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Slip Casting. Is It The Best Option For My Project?


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Hello! 

 

I'm new to this forum, and new to ceramics. I am starting a pipe making business, and I am stuck on a certain part of it. I have settled on ceramics as the material to start out with as it is cheap and quick, perfect to start out. 

 

If I can find a studio to produce it and If it's possible to do what I'm trying to do. 

 

The problem I'm having is figuring out the best way to make this bowl. It has a chamber. It also has thin walls. I can make the walls slightly thicker, but the chamber is obviously required. Can anyone help me out?

 

I need to know if it's possible to make this out of ceramic, and if so, will the average studio be able to accomplish it? Should I even worry about the way its made, or should I just find a studio that can tell me they can do it? Any advice or direction would be much appreciated! 

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Guest JBaymore

Welcome to the forum.

 

I think that this forum, mainly focused on handcraft ceramists, might not be the best place to do this kind of research.  You are into more of industrial design and manufacturing aspects of ceramics, and there are few frequenting here that have skills in that arena. 

 

I am assuming that by "pipe" you mean for smoking, as in pipe tobacco.  Yes/No?  No scale on the CAD drawing there.  Clay certainly has a massive history for that usage.  

 

From my background, it you are talking interior negative space between walls, it sounds like complex slip casting MIGHT be the way to go.  Your terms "cheap and quick" likely do NOT apply here.  There is  way more to this whole process than meets the eye.  Steep learning curve.  Once all the bugs are out of the design and manufacturing process.......... might be cheap and quick.

 

Body development alone to be able to be slip cast effectively AND also deal with the repeated thermal shock stresses from consumer usage might take a long time to solve. 

 

best,

 

........................john

 

 

 

PS:  You might want to contact the Americal Ceramic Society in Westeville Ohio (industrial/scientific side of ceramics) for some leads to firms that might be able to quote you fabrication details. Also Alfred University School of Ceramic Engineering in Alfred, NY. 

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It would be far more cost effective to hire an established shop to lampwork pipes for you. There are plenty of these shops around, and they all mostly underpay, so there's a lot of cash to be made off the work, especially with glass prices. But as John said, not many folks here are involved in manufacturing. Even so, your perception of clay being cheap and quick is misguided (especially the quick part). Furthermore, you may want to research the demand for your product. Will these objects in clay stand up to similar products in glass?

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Guest JBaymore

. Furthermore, you may want to research the demand for your product. Will these objects in clay stand up to similar products in glass?

 

Yeah... guaranteed.... offshore manufacturers will be doing knock-offs in a heartbeat if there is a market.  You'll need to get in fast, make the money... and be gone before the knockoffs that will be cheaper start to appear.

 

Posting that drawing probably was a bad idea.

 

best,

 

.........................john

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Thanks for the welcome :-)

 

You've given me lots to think about and act on.

 

Yes, by pipe, I mean smoking pipe. 

 

Your terms "cheap and quick" likely do NOT apply here.

 

Thanks for correcting this for me. 

 

Furthermore, you may want to research the demand for your product.

 

There is a major demand for this product. Marijuana is now legal in the state that I live in, and my product is something that isn't even close to being on the market yet. It's wide open. BTW, this is not the unique part about my product. It is the part that is already on the market, but I've modified it to work with what I am doing. 

 

Will these objects in clay stand up to similar products in glass? 

 

My plan is to use this as the minimum viable product. This is just to start the business. Think of it as the economy version, leading up to metal if this idea plays out. I'll tweak the design until the kinks are worked out, but before that, I need to start somewhere :-)

 

Posting that drawing probably was a bad idea.

 

This part of the pipe is an extremely common part. I won't go into details here about what I'm doing though, because I don't want to give the major part of this project away yet. I plan on patenting the idea before I release the final (V1.0) product.

 

 

Again, thanks for the advice and the direction. If you can think of anything else I should know, I'd love to learn! I'm not just in this for the financial aspect :-)

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