In this Robert Tolone video, he wonders how much difference in production time between casting 3 simple models or 3D printing them (all on the same print bed).
As he points out, this is a very variable-dependent question, but he tries to simplify everything with a 3-up casting mold and 3-up printing.
His conclusion is that, while there is a lot more set-up time with resin casting, once you have the mold box(es) made, you can easily make six casts in an hour versus one hour for each of the three models on the bed (so, over 3 hours for three models).
Of course, if you scaled up with a 3D print farm, you could eventually catch up, but he claims he could do a 100-run casting in around 5 hours. You’d need a lot of printers to match that.
Adafruit publishes a wide range of writing and video content, including interviews and reporting on the maker market and the wider technology world. Our standards page is intended as a guide to best practices that Adafruit uses, as well as an outline of the ethical standards Adafruit aspires to. While Adafruit is not an independent journalistic institution, Adafruit strives to be a fair, informative, and positive voice within the community – check it out here: adafruit.com/editorialstandards
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.