Is it possible to slipcast this?

[hhwdesign]

Hi. Have just joined this forum hoping for some advice from experts. I'm a product designer and am currently undergoing a project that requires some complex ceramic pieces. I am hoping to get the ceramic pieces slipcast but I'm not even sure if it's possible? I have attached some rough renders of the design and some drawings. I plant to have the pieces produced from teracotta and stoneware slip. 

What do you think? Would it be possible to easily produce around 500 units of these or is it a lost cause? Any advise or just your thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

 

 

[Mark C.]

Your form looks fine except for the undercut lip-undercuts are problematic with slip casting. Our to there is no way to get the mold out of that undercut.You could attach the lip as a separate unit after the main form is cast. That is slip cast the lip and the form and attach them after they come out of molds.

Molds work best with zero undercuts

a redesign may also be easier-if you can have tapered walls instead of straight that will help as well on those botton holes.

tapered walls release so much easier than straight walls.

This will be a many piece mold

There are a few mold companies out there to make your master molds-thay can guide you thru this.No sure where on the planet you are located-welcome to the forum .

[liambesaw]

I will say it because it needs to be said....

ANYTHING can be slipcast.  There's no issue at all slipcasting any form.  The issue is with how much work you want to do with plaster.  You can spend a month making the perfect mold, but it still takes a whole day to make two or three pieces once the mold is made.  And the mold does not last forever.

It will always be faster to figure out how to throw a form than it is to make the item, make the mold and slipcast a few units a day.

The benefit of slipcasting is exact duplication, there is no benefit for speed or ease, unless the molds are manufactured ahead of time in quantity.

[hhwdesign]

10 hours ago, Mark C. said:

Your form looks fine except for the undercut lip-undercuts are problematic with slip casting. Our to there is no way to get the mold out of that undercut.You could attach the lip as a separate unit after the main form is cast. That is slip cast the lip and the form and attach them after they come out of molds.

Molds work best with zero undercuts

a redesign may also be easier-if you can have tapered walls instead of straight that will help as well on those botton holes.

tapered walls release so much easier than straight walls.

This will be a many piece mold

There are a few mold companies out there to make your master molds-thay can guide you thru this.No sure where on the planet you are located-welcome to the forum .

Ok nice. It wont be an issue to taper the sides on the bottom holes so will make those changes to the design if it makes molding easier. Thanks mate!

[hhwdesign]

9 hours ago, liambesaw said:

I will say it because it needs to be said....

ANYTHING can be slipcast.  There's no issue at all slipcasting any form.  The issue is with how much work you want to do with plaster.  You can spend a month making the perfect mold, but it still takes a whole day to make two or three pieces once the mold is made.  And the mold does not last forever.

It will always be faster to figure out how to throw a form than it is to make the item, make the mold and slipcast a few units a day.

The benefit of slipcasting is exact duplication, there is no benefit for speed or ease, unless the molds are manufactured ahead of time in quantity.

Anything? Would it be possible to have cast a texture on the internal surface? This is something we have ben considering. 

We have been looking at slipcasting as we will be producing upwards of 500 units of the design and we will need exact duplication and uniformity between each product. 

Thanks for your help!

[Mark C.]

I was a partner in a slip cast business for a decade. We had the master mold made professionally they made the working molds ourselves as needed. We made 5 inch aroma therapy diffuser lamps-about 1,000 plus a month. We had a few employees as well.The molds where 3 piece.Wew produced them for national company in the herb business Frontier Naturals- Aura cacia. We shipped out more lamp than I could ever recall-made with in porcelain to cone 10.

You learn a lot about slip casting in a short time

texture is no big deal as lomng as it not to rough or has undercuts.

Laimsaw said anything can be cast but the molds get very complex with lots of undercuts-thats my point-the less undercuts and tapered holes the easier the molds are. working with a 4-8 piece mold ios way harder and slower than a two or 3 piece mold. The more pieces the more lines to clean up and that takes time 

500 in not a huge run and you may get all 500 before the molds wear out (yes they have a limited life)

[liambesaw]

8 hours ago, hhwdesign said:

Anything? Would it be possible to have cast a texture on the internal surface? This is something we have ben considering. 

We have been looking at slipcasting as we will be producing upwards of 500 units of the design and we will need exact duplication and uniformity between each product. 

Thanks for your help!

Absolutely.  It can be done with a "keyed" inner 5 piece.  This means 4 inner wedges with a center "key" to hold them in place.  It is not an easy task, would be much easier to texture by hand afterward.

500 units you'll probably want at least 5 molds made.  At 3 pours a day, you could run through all 500 pieces in 35 working days, rounded up to 40 (two working months) to account for failed pours, etc.