Casted Kitchen Knife

Made by Jen Kwang

Created: April 15th, 2019

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Objectives

For this project, I created a silicone mold from a previous clay project and later used resin to recast new forms of the clay handle and acrylic blade.

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Outcomes

Three separate castings were successfully created from the silicone mold.  The resin was dyed with pastel colors.  The purple casting seemed to be the most complete of the three, with all parts of the mold being filled.  The pink and blue castings both retained a small air pocket in the inner most edge of the blade.  Unfortunately the resin used for the kitchen knife castings is not rigid enough to make them functional as actual kitchen knives.  The purple casting was clipped from its pour spout line, then filed and wet sanded.  The silicone mold was too large to be put into the pressure chamber, contributing to small air bubbles in the resin, but sanding with fine sandpaper let the purple casting be smooth to the touch (despite a spotty appearance).

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Process

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Master part. Hollows were slightly refined and smoothed prior to molding with silicone.
Refined knife.jpg.thumb
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The master part was contained within a foam core box and encased half way with white clay. The clay was imprinted with registration marks. Silicone was poured on top of the exposed half of the master part.
Box1.jpg.thumb
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Foam core was removed.
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Mold was flipped and white clay was removed.
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The master part was cleaned and a new siding was attached.
Box6.jpg.thumb
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More silicone was poured to mold the other side of the master part.
Box7filled.jpg.thumb
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Silicone was cured and foam core was removed.
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Mold complete. Master part was damaged with separation of the two sides.
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The mold was banded together and a pour spout was cut at the handle edge for flow of resin. The mold was banded with foam core to support its weight while standing on edge.
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Resin was cured. The casting came out sticky, so it was left to air dry.
Blueraw.jpg.thumb
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Air pocket in blade.
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Second casting. The resin leaked over the mold edges due to banding the mold looser.
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Casting was clipped, filed, and wet sanded.
Purple.jpg.thumb
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Third casting.
Pinkraw.jpg.thumb
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If questions about this project, feel free to contact me: jkwang1@andrew.cmu.edu
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Courses

24-672 Special Topics in DIY Design and Fabrication

· 22 members

Offers students hands-on experience in DIY product design and fabrication processes. Students work individually or in small groups to design customized and personalized products of their own and bu...more


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