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This 3D-printed PLA pour spout potentially increases the utility of this one-piece plaster mold. As can be seen on the upper section analysis, the spout is designed to form the lip of this small Medalta Potteries bowl (and provide a guide for cutting its inside edge). It has lugs that extend outward to enable holding it down using rubber bands. I intend that it will be cleanly removable after the piece begins to pull away from the mold, leaving a high-quality lip that only needs a little trimming. This spout also permits precise monitoring of when to pour out the slip and it prevents most of the mess made using traditional molds having a spare.
This is the first piece I have made wholly using OnShape CAD. I did not read any instruction manual, my experience with Fusion 360 gives me expectations of how this should work and those expectations are generally being met. The economy expectations are being far exceeded: I am using OnShape on my 2014 Mac Mini running Ubuntu Linux (on 16gb RAM). Prusa Slicer, OctoPrint, GIMP 3 photo editor, Kdenlive video producer, InkScape vector drawing editor and productivity software are all running smoothly and fast on this machine. Cost is no longer an obstacle to adopting 3D CAD for mold making.
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Drawing the Same Mold Using Fusion 360 and OnShape
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