SWG's molding and casting tutorial

[starwarsgeek]

I put this together a while back. I did it in 5 parts.


Part 1: Building your pressure pot

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CF7ICCOIBCQ

Part 2: Prepping your parts and building your mold box

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dukFz-3CB-0

Part 3: Pouring your mold rubber

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s31568B5OLY

Part 4: Cutting out your master parts and post-curing your molds

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgT7aeriKkY

Part 5: Casting your parts

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZXe1j7DrwQ

Now, there are obviously MANY ways to do the same things, and you'll never hear me say that this is the way you MUST do things, or even that these are the products that you MUST use. This is simply how I do it, and what I use, and I get asked a lot of questions so I decided to make the video tutorials.

I'm by no means an expert at this, but if you have any questions, feel free to ask and I will do my best to answer them.

 

[G.I.*EDDIE]

Lot more going on there than I thought...bravo to all you casters...

 

[Monkeywrench]

Sweet!!

Thanks for posting this!

 

[The Willoughbian]

Awesome. Added to the index.

 

[BEAM]

Love it. Thanks for showing us your process.

 

[Fled74]

Thanks for sharing! I've done resin casting before, but I've never used a pressure pot.

 

[Meddatron]

very nice! Thankyou.

 

[Cloud Strife]

That's awesome, SWG! Thanks, for sharing!

 

[Falcone]

How do you get your resin to cure? My resin curing gets messed up when put into a pressure pot. It's supposed to set in 1 hour which it does normally. If I demold after 1 hour after taking it from a pressure pot it's still a goo. I left one batch in the pot over night and it was still tacky when I took it out. Even after I take it out of the pot and it sits in the air it still remains tacky. A batch I did 24 hours ago is still tacky. I'm using Smooth-On Task 2 right now, I've had this same problem with other products as well.

 

[starwarsgeek]

Task 2 is a semi-soft resin, correct? I had issues with some Task14 and Task16 which are both softer setting resins. Are the pieces you are making smaller/thinner then a normal piece? I asked Jesse about some problems and he told me to place the mold in question into a 'hot box' which is what he called it, but I just take my mold and place it in the pressure pot for about 45 minutes and then put it in my toaster oven for an hour or two on a low setting, like 150 degrees. Try that and see if it helps any. If the pieces are too thin, they won't generate enough heat to make the resin cure.

 

[Falcone]

I'll try heating the molds, thank you.

 

[starwarsgeek]

Yeah, make sure the temp is low, and make sure you pressurize first for a while, to get that initial cure started. Jesse helped me figure out that the pieces were too thin that they weren't generating enough heat to fully cure. So I had the same problem, when I pulled the parts they were sticky and half cured. I'm not familiar with Task2 so I don't know what the cure time is for that material. Just let it cure to that point where it's almost done, and then put it in the oven for an hour or two. Let me know if that works!

 

[Falcone]

It seems to have worked. I actually seem to recall once upon a time someone (hotdog?) saying that the parts should be cooked anyway.

 

[Digler]

Hey SWG, even tho our first encounter didn't go as I planned(friendly), please forgive me again for not understading PayPal's bullshit. I just watched your casting videos. Thank you for doing these, I have a much better understanding of casting. I have casted and made molds for concrete structures and for art,(carpenter). These are not your'e average concrete pours. I have mostly worked on very highend properties here in Vancouver. Waterfalls, pools, jungles, private indoor skating parks,...you get the picture.
With all that said, when you pour concrete, with no bubbles and air pockets we used a vibrater( relax Eddie). Could this possibley work instead of a presure cooker? I'm talking phone vibrating strength. Lay the moulds on a small aluminium plate or something and let it the vibrations push all the bubbles to the surface. Small vibrations like a cell phone. Vibrating works for most types of construction pours. I don't know how these materials would react to vibrations, it might make it worse. Is my theory sound?

 

[starwarsgeek]

Hey SWG, even tho our first encounter didn't go as I planned(friendly), please forgive me again for not understading PayPal's bullshit.

No idea what that means, or who you are... ??

I just watched your casting videos. Thank you for doing these, I have a much better understanding of casting. I have casted and made molds for concrete structures and for art,(carpenter). These are not your'e average concrete pours. I have mostly worked on very highend properties here in Vancouver. Waterfalls, pools, jungles, private indoor skating parks,...you get the picture.
With all that said, when you pour concrete, with no bubbles and air pockets we used a vibrater( relax Eddie). Could this possibley work instead of a presure cooker? I'm talking phone vibrating strength. Lay the moulds on a small aluminium plate or something and let it the vibrations push all the bubbles to the surface. Small vibrations like a cell phone. Vibrating works for most types of construction pours. I don't know how these materials would react to vibrations, it might make it worse. Is my theory sound?

I'm inclined to say no, for one simple fact. When you're doing concrete molds, they are 'open top' molds, i.e. a two dimensional object with a flat back to it, which is the top of the mold - like this:

The vibration causes the bubbles to rise to the top of the mold, which is actually the bottom of the object you are casting, since any detail will be in the bottom of this mold (the top of the finished piece). Bubbles rise, and are popped.

With a silicone mold, at least the way I do it, the entire object is encased in rubber 360 degrees, except for a tiny pour hole the size of the tip of a toothpick. If the vibration causes the bubble to rise, they would still be trapped inside the mold, and cause air bubbles in the back of the head that's being cast.

The pressure pot crushes those bubbles 99%. I do still get some from time to time but for the most part they are eliminated.