Climbing holds with molds

Last crawled date: 4 years, 3 months ago

These are a mismatched set of climbing holds that I designed to experiment with different ways that a 3d printer can be used in the production of climbing holds for our climbing gym.
The holds were designed in a variety of ways. Some were generated entirely on the computer (rough form in Fusion 360 followed by computer sculpting in 3d Coat) and some were carved from foam board insulation and scanned using an Einscan SE. These were then post processed in 3d Coat and Microsoft 3d Builder.
Each hold can be printed as a plastic part. Printing them with 3mm walls/top/bottom and 50% infill has a number of holds that have been in use in the gym for the last month and none of which has broken (most are PLA but some are also pet-g and Alloy 910). However, the texture tends to be a little slick, expecially the pet-g.
Each hold also has a corresponding mold. These molds have been used to cast solid plastic molds. The best plastic I've poured into them has been Alumilite RC-3 which provides better texture than a smoothcast 65d. Print the molds using TPU / Ninjaflex / eLastic and use mold release before casting. I also find adding a little baby powder in the mold helps draw the plastic into the smaller details.