3D Printed Molds for Concrete Casting

Speaking about concrete casting, it is an effective and easiest way to duplicate an object by solidifying the concrete in molds. As concrete has a better adaptive feature, the duplicates created using molds can demonstrate outstanding surface details.

Across the world, concrete casting has been used extensively for years to replicate different architectural elements, for example, concrete form stone, veneers, liners, concrete barriers, concrete countertops, and more. What’s more? This can also be applied in the restoration and reproduction of concrete sculptures, décors, and medallions.  

The traditional process of creating molds for the concrete casting process is by pouring, brushing, and spraying the liquid rubber against the perfectly sealed object. This is a very time-consuming process, and there is no guarantee that you will get 100 percent accurate results from it.

However, modern technology has introduced an effective and faster way to create quality concrete casting molds. And the name of that advanced technology is 3D printing. Now, it is the time to use 3d printed molds for concrete casting and get the job done much faster than the traditional method.

3D printing has become an emerging and popular technology to attain the rapid creation development of tangible 3D parts from various digital prototypes. Another name for 3D printing is AM- Additive manufacturing. Different from the traditional formative and subtractive manufacturing methods, AM crafts the 3D objects through the deposition of 3D printed material layer by layer.

After getting popular in different industries, 3D printing has created a robust place in the concrete industry by creating the developed 3D printed mold for concrete. In fact, if you search for a 3D printer to produce 3D-printed concrete molds, you will find a lot of options.

Many 3D printer manufacturers have introduced a lot of models, and choosing the best one for your project can be very confusing. So, how to move in it? Well, don’t worry at all, as we are here to help you out. Here we have given all the information that you need to know about 3D printing in construction. Besides, we also have listed down some valuable tips that will help you in choosing the suitable machine. Keep reading to explore more.

Concrete molds are widely used for precast concrete production. Precast concrete is using a reusable mold, and then it is cured under a highly controlled environment and then transported to the construction site.

These things can be sued within interior walls, exterior walls, and in more places. The utilization of mold to create precast concrete enables a proper curation process, and the production process can be monitored by the employee. Now, let’s talk about some benefits of precast concrete developed using molds.

Benefits of mold-made precast concrete.

There is no doubt that this a practical and efficient method for your concrete construction process. Besides, it has made beautiful and amazing buildings possible under your budget. Well, exploring some of the significant benefits of precast concrete developed using molds will help the construction experts or architects evaluate the real impact of the precast concrete on the environment and the building operation. Let’s talk about this.

• It can provide you with a highly efficient delivery model for your project, letting your building construction project proceed smoothly.
• Using molds, you can go for any size and shape you want. On the other hand, precast concrete can be produced in any color and comes in different finishes. With concrete mold and precast concrete, you are only limited only by your imagination.
• By using molds, precast concrete can be manufactured off-site and then delivered ready to install products when required. As per the experts, this innovative process has significantly compressed the project schedules and lowered the costs of the project, safety concerns, and site disruption. You don’t have to do more labor for construction.
• It has been proved that precast concrete offers better resistance to fires, mold, insects, and different natural disasters. Different from other materials, this demonstrates a strong resistance to wind damage, termites, decay, rain, and earthquakes. Besides, it can easily withstand any season.
• Costs related to heating as well as cooling can be significantly lowered through concrete’s thermal benefits. Reduced peak cooling and heating loads can be obtained because concrete reacts slowly to temperature changes.
• If you want, you can use the molded concrete designs unpainted. Furthermore, if painting is desired, you don’t have to worry about the repainting cost as you only need to do it once in five to twelve years.  

For structural reasons, it is very crucial to make sure that every concrete and buildings that you are constructing have the same properties. This is only possible when there is 100 percent uniformity. With parts produced using molds can offer you that. Any components that you will use are created in a factory using the same molds. So, you don’t have to worry about all these things.

More about the traditional concrete molds

These things have been around for years and are utilized for different applications, for example, parking garages, sidewalks, parking lots, and more. In terms of traditional concrete pours, the concrete molds are not that much high tech. Most contractors worldwide utilize a combination of wood slates, steel rebar, drainage barriers, and other material to create concrete mods on the construction site.

Constructed using steel spikes and construction lumber, these concrete molds are different from 3d printed concrete molds and don’t appear fancy. However, it is a fact that they are planed by engineers and experts and then installed by highly skilled workers. These are designed to easily handle the pouring of concrete without any buckling. Once the concrete is cured, the molds are removed.

You can still see the traditional concrete molds on standard construction installations, for example:

• Patios and walkways
• Garage floors
• Countertops and flooring
• Structural components, such as supports and columns
• Sidewalks and paths
• Curb and gutter

Understanding the pros and cost of the traditional concrete molds

There is no doubt that traditional molds are easy to put together and low-cost. Besides, they are very durable and robust, and you can use them for different concrete applications. Furthermore, concrete molds are readily available.

While using this, you need to make sure that the wood is perfectly sealed to avoid water damage or rot. On the other hand, the rigidity characteristic of wood makes the mold inefficient for curves. When you have the traditional mold, you shouldn’t think about doing something fancy.

After knowing all these things, you might be wondering how and using which materials the molds are made. Well, let’s talk about that in detail.

1.1, Concrete mold made of metal

One of the most common materials used for concrete mold making is metal. It is a widely available material and also budget-friendly. Earlier, these were used for small product manufacturing, but now they are widely used in a concrete construction project. Most of the mold-making companies are now offering steel and aluminum-made concrete molds for building construction. Such molds can have a various diverse modification, for example:

• Flexible cluster-structured mold
• Stress mold with pliable skirting boards
• With removable filler

These molds are manufactured following the required standards for mold making. So, when it comes to buying a solid concrete mold, you can go for metal-made molds.

Metal mold for road construction

Metal molds for road construction have different uses when outfitting high-ways, industrial areas, landing and take-off surfaces, permanent and temporary approach tracks. Besides, there are some other molds that can be made from metal. These are:

• Paving as well as airfield slab molds
• Tram slab molds
• Road curbs molds
• Pavement unit molds
• Channel and cunette molds.

What should you choose: Steel or Aluminum molds?

As per some studies, steel molds were used for small plastic part injection molding. There are multiple advantages of steel. Some of them are:

• Durable for the complex features

Delicate and complex features can face challenges in dealing with the forces involved in molding. However, steel molds offer better strength and machinability.

• Longer life

Steel molds can be used to produce thousands and millions of quality parts. As per the experts, hardened grades of steel will improve longevity.

• More finishing options

Remember that some types of surface finishes can only be achieved using steel molds.

• Lower the cost in the long term

Steel-made tools will have a lower maintenance cost, resulting in lower operating costs.

For all these reasons, steel molds are used widely in molding. Well, steel is not the only option that you have. Sometimes, aluminum molds can be an excellent choice for you. How? Well, you can consider the below-mentioned factors.

• Facilitates inexpensive changes

Not only are these molds significantly easier to produce, but they are also relatively easier to modify in some cases. So, this can be a significant benefit when it comes to validating a design.

• Improved heat dissipation

It has been proved that aluminum molds can cool faster than steel molds. In the case of some materials, this can lead to a faster cycle time, reducing the overall cost of the production process.

Even though these molds have a lot of benefits, there are some disadvantages that you should consider.

These molds are not ideal for a long or high-volume production run. Besides, you can’t use this for highly detailed features. What’s more? Metal molds are very expensive, and it is quite challenging to repair a damaged metal mold. When it comes into contact with concrete, it can get damaged after using for a few times.

Advantages

• It can be shaped into complex and smooth shapes
• Rigid
• Simple and pre-formed metal shapes create practical, concrete molds. For instance, you can use a steel mixing bowl as sink mold.

Disadvantages

• Well, you may need specialized tooling as well as skills for high-quality and precise metalworking.
• When it comes to complex shapes, you may need to take the help of a metal fabrication expert to create the molds.
• The metal sheet should be around 18 gauge for a better level of stiffness.

So, in some cases, you can need molds made of other materials and that are cost-effective.

1.2, Concrete mold made of wood

Wood has been used in the field of construction for many years, and there are some good reasons behind this. Wood has some properties that make them an appealing building material. Wood moldings are used to add an interesting character as well as beauty to a door.

Wood molding comes with beautiful as well as stunning cross-section designs. Molding concrete is relatively easy to do with wood molds. Instead of setting the concrete mix, you can go for the concrete casting in the desired locations, such as the garage and patio. Making a good-quality concrete mold using wood is very simple and comfortable.

The basics of making wooden concrete molds

1. Begin with a coated surface

Uncoated wood is widely used to make molds for curbs as well as house footing. Once cured, the concrete will easily get unstuck from the wooden easily. But using wood coated with a surface can make the release of concrete faster.

2. Always use disposal wood

After used for molding concrete, the board will generally get crusted with concrete, and you may not use that for other construction work. So, always use the melamine board. Such boards are inexpensive, and you can discard them after the completion of the project.

3. Use a release agent

To make the concrete release from the wooden mold, you need to coat the surface with a quality release agent. You can use dishwashing detergent, vegetable oil, motor oil, and cooking spray combined with water with a 1:10 ratio. Besides, you can also buy such an agent online.

4. Utilize exposed removable fasteners

When building the wooden mold, you can use fasteners that are very easy to remove. Screws are also perfect for making wooden concrete molds.

Looking at all these things, it can be said that, even though making concrete molds using wood is cost-effective, but it will take a lot of time. Besides, wood will not last for long when used for concrete as it will absorb water from the concrete. Wood is a perfect spot for mold and also for moisture-related issues. On the other hand, wooden concrete molds are susceptible to fire, water damage, termites, and decay.

Advantages

• Simple, easy, and fast to fabricate
• Low cost
• Readily available
• Rigid

Disadvantages

• Most of the sheet materials are flat, and you may not form compound curves
• Wood should be sealed properly to prevent the liquid from swelling the materials.

So, is there any other material that can be used to make concrete molds? Well, some construction contractors use plastic for that.

1.3, Concrete mold made of plastic

If you have ever made a concrete-made stepping stone and various decorative objects, you may have used a mold. Using different molds, it is now possible to give the concrete beautiful designs and shapes.

You can choose from different types of plastics available in the market. Some come in rod, pipe, sheet, and bar form. Your choice of plastic will largely depend on physical properties, availability, price, and workability. Some of the common plastics and their characteristics are:

• ABS

This type of plastic is very tough and impact-resistant. This may work well with ABS cement.

• Acrylic

It offers a super smooth surface for your high-quality molds. The molds may look transparent and would be solvent welded, rigid and hard.

• Polyethylene

It is an essential member of the polyolefin family and has some impressive properties. They are easy to machine, tough, and a little slippery. However, the material is difficult and impossible to solvent weld. Under this, you will find HDPE, LDPE, UHME, and UHMW.

• Polycarbonate

It produces a smooth surface and offers better optical clarity. On the other hand, it demonstrates a better level of impact-resistant capability. However, it is difficult to solvent weld.

• Polystyrene

This is a low-cost and versatile hard plastic that comes in a very thin sheet. This material is very easy to work with. It can be solvent welded and heat formed.

• Polyvinyl chlorine or PVC

Type I PVC is rigid, strong, and easy to solvent weld. PVC can be used with some standard woodworking equipment. It may be noted that PVC is quite popular plastic material for concrete molds.

Concrete molds developed through vacuum-formed ABS

If you don’t know much about different types of plastic fabrication processes, then you might not know about plastic vacuum forming. Talking about this process involves using a plastic sheet, heating it, and then stretching it all over a mold form. After that, vacuum suction is used to force the plastic to contour around the mold perfectly. Well, this can have different uses, such as vehicle parts and concrete molds.

Exploring the process

The process begins with creating a shape for the concrete mold.  Some molds are developed from metal-filled epoxy, and you can also use solid metal for this. It is reusable and can easily withstand high heat. In fact, vacuum forming produces a lot of heat.

After the mold is developed and form is cast, the backside is sanded flat. After that, tiny holes are made into the casting, with space around three inches. If the holes are large, then you need to fill them with Bondo filler. Once done, you can now start the vacuum forming process.

To create concrete molds, most manufacturers prefer to use polystyrene and ABS. The plastic sheets are carefully trimmed to fit the capacity of the vacuum molding machine. After that, the plastic is heated adequately so that it can conform to the cast object.

The heating temperature and processing time will vary based on the materials you are using. Whether you use polystyrene or ABS, the process may take around 160 seconds. Once done, the plastic is carefully removed from the machine and let cool.

Now, the only task left to do is finishing. You can use a band saw and trim away the excess plastic. This will leave a border around the edge. Now the sharp edges are carefully sanded out, and, in the end, you will get the plastic-made mold for concrete forming.

Advantages

• All most of all, the plastic can be shaped and bent utilizing your standard woodworking equipment.
• The rigid plastic sheet can be used instead of melamine or plywood.
• Different textures. While some plastics are stiff and rigid, some are soft and flexible.

Disadvantages

• The plastic-forming methods are very complex.

Concrete stamps and molds

All the concrete contractors and builders use molds as well as stamps to make your concrete more customizable and give the structure a perfect flair without requiring you to spend a lot of money. Most of the concrete stamps and molds are made using wood, rubber, metal, or a combination of these materials.

They can be developed into large stamps or onto large drums that can be rolled across wet concrete to attain a beautiful custom look. With concrete molds and stamps, you can make your concrete mimic paver, tile, brick, and wood.

If you are planning to repair or replace your parking lot or looking for something that can help you stand out in terms of style and design, you can use concrete molds and stamps. These are affordable and easy to use.

Well, not things have changed a lot, and the manual process of making a concrete mold using different materials is now replacing by automatic procedures? You might be wondering, who is this possible? Is there any device that can create concrete mold?

Well, the answer is 3D printers. These printers are revolutionized the way we used to create molds for the construction process. Now you can create 3d printed concrete planter mold within a few minutes and complete the construction project faster.