Saturday, June 9, 2012

Toy development process behind the scenes: Melting Wax

Yesterday I visited the Fort to catch up with Luke and Ricky. The Fort Boys are always working on toys at some stage of the development process, since they're doing pre-production-> production work for more and more designers, not to mention for their own lines: Grody Shogun + Velocitron.

An important part of the process is making wax casts from silicon molds. Those casts then go through a labor-intensive process as they're prepped for the joint + mold stages. However, not all casts are ready for prime time, and that wax, instead of being thrown away, is melted down, strained, and reused.

During my visit yesterday, Luke put a bunch of wax pieces into a metal bin, brought out a burner, and started cooking. After a few minutes, it had a cool melting effect as the pot bubbled and the various parts were reduced to a formless liquid. Here's a video I shot to capture the action:

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