question is, is there such a thing as ULMW 3-D printing filament?

[bruce.desertrat]

Regular PLA filament works perfectly fine for lost filament printing, since you can essentially print something that's nearly hollow (the print only has to be strong enough to be cast in plaster without deforming) so prints with 10% or so infill will work. This greatly limits the amount of material that needs to be burnt out.

They do sell filament specifically designed for lost wax casting: https://www.machinablewax.com/product.php?product=52 but I'm unsure about how easy it is to print with that filament.

Here's a decent instructable on the subject. https://www.instructables.com/id/3D-...ing-Aluminium/

[neilbourjaily]

I'm with Bruce.Desertrat on the PLA. That said, let me speak a moment about furnaces and Al. The Gingery charcoal furnace will work great for Al. Heck, until about 1885 all the railroad iron was furnaced with charcoal. Coal has too many impurities in it for the quality of coke they were able to make, then.
As far as the type of Al, lose the cans. Go to your local mechanic and ask for some broken parts. Don't use extruded for your castings.

[nhengineer]

Thank you Bruce. I'll check out the link. It's not very likely I would have thought to print with 10% infill on my own.

If you need any pointers on collecting aluminum cans, I'm your guy.