Soluble mandrel/casting? recapturable?

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#1

Wondering if anyone knows of a soluble mandrel material that can be easily removed by dissolution and possibly recaptured?

I am aware of Aquapour…etc These are nice since it’s water soluble and non toxic but from what I gather it’s not something that can be recaptured and used again.

Some of the “hemihydrate” materials are nice since they are easy to work with and cast but do not just straight wash out of the mold. There is a material that I read mentioned in a patent that could be heated to ~120C and then becomes soluble but the name of the product or formulation was not mentioned… This would be ideal since ~120C is quite workable for most tools etc.

Thanks.

#2

yah… i looked into that material, or something like it. Seems like it’s perfect and would be awesome but, the cost was too high unless you’re into serious manufacturing. For a small project it was too expensive.

Not sure about aquacore, what’s that cost these days?

I ran into some guys at one of the conventions that was making these great corrugated carbon panels. They used something like you mention. They said it was some sort of wax that was stable at cure temp but would melt out at a slightly higher temp. Those little panels were amazingly rigid and light. Looked very similar to a cardboard box and they could make it pretty much any thickness.

There are some companies that make 3d printers that do exactly what you want. Print soluble cores for complex geometry internal mandrels. Not sure how much this process costs or if there is anyone with a machine like that who prints as a service? That process is ultimately end game for a wash out mandrel.

#3

I’m still waiting for someone to chime in that might know of something like this. I have yet to find it myself, might not exist:D

#4

it exists… I thought i just said that… i guess you don’t know about this one great site that helps you find stuff.

www.google.com

#5

The material that I read about in the patent was still “plaster like” material that could become soluble again once a higher temp was reached, and washed back out. It wasn’t a wax like material though. couldn’t come across anything wax mandrel though…