Hey everyone, sorry about the long delay in posts - it really was a massive week at work, plus been playing catch up this week.
I did get to make some good progress though; I've got half the mould made for the part!
Photos to come.
Ray - Yep, the metal printing stuff is amazing. Unfortunately, it's a bit out of the price range for anything less than a pretty serious engineering business. Still though, there's definitely some scope for combining a few different manufactuing methods for an effective way to get parts - ie: 3d print plugs and sand casting for cast metal parts.
Arronm - That looks like the perfect sort of part to do next, although yeah, casting out of metal is a bit out my my reach at home at the moment. Perhaps we could look into a high strength, fibre reinforced plastic or something like that.
Thanks everyone else for the kind comments!
Here we go, (almost) all the parts needed including a bunch of 3d printer breathers and a fill funnel
This is my final 3D printed plug assembled and mounted on timber to keep it flat
I pulled a silicone cast from the original unit for the plug to make sure the pins end up in the exactly correct location. This is now keyed into the mould for the new parts
The plug all set up with breathers and fill point in place, the clay is there to fill in the negative space that will be provided by the second half of the mould
Finished first half of the mould!!
