I had some issues with the hoasting service (email service) where this website resides. Those issues have been resolved.
But the new host I acquired as a back up, is one of the top rated services. I installed Kautzcraft.org on that new service and will continue to keep it active, and use the KautzCraft.org domain on that server. Kautzcraft.org was last used for my retail on-line store which is now closed.
Most of the new KautzCraft hobby work I create will continue to be posted and remain here on KautzCraft.Studio.
I recently decided to concentrate more on the Lost Wax Casting work I love so much. As I have mentioned before, 3D printing became dominate with my time (and posted here) but lacks the satisfaction of casting hot metal.
Take a look at KautzCraft.org. Not sure where I am going with that domain, but it is currently active. -R/D
Dateline 9/2/22
I am 75.75 (75-3/4) years old. Thinking about where I am at this point in my life and what I am doing and going to do with the time I have left. Could be 1 day or 15 years. Best I take each day as it comes and make it as good as it can be.
I am “mostly” my own boss, so I spend my time doing “mostly” whatever I want. I am happily married to Gloria, my high school sweetheart since October 1968, so I say “mostly” what I want. Since retirement on March 1, 2015, she is now my only other “boss”. <smile> Since High School (Class of 1964) we have been good partners for 58 years.
Gloria’s favorite activities are piano music (playing & teaching) and heavily into quilting & sewing crafts. She also like selling and sometimes gifting the things I make. She is the main outlet for my craft work.
I have already written much about the craft work I enjoy doing in this blog. KautzCraft started with lost wax casting of silver.
I lament a lot, perhaps too much, on these pages about the time and effort I spend 3D printing, with which I have become much involved. Certainly far too involved, but it is kind of like a drug habit. Hard to kick.
The 3D print design work is creative, but then a machine run by a computer makes the entire build when it is a single one piece print. No hand crafting required. Just print the design. Done!
I originally thought 3D printing would be a good way to produce the models required for casting. This is true. I have been able to cast 3D printed models after after much investment of time, tools, experimentation, and funds.
But I let 3D printing become a dominate single focus activity. Stealing me away from what I know are higher value creative products and materials. Crafting became mostly printable plastic design.
With 3D printing, what I do is make plastic. Good for functional items. With effort, plastic can make master casting models. It is then one intermediate step in a longer path of the creative craft project of metal casting.
I expanded the KautzCraft Studio domain to include all my “making” hobby craft activity. I created separate blogs for each major division. Machine shop, Dimensional Art, 3D printing, LASER Engraving. Links are listed in the left column.
This blog will stay on topic with my silver and lost wax casting.
The best casting results and the craft-work I enjoy the most is making wax master models. I use CNC wax machining for highly accurate models. Wax master models provide for me, better casting quality than 3D plastic printed models. Hand carving wax is a great way to create “organic” master models. The hand work with a wax process can be both additive and subtractive.
I have said all this before, then strayed away. But I really have a desire to do high quality lost wax casting. Silver or any metal is OK except gold, because of its' extreme cost.
WAX is my favorite creative hand-crafting medium. I want to “get away” from the 3D printing curse of making plastic Junque.
I have again put this goal in writing. I will see if I can return to lost wax casting!
Maybe make silver key-fobs again! (Instead of plastic)…
I sailed off on a new creative adventure. A voyage of learning of and exploring new lands.
Fused Deposition Modeling
This is the mainstream hobbyist process for what is generally called three-dimensional printing. Abbreviated as “FDM”. Thermo-plastic is heated past its meting point and extruded through a print head moving in 2-1/2 dimensions. Layer upon layer is built up into a three-dimensional object.
Its best application is rapid prototyping objects that will be manufactured by traditional processes with more durable materials. The process of 3D printing is faster and cheaper for size and shape prototypes. Next best application is simply plastic modeling. In many uses, it is a satisfactory way to make something in plastic. In my opinion it is not a replacement for injection molding plastic for high volume mass production of durable plastic items.
As a hobbyist / artist (hobbyist slash artist) who loves to make things, I jumped into the sea of 3D printing when I discovered the hardware (printers) had become very affordable for hobbyist. Mine were in the $300-$400 range plus supplies. Supplies are mostly but not entirely the plastic filament sold on spools at $50-$25 depending on brand and supposed quality.
I have melted well over a hundred spools of plastic filament over several years. I have invested considerable time and material expense and have had a lot of enjoyment as well as occasional frustration making many things of plastic.
I also experimented with a printing process that uses a plastic based resin that cures to a solid form with Ultra-Violet light exposure. It too is a multiple layer process. It is extremely messy and complex but produces higher quality (smaller layer) plastic items. Object size is limited in my use by the size of the print area.
I published several website blogs dedicated to three-dimensional printing. The one survivor is https://dimensionalprint.org/. Some of my other blogs also contain reference and writeups on my 3D printing activities. Suffice to say, It has been an interesting and rewarding journey. I have been totally involved with the process at a hobbyist level and have become very proficient with the design and making of plastic items.
It’s Plastic
I coined a term I now use and have used it as the identity for most of the items I have made. That term is Plastic Junque. Junque is a fancy spelling of junk. I have personally realized the bottom line for me is that I have made some “plastic” items of functional value that “should be plastic” and a huge number of junk items that are toys, or display thingies of little or no lasting value.
Lasting value to me is something I have created that represents my human skills and abilities to produce heirloom quality objects that will exist well past my demise. Printed plastic “Junque” doesn’t fill that vision of lasting worth and value. Push start and a “replicator” machine makes the item.
I can design (draw) something but an automated machine totally “makes” it. No human craftsmanship. It’s the single print and done that disturbs me. Make 20 different parts, then assemble, is better. But still, it is plastic. Like the glued plastic model kits I assembled as a kid. Interesting but no real value. Destined to become landfill junk.
What to Do
No, not stop making the Junque. Plastic has its place. I have tried very hard to find an excuse for three-dimensional printing. I discovered an excuse is not required. It is what it is, plastic. When I need something made from plastic, I have mastered a process that will produce it.
My realization is plastic does not replace all conventional material and methods for producing high quality items of enduring value.
The coronation crown for the monarch of Britain will never be made from FDM plastic, but a cheap imitation scale model might.
That illustrates my point. Do I want to continue making only imitation plastic Junque, or a historic crown of gold and jewels fit for a real queen or king?
I don’t see crown-making in my future. Silver crafting (wax carving), wood working, metal craft (machine shop) are all at my avail. The “Sirens of Greek Mythology” are calling for my return from the plastic seas of Junque, to high quality items produced using a real craftsman process and tools. Will I just crash on the rocks?
No, it’s from where I came, and I know their tricks. Just lash me to the mast until we get to port. I have some work to do when I get back home…