UTDesignLabYour StoriesBuilding a heart model from stacked wood

Building a heart model from stacked wood

For my bachelor assignment I had to make a silicon heart model for a proof of concept. So to do this I had to make a mold in which I could pour the silicon for the model. And to create a mold you need an object first, and so I ended up in the DesignLab.

At first I had the idea to turn the SolidWorks model I had (a simple egg shape to substitute for the heart) into a 3D printed model. But I quickly found out that the amount of material needed was too much. After seeing some other options I chose for the stacked wood model which you can see on the left.

 After grinding this model down to a round shape I coated the object with several layers of a mix of woodglue and water. This ensured a smooth exterior of the object so the mold could not get stuck anywhere. We created a box to fit around this object to pour the mold into which you can see in the lastt picture (including the first half of the mold).

In the end I got a great silicon model out of the mold which I can surely use in my project.

G Bongers