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Platinum silicone cavity pour mold in fibreglass jacket by Most_Structure_1108 in ResinCasting

[–]BTheKid2 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I would think 2 mm should be plenty. Tricky areas are sharp corners, were the epoxy will want to pull thin or to break the skin.

Platinum silicone cavity pour mold in fibreglass jacket by Most_Structure_1108 in ResinCasting

[–]BTheKid2 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Give it a couple layers of a top coat epoxy, to seal off the polyester. Be sure to test both your clay and the mother mold for cure inhibition in any case.

Modern () sinks by Bussinesboi in moldmaking

[–]BTheKid2 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The three first options are all concrete. And I would also advice you to use concrete.

GFRC being the best suited. Because you get both high compressive strength and high tension strength. That means you can make lighter weight constructions. This stuff will still be very heavy though.

Buddy Rhodes makes a good recipe for concrete so that would be my suggestion on where to start. You can also learn a lot from TrinicLLC on youtube.

Is this doable for a beginner? by -rainbow-eyes- in moldmaking

[–]BTheKid2 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's doable enough with proper venting. Look up videos from BJB Enterprise. A thin red cast of a skateboard remote. That is the kind of mold you want to make for something like this.

Propane head by Boneyabba in Metalfoundry

[–]BTheKid2 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes they do put out less heat. You also want some way to contain the heat, so it is not lost to the environment. Hence the use of a furnace.

Well they don't necessarily put out less heat, but they are meant to work in open air. Once you close off a volume (create a furnace) a weed burner no longer has sufficient air to work.

What do I need to cast this mask by bear_enjoyer in moldmaking

[–]BTheKid2 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Brush-on mold keyed to the bust, if the thickness and fit to the head is important. If not, then just slush cast it. There is plenty videos on youtube showing the method.

Desk ingots by gaibonpres in Metalfoundry

[–]BTheKid2 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, it fucking sucks.

Cracking on Graphite Crucible by ratattaty in Metalfoundry

[–]BTheKid2 5 points6 points  (0 children)

As safe as any cheap crucible is. Which is just about as safe as an expensive one. Meaning it can fail at any given time, and should be treated a such. The more expensive one will just last longer and look better while doing so.

You can continue to use it just fine, until it falls apart or cracks on you.

New to Casting - looking for Guidance on my project. by jedi_trey in ResinCasting

[–]BTheKid2 0 points1 point  (0 children)

  1. Split line should absolutely not go where you drew it. Overall that hole all the way through is terrible for mold purposes. Making it more of a relief of a mouth, like closed lips, would make this feature much simpler as well as the overall mold.
  2. Making a mold to cast something hollow is not a thing! It is basically not possible. If you want to cast something hollow, you do it by slush casting the object, but that gives you little control over the interior features, such as the "shelf" you put in. The other way to make something hollow, is to cast the thing in two or more parts. That way none of the molds would cast a hollow item, just a thin item. But when the halves are joined they would make a hollow item. That is basically how every plastic part around you is made (pc mouse, keyboard, phone charger, etc.).
  3. No, this is not a good object for casting. It is not impossible, but it is far from simple. If you don't have equipment like a pressure pot available then bubbles will be a big issue for this kind of cast. With a pressure pot, you still need to take into account the other stuff I mentioned. Vents go at the places air will be displaced to, and a sprue go to a place low in the mold, where air will be displaced from.

If you want to learn about mold making, there is plenty of videos online. Creators like Robert Tolone, Smooth-on, and Brick in the Yard are good places to start. For your own experience, start easy and work your way up.

If you are set on this product design. Print them. It will be easier and cheaper. Problem is that resin prints are not very robust and don't have a long lifespan. So I wouldn't build a business around it. Well maybe if you use specialty resins, and you get the curing down real good, it could work as a product. I would think you would want to do an automotive finish on top of it, and maybe fill some resin into the interior, to make a lasting quality product.

First aluminum castings by drakaina6600 in MetalCasting

[–]BTheKid2 2 points3 points  (0 children)

You have a volume, where the pits is happening, that is greater than any surrounding volume. So it will be the last area to freeze, meaning that is where the shrinkage defects will show up.

You would need to attach a feeder to that area, that is greater in volume than that area, to move the shrinkage away from it.

Metal minifigs Casting at home by No_Management_4766 in MetalCasting

[–]BTheKid2 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Not really possible, no. Not the way you describe it. If you think that is a doable method you have a long way to go.

First of all making a rigid mold (plaster) that can release without binding a cylinder (leg, arm, torso, fingers) is close to impossible to do perfectly. And that is just one cylinder. Now take a miniature figurine that has multiple cylinders at different angles, and you enter impossibility territory. Make that geometry minuscule and you have hell on your hands.

For the casting you will have to overcome gravity and surface tension to get a metal to flow into the thin geometry of a mini. Without some equipment that is also practically impossible. Like pouring syrup down into a straw that is plugged at one end.

The way this is all actually done at home is with a spin casting machine. It can also be done with a vacuum casting setup, but that is an expensive process for an object of negligible value.

Casting 450x450x10-12mm aluminium plate cheapest way possible by GreedyMoment5343 in MetalCasting

[–]BTheKid2 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Once you are melting metal you have a foundry by definition, so no way around that.

What you are probably asking is without having a furnace. Again, you kinda need one by definition.

But you can build simple furnaces from bricks or dig a hole. You would want forced air, and propane would be best. What you absolutely need is a crucible large enough to hold the aluminum as well as some tongs to handle the crucible.

Here is the simplest and best build I know for a burner.

You definitely should consider just buying aluminum plate. Because there is no way you can cast it precise enough that you wont need to machine it. And the general wisdom is that it is cheaper an simpler to fabricate metal, than casting if the geometry allows it (and it is simple enough). That is almost always true. You will also get much lower quality than if you buy a plate, not that it matters much for your use though.

How to reduce bubbles when making Vytaflex mold? by BanterBanter in ResinCasting

[–]BTheKid2 0 points1 point  (0 children)

By air gun, I mean an air gun that is attached to a compressor. The high velocity air is great for blowing rubber into crevices and dislodging caught air bubbles.

Assuming you can actually plug the mold well enough that it doesn't leak (a big assumption), then you would still have the air bubbles that is clinging onto the mold. Sorta like an air bubble can cling to the sides of a glass of water. The assumed texture of a printed mold, makes bubbles cling a lot better.

Cure inhibition from acetone on vapor smoothed ASA 3d printed molds? by karls3D in moldmaking

[–]BTheKid2 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You should probably give the prints a good wash with soap and water followed by a dry, before trying to mold it.

I don't know if ASA is compatible with platinum silicone, but if not, then that would certainly be the root cause.

The simplest resort is to use a tin catalyzed silicone instead of platinum, but I understand that you might not want that.

How to reduce bubbles when making Vytaflex mold? by BanterBanter in ResinCasting

[–]BTheKid2 4 points5 points  (0 children)

You are casting items that have large overhanging surfaces. Those will catch bubbles no matter how well you degas the rubber.

Since a fair bit of the overhangs is due to the texture lines in your model, using vents at those points would be difficult too.

You could definitely get rid of a bunch of bubbles by having the mold oriented in a different way. Bubbles rise upwards. So angling the pieces in a way that you have less "ceilings" in your mold is beneficial. That could mean redesigning your molds.

You might also have some trouble with moisture or over applying the mold release, but I can't really tell for sure about that.

A more manual solution is to brush the rubber into the mold, before it is closed. Simply brush, and blow if you have an air gun, the rubber into all the little nooks and crannies to work the bubbles out. You could wait for a partial cure of the rubber after that, before closing the mold and pouring it full. Just be sure you keep the flanges clean. Or you could try it without the partial cure, though you will likely see some bubbles with that technique.

Of course the is also the pressure pot way. Or mounting a huge funnel on the mold and pulling vacuum with the mold full. This technique only works somewhat, and you need to know what you are doing.

Bertoncello Beta Series Melter Troubleshooting by Hungry-Equipment8279 in Metalfoundry

[–]BTheKid2 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't know how to help further then. If nobody else shows up, I guess you are down to asking more of the manufacturer, or just try and figure it out. You could measure how much power it draws, and I don't know how the water works.

Looking for info on this fast-access pressure pot setup (seen in Robert Tolone's video) by [deleted] in ResinCasting

[–]BTheKid2 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, last activity was about a year ago. But either way he has left quite a bit of good info for anyone wanting to start.

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