Homemade Bocce balls

homemade-bocce-balls

For those unfamiliar with it, Bocce Ball is an outdoor game played with a set of heavy grapefruit-sized balls. We've never really thought of making our own set, but as you can see above, it can be done. These are six Bocce balls produced at home by [Horvitz444]. It seems the commercially available balls have a cement or clay core covered in a layer of high-impact epoxy. [Horvitz444] was able … [Read more...]

Molding rubber for a pre-production prototype use a 3D printed model

molding-rubber-for-production-models

When you're getting close to a production run the prototypes really need to hit the mark before pulling the trigger. [Bob's] still hard at work getting his scoreboard off the ground and his most recent endeavor was to find a way to prototype the rubber gasket without blowing his shoestring budget. His solution was to harness the power of 3D printing to generate a model from which he could create … [Read more...]

Ice record single needs six hours in the deep freeze before you can listen

ice-record

This delightful marketing ploy requires the listener to fabricate their own record out of ice. The band Shout Out Louds wanted to make a splash with their newest single. So they figured out how to make a playable record out of ice. The main problem with this is the grooves start to degrade immediately when the ice begins to melt. So they shipped a mold of the record and a bottle of water to a … [Read more...]

Simplifying fabrication of soft robots

3d-printing-soft-robot-molds

Soft robots are a peculiar wing of technology. They don't use frames and motors for locomotion, but as the name implies they are made of soft materials. They move by pumping fluid -- it could be air or liquid -- in and out of bladders that push or pull against the body itself. [Matthew] points out that fabricating soft robots has traditionally been a time-consuming and difficult task. He's trying … [Read more...]

Reproduce 3D printed models by making your own molds

mold-making

Need fifty copies of that 3D printed whirligig you're so proud of? It might be faster to just cast copies by using the 3D printed model to make a mold. [Micah] found himself in this situation and managed to cast one copy every 10-12 minutes using the mold seen above. With the object in hand, you need to find a container which will fit the mold without too much waste. The bottom half of the mold … [Read more...]

Building a casting furnace with heat exchanger

furnace-with-heat-exchanger

This completely DIY casting furnace turned out just great thanks to all the work [Biolit11] put into it along the way. He wanted to replace his older furnace with one that was more efficient, and to that end he built a heat exchanger into the design. This way the exhaust will preheat the intake air. The furnace itself started with the shell of an old electric water heater. Excluding the design … [Read more...]

Your face in chocolate

your-face-in-chocolate

We think in might be absurdly vain, but wouldn't it be fun to give everyone in your family a chocolate modeled after your mug this holiday season? [Eok.gnah] has already worked out a system to make this possible. It consists of three parts: scanning your head and building a 3D model from it, using that model to print a mold, and molding the chocolate itself. He used 123D to scan his face. No … [Read more...]