How To Repair Wax Carving

p/northward 33-D207 Rev A

The 2500 IC is capable of printing a wide variety of patterns. This includes small delicate features and large robust features. Wax has been used for centuries as the go-to material for investment casting applications. It's no hugger-mugger that wax patterns are fragile and should be handled with care; damage and breakage tin can occur and return your pattern useless. Some techniques can be used to attempt to repair defects or breaks caused from the handling process.  There is quite a fleck of information bachelor on the worldwide spider web if yous search for "repair wax effigy" or visit sites such as http://www.freemanwax.com/how-to.html or the jewelry forums. Likewise, there are many videos on YouTube if you search for topics such as wax welding or wax repair. Mitt carved wax models have been used for lost wax casting of art and jewelry for centuries and in that location are abundant tools and products and classes bachelor. Our studies have shown that all of the usual repair methods for molded wax patterns work with the 2500IC printed RealWax™ patterns.

NOTE: Remember to follow all local safety codes and procedures when working with hot or sharp tools.

Section one:  Missing Material such as Holes and Voids

Through normal handling of wax y'all may see gouges, dents, or scratches in your patterns. These can be

repaired easily by 1 of two methods:

              Method 1: Melting VisiJet M2 ICast and depositing into void

              Method 2: Awarding of paste and patch wax into void

Method ane:

For Minor Holes and Depressions

Dents, dings, and scratches can exist filled in using backlog VisiJet M2 ICast material. If you take a not-repairable pattern consider melting this for use in repair. If you need material please contact applications support for a modest complimentary disk of M2 ICast Repair Wax.  Generally, a infinitesimal corporeality, such equally 2-3 drops, is all that is required for most small holes, unless you accept a long scratch or furrow.  Excessive awarding of the repair cloth should exist avoided, every bit it only creates more piece of work later to remove it. Use a torch, heated soldering iron, or hot wire and melt tiny amounts of solid ICast Wax on the tip, moving to new locations after the melted wax drips downwards.  Then use wax carving tools, scalpels, knives, etc to slowly and carefully shave off backlog repair wax. Stop when at that place is still a very slight raised amount.  Use a gentle abrasive scrubber or #0000 steel wool to slowly remove the remaining excess repair wax.  Shine and blend the repair into the surrounding surface.  Inspect for consummate fill up of all voids.  If necessary, repeat the drip-shave-smooth process to have intendance of any places that were missed.  See Section 2 for more than info.

Cylindrical wax bar with text and grooves engraved to a depth of 0.040 inch (1 mm). Repair wax dripped on negative features.

Shaving thin layers of backlog repair wax from a filled in groove.

Surface after first pass of filling and then smoothing with scrubbing pad.

The surface after second iteration of fill and polishing is smooth and flat with text completely filled in. Notation that although the text and groove locations remain visible, the surface is smoothen and sleeky, as witnessed by the light reflecting off the surface.

For Very Big Voids and Valleys

Gear up wax surfaces to be filled past gently roughing the surface with an abrasive pad and clearing the surfaces of any additional wax pieces. Melt VisiJet M2 ICast in a wax pot, an electrical frying pan, or in a small-scale dish using a hotplate, or other controlled rut source. Ensure that the wax is completely liquid. Place tape on portions of the design that demand to exist protected from leakage, and accidental drips. Tape can also exist used to form a mold to contain the molten wax. Try to isolate the void or gulley nether repair. Pour molten wax into the void to be filled. A spoon or small ladle is a useful tool to apply the liquid wax. Act quickly and then the molten wax does non freeze onto your dispensing device. It is OK in this footstep to add excess wax to the void. Allow wax to cool and remove whatsoever tape. Employ wax-carving tools to remove any excess wax from the pattern.Clean upwardly and smoothen repaired surfaces with annoying pads or ultra fine steel wool, as in previous section on repair of small holes and depressions.

Earlier repair

After repair

Top view after repair.

Method 2:

Shallow dents and scratches can exist filled using paste / patch wax. There are many commercial types of paste and patch wax available for minor repairs in patterns, gates, and runners—some are more malleable than others. The type of defect y'all need to ready will govern which type of wax is used. The technique is identical to that used for filling voids with putty or caulking.

Typical void that tin can be repaired.

Apply a generous amount of soft malleable wax onto a gloved finger. Button wax into any pocket-size void or negative feature. Smooth out the surface or shape the paste wax with your finger. Wipe any backlog abroad using a soft, lint-free cloth.

Application of patch wax to the void.

Section 2:  Backlog Cloth such as Bumps and Ridges

Yous may occasionally find raised areas and slight protrusions from the surface of your patterns. There are a variety of methods that may remove these areas of concern:

Method i:Wax pen, temperature controlled soldering iron or heated tools

Method 2:Wax cut/etching tools

Method three:Gentle Abrasives (#0000 steel wool, non-scratch Scotchbrite® scrubs, etc), or buffing with soft lint-free cloth

Frequently the all-time approach is to use a combination of these methods, starting with the more aggressive wax removal tools, and ending with abrading and polishing. Information technology is important to patiently remove small amounts of excess wax. Avoid all urges to blitz, it is very easy to slip with sharp tools and create new damage, worse than the original problems. Slow and steady is the watchword for all wax repairs.

NOTE:  Exercise Non bring torches nor open flame near your patterns, as it is probable that this volition melt or distort or damage them beyond repair.

Wax design with intentionally placed  0.040 inch (i mm) alpine hemispherical positive bumps.

Method 1:  Warm tools, such as a heated spatula volition readily melt and smooth out defects extending from the design surface. It is difficult to prevent melting of next regions and creating a larger defect area, so we do non recommend this arroyo unless it is unremarkably used for sprue/gate repair at your facility and you are an adept and well-adept in the art.

Method 2:  A abrupt chisel, scalpel, hobby pocketknife or similar tool can be used to shave down bumps of wax extending from the pattern surface. Use lite pressure and short strokes to gently shave away the excess. Be wary: wax will cause tools to catch and stick unpredictably, leaving chatter marks and unintended high and low spots.

Bumps have been shaved downwardly by 5-15 passes with scalpel.

Method 3:

Gentle abrasive pads such every bit Scotchbrite™ and ultra fine steel wool are peradventure the all-time fashion to attack minor protrusions. Be sure to employ the least abrasive pads available, as coarse pads will readily impairment your pattern surface. Utilise gentle pressure and stroke dorsum-and-forth over the defect in several directions. Only a very small corporeality of cloth is removed with each pass, so take your time and do not give up quickly. As in sanding a wood or metal surface, several levels of annoying pads should exist used.  First with the coarsest and finish with the finest. Eventually, you will begin to smooth the surface which is a sign that repair is about complete. Audit from several angles to ensure that all the defects have been removed in all locations and that the pattern surface is smooth and uniform.  Practice not worry if the white surface is removed or looks slightly scratched, this is merely a corrective status and will not exist visible after casting.

Bumpy region subsequently buffing with mild annoying pad.

Very minor bumps and filaments can often be speedily buffed away with a soft cloth or a gloved finger in but a few passes as shown below.

Wax pattern with 0.020 inch (0.5 mm) alpine hemispherical bumps that tin can exist removed by a gloved finger.

Department iii:  Complete Pattern Breakage

Sometimes patterns break in such a way where you are left with two or more pieces. Typically these types of breaks occur during handling or accidental dropping. Some breaks lend themselves to repair more than others.

Breaks with a squeamish clean cross section can easily exist bonded together—smaller cross sections or small features may be more hard to bond back together consistently. Alignment of broken patterns must be washed strictly by eye. This may leave you with slight imperfections at the joint of the cleaved pieces.

The overall thought here is to unite the pieces and plow a major defect (broken) into a pocket-size defect (irregularities along the mend line), and so repair the minor problems with the techniques previously covered. Although there are many ways to bond multiple segments of wax patterns back together, here are two techniques we suggest yous try:

Method 1:Wax welding using a wax pen, wax welder, or temperature controlled soldering iron

Method 2:Gluing and positive reduction via mechanical abrasion

Method ane:

Prepare surfaces of wax to free them of debris and trial fit for alignment of the 2 pieces.

Use a wax pen or soldering fe with a minor tip or attached wire at moderate heat—not likewise hot. ~ 175F (fourscore C).

It is often a good practice to utilise a fixture to securely concur your cleaved blueprint together while nether repair.  Mate the pieces together and melt the iron's tip well-nigh halfway into the articulation betwixt the broken pieces and remove.

This volition weld both sides of the break together. Permit the wax to freeze and repeat additional times in other locations forth the intermission.  When possible, be sure to weld on all outside surfaces of the suspension.

Pattern with undercut break

Design with welds (hot wire visible in upper right).

Once the welds have cooled and united the pieces of the design, the next footstep is to repair the small-scale damage done by the welding.  Drip repair wax to fill in the valleys and depressions made by the hot iron and create a positive weld bead.

A fine tipped hot fe can be used to carefully spread and smooth out the excess wax.

Annotation: This can be the last step of the repair if it is easy to grind abroad the dewdrop and clean upwardly the metal surface after casting.

Weld bead (side one).

Weld bead (side 2).

Alternatively, apply a patch wax to fill in any depressions; polish; and then skip the next two steps.

Utilise wax carving tools and/or hot shaping tools to remove excess repair wax downwards to pattern surface.  Accept care not to gouge or drive the edges of sharp tools into the pattern surface on either side of the weld.

Removing excess repair wax from raised weld bead.

Finally, utilise annoying pads and/or very fine steel wool to smooth out any remaining imperfections. Take care that the minor bits of your pad or steel wool that pause off during utilise do not remain stuck on the surfaces.

Below is the design with all repair operations complete.

Repaired and finished pattern.

Wax Welding tin as well exist used to join sections together to form a pattern larger than can be printed.  Below is an case of ii sections of a 16-inch bore guide vane being joined.

Two sections fitted together and gear up to be joined.

Two sections joined with wax welds.

Close upwards of wax weld bead between two sections.

Method two:

Although there are no glues specifically made for adhering wax to wax, nosotros have found that some very quick-setting commercial adhesives, based on cyanoacrylates or similar polymers, tin can produce a strong bail betwixt two pieces of VisiJet M2 ICast wax.  If y'all choose to use a superglue, be sure use proper ventilation and personal protective equipment; always follow the manufacturer'south instructions. Obey all your local rubber codes and procedures for handling cyanoacrylates. You will also need to cheque that the residual adhesive is compatible with your casting process and burns out cleanly.

Prepare surfaces of wax pieces to exist joined by gently roughing the surface with an abrasive pad and clearing the surfaces of whatever additional wax pieces. Trial fit the pieces together to check for alignment.

Typical type of repairable pause. Annoying pad used for cleaning the mating surfaces.

Surfaces cleaned of any debris and lightly roughened to promote bonding. Trial fit of ii components to ensure alignment has not been altered due to the break.

Use superglue to simply one of the cleaved pieces. At that place is a disquisitional corporeality of superglue to employ; besides little and you lot will non go a potent bail, too much and some glue volition leak out of the seam and be hard to remove after. Backlog mucilage can cleft and slightly damage your blueprint surface when it is removed. The amount of material will depend on the cross sectional area of the suspension.

Optional:  Apply the manufacturer's recommended accelerant, or activator, to the mucilage-free broken surface. This will speed the curing of the superglue bond. Some brands of superglue do non require the use of an accelerant, but nosotros suggest it as an easy mode to ensure the bail is set properly and quickly. Accelerators can reduce the bonding time from many minutes to seconds.

Superglue applied to but one mating surface of broken pattern.

Gently push the two pattern pieces together. Exist careful in alignment. With no alignment features, the fitting must be done by center. You lot will non have a lot of time to ensure this is right, and you typically have simply one take a chance to get everything right before the superglue cures.

Example of a bonded pattern that had superglue ooze out of the seam. Ensure that the alignment is correct at this stage prior to the hardening of the superglue.

If any superglue oozes out of the seam, you lot can wipe it abroad with a paper towel or lint-free rag before it hardens. If the superglue cures before you remove the excess, then you can use an abrasive pad or wax carving tools to gently remove the cured superglue.

Use of an abrasive pad for removal of the hardened superglue. Be very conscientious at this stage to not alter any unintended surfaces.

Pattern after glue has prepare and been cleaned up.

Apply patching wax to the seam by finger to make full any voids or defects caused by joining the two pieces of patterns together. Many paste and patch waxes work for this application. If your preferred wax does not piece of work please consult the table at the end of the document for known working solutions. Alternatively, melt and deposit VisiJet M2 ICast onto the seam as described previously.

Generous application of paste wax for filling in of voids and seams. Apply by finger and gently printing into any voids. Smoothen out with finger and remove any backlog.

Void filled in with patching wax.

The quality of the final articulation depends on the nature of the break; breaks which are relatively make clean and over a big cross exclusive area are ideal for repair. While the unabridged process for repairing breaks is non overly difficult, the process volition get much easier after a petty practise.

Products Compatible with Visijet M2 ICast

Nosotros take experimented with commercially available repair products and found that they are compatible with printed patterns from the 2500IC. The list is by no means comprehensive, and at that place may exist other products that you can use. We expect that any production in apply for repair of injection molded wax patterns can be used on 2500IC RealWax™ with standard techniques. All the materials listed hither are in no preferential order and volition need to be verified compatible with your local investment and casting processes.

Patch/Paste/Repair Waxes

Freeman Red and Dark-green Patch-Eze

Kerr Disclosing Wax – Ivory

Paramelt Cerita 2-U3

Remet Premiere Patching Wax & Premiere Patching Wax II

Westech Patch Waxes PW2-PW5

Wolf Touch-Up Wax and Relief Wax

Glues

3M Scotch Weld CA40H

Loctite 401

Accelerants/Activators

3M AC09

Loctite 712

Source: https://infocenter.3dsystems.com/bestpractices/mjp-best-practices/projet-mjp-2500-ic/2500ic-wax-pattern-repair

Posted by: perezopeas1955.blogspot.com

Share this post