{"id":937,"date":"2017-11-20T19:46:44","date_gmt":"2017-11-20T19:46:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hughqelliott.com\/blog\/?p=937"},"modified":"2017-11-20T19:48:29","modified_gmt":"2017-11-20T19:48:29","slug":"kraft-bears-technical-process-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hughqelliott.com\/blog\/kraft-bears-technical-process-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Kraft Bears Technical Process – Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

The size of the bears surprised me the first time I saw them. They’re small. I expected a pair of big ol’ teddy bears but these bears are about 10 inches (25.4 cm) tall. The bowties are also small. A couple of inches wide and an inch high. I needed to embed an LED inside and attach it to the bear. Two options immediately felt viable; resin or silicone. Resin seemed good solution for durability but felt I silicone would be good for a soft feel.<\/p>\n

My plan was straight forward even if \u201cstep-heavy\u201d. Model the bowtie in 3D using Fusion 360<\/a>. 3D print the model, cast a mold, then cast the bowtie repeated times for a total of 20 bowties. For the prototype and client approval, I needed two. One for each bear. I’ve been working with 3D modelling software for a couple of years, slowly getting better. I’d started with TinkerCAD<\/a>, moved on to OnShape<\/a> and then decided to play with Fusion 360. I really like Fusion 360 for its robust feature set and the ability to create natural forms. Also, it\u2019s free. That\u2019s key.<\/p>\n

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The model in Fusion 360<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I sent Rethink a variety of angles of the model for tentative approval. Then I warmed up my poor, neglected 3D printer. An old Prusa i3 I built a few years ago from a kit. I spent an hour or so calibrating and managed to cajole a usable print out of it.<\/p>\n

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“Usable” is a strong word.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With a few additional hours of finishing, I got a truly usable bowtie for casting a mold from.<\/p>\n

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With that effort I had a bowtie worth casting. While I was waiting for various layers of Bondo or paint to dry, I was researching using silicone rubber for mold-making. I needed a two-part mold since I had a collar sticking out the back for pushing in an LED and attaching to the bear. I made a few videos on this process and uploaded them to my YouTube channel. Feel free to check them out. I am using Smooth-On Dragon Skin 10 NV<\/a>.<\/p>\n