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All 3D 9mm Bullet Mold Prints Are Done
Here are a few hastily taken photos of the 9mm bullet molds I've been able to 3D print even after adding additional Porcelain Powder to the factory formulation of Siraya Tech Ultra White resin.
I've superimposed some explanatory text onto each photo to hopefully help them make a bit more sense.
If you have any questions please feel free to ask.
For any who may come across this update without knowing the background behind these experiments, by adding more Porcelain Powder to the factory formulation of the Siraya Tech Ultra White composite resin I was hoping to be able to increase the Heat-Resistance of this resin by just enough to allow me to cast some 9mm bullets out of molten lead.
I thought I might get a chance to do some test casting today but it seems that the weather has decided to rain on my parade.
I do my casting outdoors and even small droplets of Water coming into contact with molten lead can have a violent reaction so, for safety's sake I decided to wait till the weather clears up.
I'll be back with updates as I get farther along.
SUCCESS! It Worked. It actually Worked!
Let me explain what I mean by the use of the word, "SUCCESS" within the context of this 3D printed 9mm bullet mold project.
I wanted to be able to 3D print a bullet mold that would allow me to cast more than just one or two bullets before the 3D printed mold became ruined by the effects of the thermal-shock introduced by the molten lead I'd be pouring into it.
By pouring the molten lead at a temperature closer to the baseline melting point of lead (625 Degrees Fahrenheit; or there abouts) and by using my ladle rather than filling my molds directly from the melting pot's spout, I was able to achieve the results I got today.
This was in large part due to the additional Porcelain Powder I added to the Siraya Tech Ultra-White resin's factory formulation.
I fully expected for my control mold prototype to give up the ghost after just one or two casts, just like the last time I attempted to cast 9mm bullets with these same 3D printed molds using the Siraya Tech Ultra-White resin.
I was kind of surprised that I was able to cast two bullets before this particular prototype abruptly started showing signs that it could no longer even come close to giving up a usable bullet. The third attempt with my Control sample mold was a total dud. To be frank, the very first casts with each of the four molds were basically duds.
On the other hand, the three other molds I'd 3D printed -the ones that I had incrementally added 1,2 and then 3 additional table-spoons of porcelain powder worked like gang busters. After the fifth or sixth bullet cast with these altered-formulation 9mm molds they showed only miniscule signs of damage of any kind. By, "Miniscule" I mean a slight yellowing along the corner edges of the mold cavities.
I'm more than just a little bit sure that those miniscule signs of distress on the three altered-formulation molds can be worked out further by tweaking my CAD models to compensate for these weaknesses.
I mentioned before that I might have to make some dimension changes to my mold cavities in order to counteract the slight shrinkage I was getting in my prints. I mean, when compared to the dimensions they were modeled at by whomever drew up the original design of these particular 124 grain 9mm bullets.
Those dimensional tweaks I made to my CAD models helped me get the prints closer to the printed dimensions I was looking for but I had not considered or accounted for any shrinkage that might occur with the lead itself as it cooled.
It looks like I'll have to make some further tweaks to compensate for the combined shrinkage of the 3D prints as they come out of the printer and the lead bullets as they solidify in my 3D printed molds.
It would take me forever to explain with the written word what I'm trying to describe here so I've video recorded my casting process. Those video clips contain many of the explanations I'm to lazy to write down with this latest update.
I have alot of video editing ahead of me now so you most likely won't hear from me for a while. I'll be breaking them down into short video snippets mainly because my antiquated computer equipment just can't handle all of those massive video files without going into a sort of Alzheimer-Mode and locking up on me.
I hope to get those videos ready for uploading by the end of next week.
Again I repeat, SUCCESS! It actually worked.
This My Introductory Video Of This 3D Printed Bullet Mold
This is my short introductory video describing what I hope to accomplish by 3D printing my 9mm Single Cavity bullet molds.
In spite of some obstacles I've encountered along the way I was able to print up the four usable bullet molds that I'll be casting with in the next few video clips.
The obstacles I'm alluding to include some shrinkage in the prints themselves; which I was able to mitigate by simply altering the dimensions of my mold cavities within my design software.
Also; I had not taken into account any shrinkage in the lead itself once it had solidified and cooled after casting.
I wish I could be showing you a perfect outcome the first time out but like all of the other 3D print projects I've undertaken, it's a series of trial and error.
This time around is no different. Even though I got them to cast well there are still some dimensional tweaks that I'll have to make to get them to produce good usable cast lead bullets right out of the mold, without any post-casting work to get them ready to reload and shoot safely and accurately.
Questions insights and suggestions are welcome.
For those who may be stumbling onto this video for the first time, these casting experiments using my 3D printed single cavity bullet molds were meant to test a slightly altered formulation of the Siraya Tech Ultra White Composite High Heat Resistant Resin.
I incrementally added additional amounts of Porcelain Powder to three of the 9mm bullet molds featured in these videos.
This is only the introductory video. I have four or five more that still need to be edited before I upload them onto my YouTube account.
For someone like myself who's always in a hurry, Editing and then uploading them onto the internet is painfully slow.
If money were no object I'd splurge and buy better computer equipment but, money is an object of concern for me, and lots of other so, this is how I have to work it to get it to work for me.
Stay tuned. There will be more videos forthcoming.
https://youtu.be/qdhPPkGtcRE