I was planning on hacking together a 3d model of the reddit alien. It's something I want to cast in metal and sell on Etsy at some point.

I came across a model that someone had made on thingiverse. There's 2 stl files, one solid, and one hollow. Is it possible to convert an stl file into something the cutter can handle?

The download links are at the bottom:

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3300

Thanks Riley, sorry I didn't see this before class today. I pulled down the solid one and yes it should be easy to carve. I think a 2 sided 3d carving would work pretty well, I'll give it a go next time I'm in.

Good to meet you today.

Pete

Say, I got some help last time I was at the shop, and managed to cut a whipped cream container in half. I was thinking it might work as an interim crucible of someone decides to do aluminum again.

My first couple melts are going to be with zinc, in a frying pan on a hotplate, so no furnace or crucible action needed for that.

I'd still like to eventually get a hard core waste oil fueled foundry furnace going some day.

I forgot to say a bunch of us stood around until about 11:30 watching the cut out of the reddit alien. It cut better than I would have thought on the front, but had an overzealous roughing pass on the back, and that didn't go so well. I'm planning to make a rotary axis for my router so alignment isn't so problematic, which should help a lot. At any rate the little guy is sitting in the hollow of foam he was cut from on the router. I forgot to take a picture.

How big is he supposed to be? I adjusted his thickness to the thickness of the foam, so he ended up about 2 1/2" tall, unfortunately the antennae was a casualty of the process.

Pete

I'm currently the winning bid on a crucible that seems to be about the right size.
Vesuvius Model 40-BB Crucible Measures 7 3/4" Diameter x 12" Deep.

Hope it will work, donations towards it gladly accepted.

Pete

I researched a bit more, this is a pretty spendy item, but it's also bigger than we'd need or could use with the current furnace setup. (It's capacity is 30-40lbs of AL) I found a site that sells crucibles at pretty reasonable prices, looks like about $35 would get us an 6-8 lb model. Shall we try and get donations to get one? I'd be happy to match whatever anyone else pledges.

Pete

Looking at an A8 here, it's $37.50.
http://www.budgetcastingsupply.com/Crucibles.php

I would chip in for that.

If we get a proper ceramic crucible, we'll have to get proper lifting and pouring tools.
Ceramic crucibles are somewhat fragile and need to be handled properly to avoid breakage.

The good news is they're reasonably easy to fabricate with basic metal working & welding equipment.

Would Copper scrap be of interest to anyone? I don't know if it can / should be cast, but I have some from an unanticipated plumbing project, it's maybe a pound or two.

Pete