MoldLay filament for 3D printing

Howdy everyone-

I have a customer who would like some casting done, pretty straight
forward.

He will be providing the model, no big deal.

He is generating it with a 3D printer and using a material called,
MoldLay, ah ha, here’s my question, is anyone familiar with this
stuff? This is a link to Amazon with the specs:

I read the page, Googled the product, and product reviews but can’t
find anything from anyone who has actually invested it and
successfully cast with it. There is one video on YouTube, but they
are casting with tin, my customer wants brass.

Sooooo- has anybody out there used this stuff? Thank you all in
advance…

Be well,
Duke

Hi Duke,

Just remind your client that the quality of the casting is no better
than the quality of the pattern. If it burns out cleanly then it’s
not a problem no matter what metal you are casting in. If during the
burnout it produces noxious fumes make sure the space around the
kiln is well ventilated and stay away until the burnout is past 500C.
If you are in doubt about a clean burnout give an additional hour at
650C before dropping the flask down to 450C for casting.

All the best
Jennifer Gow

from the amazon description. My emphasis…

"MoldLay is your 3D Printing solution to making molds. MoldLay
is a wax-like filament that is structurally strong and has almost
no warping at all. It is perfect for the mold making process! It
will keep its shape when surrounded by concrete, but will run out
of the now concrete negative when placed in an oven, leaving
almost no residue behind. *If there is a little residue, it is
easily cleaned out using a simple citric acid solution.*" 

I suspect you may need a little more detail on the intended method.
because I suspect the target here is melting it in a conventional
cooking oven as opposed to burning it out in a furnace…

mind you, most plastics, unfilled, should burn out cleanly.

I’m off to look at the composition/MSDS if I can find it…

interesting - nothing about it’s chemical composition so a bit hard
to tell if it’s a nice burn out material or not…

The main advantage over other 3D filaments seems to be that it
melts, removing most of the material. For fine work I’d still be
burning out, and expect it to stink. Of course if the intention is to
melt out, then cast molten metal, the metal will effectively burn out
the plastic anyway so it can’t be too toxic at that stage…

If I was going to design something like this, I’d aim for a short
chain nylon or EVA - enough functional groups to give good low
temperature properties, but really fluid when molten.

Hello Duke Ive never used this product, but have used PLA instead,
PLA is not intended for burnout but actually burns out well (PLA is
another 3d printing filament), so im betting it will actually work
even better, if its a heavy piece with thick walls make sure you burn
it for long enough, Now the ratio for casting can be very tricky
since 3D printed pieces can be very light inside (this is actually
controlled by the software “slicing” the piece for 3D printing
creating a solid skin but the inside can go from 20% to 100%
material)