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The FORGE mold! #4
Replies: 7 comments 5 replies
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Good to see you making the jump from Printables, Brendan. At this point, you're officially the lead beta tester for the engine. The boards you've been pressing look incredibly solid. Excellent work dialing in the whole process. Massive thanks for dropping this level of granular feedback. The 1.9mm hole tolerance for the Bambu A1, the M6-60 hardware specs, the blue tape trick, and especially that 14mm shaper clearance for the router table—this is pure gold. It's exactly the kind of real-world data I need to refine the default parameters for v1.1 and update the official documentation. Keep pushing the engine's limits, and let me know if you end up testing the vertical print orientation. Cheers. |
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It’s awesome man, I do want to ask, is there a way to increase the mold base width above 70? I have some metal topper plates left over from when I used createyourskate that have a measuring of 80x115, was hoping to increase the base width so I could use them for the molds! |
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Hey, Brendan. I've bumped the maximum base width to 90mm in the latest release that is rolling out right now. Grab the new executable, dust off those plates, and let me know how the fit goes. |
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Hey everyone! Here’s a bit of an update! I recently commented about increasing the mold base width to be able to use the create your skate metal topper plates, that idea did not work due to an offset with the guide holes. Not really an issue as I have increased my infill to 70% with a gyroid pattern. I am still in the R&D phase of my mold but I think once I find the exact parameters I want I will push the infill up even higher since I am utilizing the horizontal printing and hardware method. I think another important comment is, if you increase the base width like I did I would also increase the core width, for instance, I found with a base width of 80, a core width of 50 was beneficial. This also works good if you plan on doing high width boards anywhere from 38-45mm, the larger the board the larger widths you’ll have to use to compensate. I also found a little “glitch” you could say where if you increase the straight (yellow) parameter on the shaper beyond the fillet (Red X and Y) it freezes up my software and causes a crash so ensure you increase the fillet before increasing the straight parameter. I also had an issue with veneer cracking at the start of the kick transition when I put the parameter at 3.85 and below. 3.9 seems to be the lowest i can go before experiencing cracking. This could also be due to the dryness of my veneer so I ensure my veneer is humidity controlled (if issues with dry veneer simply sprits water in a plastic bag (Very minuscule amount) and allow that veneer to sit in the bag for a few days) or that I allow the glue to seep into the wood before fully compressing it into the mold. I had success reducing layer lines imprinting on the wood by not only adding the blue painter tape layers but also throwing a griptape backing between the veneer and the mold. If you plan on doing multiple different sizes with your mold, its crucial to print separate molds for those sizes to get the same concave across those sizes. I have seperate molds for 36, 34, and 29 and they all come out to the same concave measurement. I attempted to press a 36mm board on my 34mm mold and found that the concave was higher. |
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Hey Brendan, thanks for the massive field report. Regarding that 'glitch' you found with the straight/fillet parameters: I spent some time trying to replicate the crash. Believe it or not, the CAD engine actually calculated those impossible overlapping curves on my end (resulting in some crazy looking boards) or just hung for a while computing, but I haven't triggered a hard crash yet. To make sure I patch the exact topological hole you found, could you drop a screenshot of your shaper UI or tell me the exact % numbers you had on the Yellow and Red handles? Also, your note on pressing the 36mm veneer in a 34mm mold is spot on. Forcing wider wood into a narrower curve pushes it further up the vertical walls, increasing the concavity. That's exactly why parametric generation is key here. Good notes on the 70% gyroid infill and the veneer cracking threshold at 3.85mm, too. Keep pushing the limits. Drop those shaper numbers when you can so I can stress-test it properly on my machine! |
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Hey, for some reason I cannot replicate it anymore! I changed the straight parameter to 62.5 from the default measurement which is what caused it originally |
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Hey guys first of all I want to say a huge thank you to the creator of this mold - I've only recently started fingerboarding again just last week which was such a delightful coincidence - and have zero experience with 3d printing whatsoever. But after extensive tinkering on this blessing of a program, I was wondering if you could add the option to extend the board length from 95mm to maybe 101, as I prefer riding a little longer of decks. I really plan to download this model and bring it over to my friends house to ask him to print it for me soon, so this option would be such a game changer. Another question I have (once again, no 3d printing experience), is that when you alter the dimensions of the board (changing the deck geometry, kicks, shapes, etc...), does that in turn change the dimensions of the male/female mold and shaper template to accommodate pressing the mold into said dimensions? Sorry if these questions have already been answered in the forum, I just couldn't find the answers to these.. Once again HUUUGGE thank you to whoever made this program, you're THE BEST. |
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Hey, thanks for the huge compliments and for using the program! There is no total length slider because it is calculated automatically. |
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Oh boy, you've printed a lot! Regarding your observations, your engineering logic is spot on: Vertical Printing & Strength: You are 100% right about the physics. FDM printing is always weakest across the Z-axis layer lines. Vertical printing gives the best kick curves, but under heavy vise pressure, you risk delamination if the walls/infill aren't dialed in. Mold Thickness & Hardware: Switching to M6-70 is a smart move for clearance. Keep pushing the limits and let me know if you manage to mathematically break it! |
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It’s been a very long time since I’ve last shared an update but I think it’s worth noting a few things. After months and months of testing I have finally found a nice rhythm with the Forge configurator. So much so I will soon be doing my first official drop for my company! Over these past few months I have created 3 defined molds with 4 official sizes (total of 12 molds). I’ve tinkered with different drill hole sizes, mold gaps, kick gaps, etc. I’ve found such a sweet spot and so far all of the feedback on my decks have been amazing. Obviously deck making consists of multiple components beyond just the mold but the mold itselfs IMO is what makes the board what it is. If you have the available resources, play around with different settings as much as possible. You won’t get it right on the first try but that’s the whole point of research and development. Ive explored every aspect of this configurator so if anyone has any questions please respond here or I can give a personal contact if requested. This has opened up a lot of opportunities that other sources have failed to do. I’m extremely surprised more people are not using this software, it gives you the freedom to create the exact board you’re going for! |
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Hey everyone!
I’ve been extensively tinkering with the forge engine since its release and have to say it’s amazing! I’ve been test printing and modifying the boards I’m aiming to create heavily and have found a handful of things that really help me. For one, if you’re wanting to using a 1/16 drill bit for drilling, I’ve found when printing on my Bambu A1 that a hole diameter of 1.9-1.92 is perfect for the 1/16 drill bit. It’s still snug but gives more room and less resistance when drilling. Also be sure to save your custom preset when making changes to your parameters, this stores the information for later use. I’ve yet to try the vertical printing but have had great success with normal printing horizontally. I use M6-60 bolts with washers on both sides and winged nuts for my molds but I think any length from M6-60-M6-70 would be perfect (if you don’t mind waiting, order them off amazon and get more for your buck rather than going to a local hardware store). I’ve found an infill of 60-70% to be a perfect level and personally I print at .12 layer height. After the print is done I found hitting the surfaces of the mold with 400grit and 600grit helps reduce imprint lines on the boards. I also take the precaution of placing 2-3 layers of blue painters tape on the mold surfaces to help reduce those imprint lines but also help protect the mold and keep it clean. When it comes to customizing the shape, this has been the biggest trial and error area for me not because it doesn’t work good (it’s amazing and so variable) but because I keep changing the mind about decisions. If you plan on using a router like I do, I would increase the shaper height a few millimeters, I found with the original height that I had to trim down the raw board heavily so it did not make contact with the router table. I Increased my height to 14mm and found it to be a comfortable height. The boards I have pressed have came out amazing! Have fun with it it’s truly a blessing to those in the community who wanna start making boards but don’t wanna pay the prices like create your skate. I’ve messed around with making boards since 2012 and this has been the easiest software I’ve used to go about it.
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