Check this guy out.

[BlackCatStudios]

So much for garage resin casting, this guy is running a Plastic injection molder in his garage.

Blog
http://proxiemodels.blogspot.com/

Webstore
http://proxiemodels.com/

So far it looks like it has tried to catch fire, and the machine has eaten part of his finger. Oh what we do for our hobby.

[mangozac]

Wow very interesting. It would certainly be cool to score an old injection machine like that! Unfortunately his models are a bit on the lean side with regards to details. I think for 15mm stuff resin (from silicone moulds) is a far superior material to be casting models in due to the amount of extra detail that can be achieved in the casts.

Still, could certainly be handy for some stuff! Perhaps our resident recruiter should drop the guy a line

[Anvils Hammer]

The man is clearly a manic... in the sense that I fully approve of!

I dont personally see how machining your own metal mold can be less time consuming and better quality than just using silicone and resin.. the guy must really like plastic!

I know injection molding is "cheaper" but only when you get to runs of thousands of sprues...

AH

[mangozac]

[blind pig]

The point is simple, he has the machinery and he can do it.

[mangozac]

That's what I meant by coolness factor

You know we (I) can have a tendency to sound a bit too critical in these kind of threads, but it's purely just in the interest of conversation. Like I said, it would be cool to have the injection machine and in addition to making miniatures there's stacks of other cool stuff that could be done with it. And I certainly wish this guy well and that he improves the quality of his models.

I suppose bottom line is that I'm jealous somebody has cooler toys than I

[blind pig]

[mangozac]

[paulson games]

The benefit is the cost of the plastic vs resin and more importantly the time savings.

The excess plastic from the sprues can be recycled right back into more minis, I only wish I could do that with resin as about 2/3rd of my resin ends up as waste from sprues or miscasts.

The main advatage is the time saving, you can run a sprue mold aproximately every 2-3 minutes with one of these machines rather than waiting 30min+ with resin allowing one person with a single mold to produce a huge volume in less time.

I'd been looking at a smaller version of these machines and drolling over it. It's a hand cranked version and has a much more limited space which is a major downside and I also don't want to plunk down $1600 on something I'm a bit wary of. The molds don't need to be machine milled and apparently can be made from expoy, but it does make me wonder what type of detail loss there might be and what type of lifespan you'd see from an epoxy mold vs a milled one. (considerable I imagine)

[Lane]

[mangozac]

[paulson games]

You guys and your quest for giant expensive (yet awesome) toys crack me up. I wish I had a bit more technical know how as I'd love to take a shot at these machines.

I sent him an email, from what I read in his blog he has a machining background which I'm sure would be of interest to pick his mind on in regards to the milling and LAZORING.

One thing I picked up reading over the blog was him losing part of a finger tip and broken bones. I've managed to slice myself a lot over the years and even imbedded a hobby knife into bone but mangling hands in hobby related pursuits is like a professional level of injury. I have respect for that type of dedication, although I don't think it'll be something to add to my goal list


As far as the models go I think they are pretty solid for an inital run, they are 15mm so they will be default be less detailed. I also know at least with teh 3D printing that it takes several test runs to figure out the proper scale for the details and how much you have to exaggerate everything. On the computer it looks huge and over done but on the actual physical model you can barely make out the details. He's also doing some organics which is really tough and has a super steep learning curve.

I'm quite impressed and of course I totally admire the do it yourself nature of the project as that's is why we're all here on this crazy ship of fools.

[mangozac]

[kenofyork]

Hi everyone. I am the person being described as a maniac. I joined your forum even though I know little about resin casting.
I chose plastic because I always liked the multi pose and easily glued nature of the plastic kits. The material costs are lower, plastic costs $1.30 per pound right now. It is also faster. I can auto cycle a sprue every 30 seconds for thin stuff or a max of 1 minute for thicker molds needing more cooling.
So, you know you want to! And I just explained it so you now can not resist!

I might anger some because I plan to make "proxie models" of a generic nature that can be used for the price sensitive gamer. IP violations are not planned, but I am hoping to make some real "counts as" models.

I got to read through some more posts now.

[kenofyork]

OK, I should also let you know the downside of the process. Making the molds is a real chore. While running the parts seems like printing money, getting to that point is really hard. There are a lot of things that can go wrong, which is most likely why the cost of having molds made is very high. I have about 16 molds that have produced usable bases and such, but about 12 that are worthless for some reason or another. A lot of that was learning the process, but it is still very hard to make a workable mold.
As I look at the amount of time I invest in designing and cutting a mold only one has so far paid me any kind of return. The rest sell a few pieces here and there, but I could make more money at a fast food job. Imagine how long it must take to nibble through a block of metal with a bit so small you could snap it with your lip without cutting yourself. And one tiny misstep means you got to start over.
So, I got to tell you that right now it is still a very questionable undertaking. I am going to keep going though. It will eventually be feast or famine.
Stay tuned............