Author:  Created:  Rating: SCSPIEKER Sep. 10, 2001, 11:24AM   0 Ratings     12345     Molding is a fairly simple process, but when it comes time to actually making a mold, some fore thought and planning will go a very long way. For example, I had wanted to make a mold of a Roman piece that was formed from the Hirst Arts Roman Temple Mold. This piece used a number of parts and each assembly would require the mold being cast four or more times along with time to sand and assemble and wait for glue to dry. I find if I can reduce the amount of molding and assembly by 75% for a repeat item I will go and make a mold of the assembly or multiples of a single piece. In the example here, I had made a base for a statue. I had assembled the base as described and made certain that the pieces were as well cast as they could have been. The chance for obvious voids would be greatly exagerated by the lack of surface features. The bottom of the subject was sanded very smooth to insure that the material would not be able to seep under it very much. The mold was made and a perfect duplication was created. When I tested the mold I had found a very strange thing had happened. The test part came out with a number of voids in the smooth surface. The problem was that the cavity was to deep for even tapping to remove the air-bubbles. The material first poured into the cavity was held down by the material above. The solution was to pour the mold in stages. I would pour the material into the mold to form the 'top' (since the part is upside down...) of the part. I would then tap the mold with the scraper pretty hard down near the bottom, releasing the air-bubbles on the top. I then poured the next layer of material into the mold and tapped again more vigorously. I poured the final amount of material and tapped harder still. The bubbles were released and a perfect part was removed from the mold in a single piece. Since this mold, I have made a number of smaller pieces with the same type of construction, however, I broken down the assembly into several pieces - the base, the mid section, and the top. Each was no more than 1.25" thick, so the tapping would allow the air bubbles to escape. Scott SCSPIEKER - Fun gaming information and links  Public Comments Please log in to post a comment    You must be a registered member to post comments. You may sign-in Here.

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