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Anyone Know How This Was Made?

Solve the riddle in Core77's discussion topic of the week

By Core Jr - March 22, 2016

in Forum Frenzy | Materials

This week we bring you our pressing topic of the moment straight from our reader-controlled discussion boards! This is technical conundrum asked of the Core77 discussion board audience last year and is still in need of some confirmation. Core77-er Mitso asks:

"Hi guys. Was looking through Lapka's website after reading about the the Air bnb buyout. I really like this 'splatter' look of this product which reminds me of the finishes found on enamel camping mugs. Does anyone know what process is being used here? Thanks in advance!"

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The Lapka Breathalyzer listed above is purportedly made from ceramic, so the answers thus far as to how the splatter effect was created have been inconclusive—can't be injection molding. Is it splatter painting? User ralphzoontjens puts up a pretty solid theory, although this applies to creating a similar product from plastic:

"It looks like flakes of a material with higher melting point and cohesion value than the base plastic would be injected together. Alternatively small beads could be splattered onto the mold surface, or it could be In-Mold-Labeling but those methods would be more labor-intensive. Also looking at different Bose Freestyle earbuds which have the same effect applied to them, they appear to all be different so I think it's a simple mixing of different plastic flakes into the IM machine. It's a cool effect so if anyone knows a manufacturer that does this, that would be great!"

Does anyone have firsthand experience finishing a surface like this? How does achieving this visual effect differ across different materials? Also, have you found any manufacturers that specialize in finishing processes like this? Contribute in the comment feed below and help get the conversation going.

(Also feel free to check out the original post and contribute on our discussion board!)

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Mercedes Landazuri

6 years ago

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There are many additives you can put in polymers (either in pellet form, or loose along with the pellets as you're processing) to achieve this visual appearance. The additive to use would vary depending on your polymer, the process you're using and the processing conditions. My company specializes in these types of additives, but to me these pictures look like the effect is painted on rather than molded into the part. Maybe it's just the picture though, as paint or coating for a breathalyzer application would surely be problematic with use & cleaning.

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Ryan McInnis

8 years ago

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As this object is "purportedly made from ceramic".... There are 3 ways that I can imagine making it. I don't think the visual speckle effect is painted on. I think it's actually IN the clay.
Solution #1: Slipcasting... Which is pretty much the same idea as injection molding, it just takes a lot longer...
First, a perfectly rendered/sculpted/machined model of the final product would need to be made... Then you'd need to make a plaster mold of that model. In this case, it would likely require a 4-5 piece plaster mold.
Then... you'd need to make your "slip" (perfectly homogenous, liquid clay or porcelain)...
Then you'd have to color your slip (with certain chemical(s)) in order to achieve the base color (in this case, the burnt orange color is perhaps achieved with an iron oxide).
Then, I imagine there to be a second chemical additive (to achieve the black specks)... Crucially, this additive would have to have the property of NOT dissolving and homogenizing within the slip, but would instead, remain separate, much like droplets of vinegar in a jar of oil. As long as the mixture is stirred, there would be a randomized distribution of those elements, within the liquid slip...
Then you pour your slip into your mold, and wait. Then wait some more. Once the plaster has absorbed all of the water from the clay, you're left with the perfect copy of your model.
You take it out of the mold, carefully trim it up, and you're all set and ready to fire that baby.
That's a whole other process, obviously. But whatever chemicals were used to achieve the colors would be susceptible to the conditions within the kiln, and you'd likely get different results, depending upon different firing conditions, i.e. different firing temperatures, different atmospheres, electric/gas kiln, etc.
Solution #2: Extrusion... This would involve using a more conventional (non-liquified) clay mixture. Much as in Solution 1, above, the clay would have to first be colorized and homogenized. Then an additive, like a sand or or stone grit would have to be worked into the clay so as to achieve as uniform a distribution of the particles as possible.
Once this clay has been made, you'd need to use an extruding device that matches the dimensions and specifications of your desired end product. You just shove the clay in the device, pull the lever, and out comes your tube of clay. It's kind of like making penne pasta.
The tricky part with this technic would be stamping in that logo, without compromising the shape of the tube. For that, you'd need some kind of (probably metal) tube, to slip inside the tube, once the clay has dried.
Also, this technique would require a lot of work to make all the edges perfectly smooth and uniform.... and then of course there's the firing process as discussed above.
Solution #3: Press molding... which is basically like a cross between solutions 1 and 2. You make a model first, and then make a mold of that model. Then you use the more conventional clay (with grit added) and put it into the mold, filling it as much and as perfectly uniformly as possible (in other words, no air bubbles)... Let the clay 'set up' and dry a little, take your form out of the mold, trim it up and fire it.

[I have a BA in Fine Art, with my emphasis having been ceramics. I have a lot of experience making forms like the one pictured above, and experience in all the techniques in my three proposed solutions. Of course, these techniques were not performed on any kind of industrial scale, so I imagine my solutions to be a little less elegant than what could be made by a company like Kohler... or apparently, Lapka. But, well... you get the idea.
Hope that helps!!

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Dee An

8 years ago

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@Tom Perkins
Yep, the material certainly looks like the colour swatches on the Durat.com website, especially the sharp edges of the speckled chips. I guess it depends on the volume these things are being made in. Press moulding is a possibility - there are no pictures of the top of the object, so no witness marks can be seen. Or it could have been press moulded and then machined (turned, obviously).
However, I get he impression that Ampacet might be able to provide materials (and advice on tweaking the injection molding process) that would do the same. I learnt a lot just reading their website. Example: plastic colourings designed not to stick to IM mould parts, so that smaller batches of differently coloured products can be made more easily and economically made.

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Tom Perkins

8 years ago

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This material looks very similar to a company I've worked with previously. www.durat.com Recycled plastics, likely press moulded and machinable.

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German Soto

8 years ago

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En el caso del cilindro pudiese ser que fuese manufacturado por medio de roto-moldeo ya que productos similares como los tubos de PVC están fabricados por este método, y en el caso de los audífonos BOSE se ve como inyección en molde de un silicon heterogéneo lo cual hace que haya una diferencia de colores

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George Coffin

8 years ago

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Photoshop?

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Dee An

8 years ago

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http://www.ampacet.com/masterbatch-products/custom-color-concentrates/
http://www.ampacet.com/fusionfx/coloroptions.html

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Dee An

8 years ago

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https://www.google.ch/patents/US3041303

This invention relates to injection molded polystyrene articles having a unique speckled appearance. More particularly, the invention relates to a polystyrene molding powder capable of being molded by injection molding methods into articles having a speckled appearance.

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Jim Ferguson

8 years ago

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Looks like, with the fine logo detail, the primary material is a resin slurry, which may include ceramic or stone particulate in black.

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Jacob Breinholt

8 years ago

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From browsing the product's website, it appears that the tube isn't actually made of ceramic, rather "ceramic" is one of the options for the visual finish (the matte black option). The finish featured above is called "red splatter." There is also an opaque option called "transparent," which leads me to believe that the object is fabricated from a plastic resin. If I had to bet, I would guess that ralphzoontjens is correct. At any rate, if one were to attempt to recreate the look on something made from ceramic, there are types of glazes that create a similar finish. Some examples can be seen by googling "speckled ceramic glaze."

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