Have been Asked to build many Whiskey Barrels out of real wood! B)
As i will be building many Barrels I need a mold that I can form wood planks around and keep re-using.
Using my Zortrax M200 and my Laser cutter together I had an idea!
I started designing a mold that I could 3D print from abs and form wood planks on.
Problem is when you form planks around mold you can not get mold out.(Top-Bottom hole smaller than middle diameter of Barrel)
The Mold had to be designed to collapse inside wood after gluing planks and leaving to dry.(using PVA glue so does not stick to ABS mold)
ABS Mold is designed with a central core smaller than top hole so it will slide out, Remaining mold quadrants then collapse inside wood shape for easy removal.
After working out a design I 3D Printed the mold from white Z-ABS - x5 components 3hrs build time
While print was building I Laser cut plank shapes from wood - 1 minute
No finishing was required to 3D printed mold, finish straight off machine finish was very good.
Mold Works perfect as you will see in attached pictures
thanks again Zortrax great machine
hope you like
Paul