Jessica A. Artiles // PROJECT

Molding & Casting a 'Baby's 1st Mobius Strip Bracelet'

As part of my Media Lab class, How to Make (almost) Anything, I made a 'Baby's 1st Mobius Strip Bracelet' for my 1 year-old cousin. I played with casting materials like silicone and uerethane, and I designed a mold in SolidWorks, processed it in Rhino, and made it out of machinable wax in the Shopbot. Ultimately, the alignment for the soft to soft material interfaces proved harder than expected. I 3D-printed the mobius strip (and one for myself!) in the FormLabs printer out of the clear resin and then out of the flexible resin and was satisfied with the surface finish.

How to Make (almost) Anything is the class that gave birth to Fab Labs, now an international movement for makers worldwide. The course is a bootcamp into fabrication technologies (digital and analog) through weekly projects to master a tool/skill/technology per week. I was one of the very few that bit the bullet and continued to work with Neil Gershenfeld, founder and instructor of the class, in the sequel of the class, How to Make Something that Makes (almost) Anything.

Skills

SolidWorks
Rhino
ShopBot
Milling Machinable Wax
Molding & Casting
3D Printing

Select photos

Prototyping geometry and dimensions with a paper strip.

Milling machinable wax on the ShopBot.

Making a jig for casting the molds.

Proof that food-safe silicone (platinum-based) doesn't like OOMOO polymers (tin-based).

A cured mold out of PMC 121/30.

Form 1+ clear resin.

Form 1+ clear, flexible resin. So nice to the touch!

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