Hi everyone! I’m working on a project in which I’m trying to 3D print a mold of an object so I can fill it with terracotta. I have never made a mould before and quite frankly I’m not that good at 3D modelling in general. If anyone has any reccomendations on how I can make a mould or directions or really any tips at all I would appreciate it soooo much. This is the object (It has an insane amount of faces)
FUNGIIDAE_CORAL_TOPPERS_15-12-25 stl (1).stl (8.5 MB)
Thank you so much!
You probably want to print the actual part, then use the printed part to create a silicone mold to cast more parts. Rather than printing the mold directly. You need the mold to be flexible.
you can approach this from 2 different methods.
1- Print your mould (done from enclosing your mushroom in a block, and then boolean difference)
2- Print your object as a master(the mushroom) , then create your mould around the master, be it plaster, silicon etc etc
If you add more info others may add more tips, what is the final material, Terracotta ? If you can expore outside this medium you may get more interesting and varied finished pieces
Thank you so much for your response! This is really helpful, I’m actually working on coral restoration project so these act as topper that slot into a bigger base and provide a substrate for polyps to settle onto. I’m exploring different materials such as limestone but terracotta is a top contender as the material has to be marine safe. Thank you for your advice!
I see thank you so much!