Making A 3-Piece Silicone Mold

Casting a Foam Figurine using A 3-Piece Mold
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Unsatisfied with my armless foam casts, I decided to take one more attempt with a slightly different approach. Using a 3-piece mold, I would be able to cast the arm directly into the model so I wouldn’t have to try to attach it later. But wrapping my mind around how to even go about making a 3-piece mold was quite the challenge. Luckily, using Solidworks, I was able to plan the mold in advance. I still wasn’t entirely confident in my approach, so I was pleasantly surprised when I got something that looked like the original. Unfortunately, the down side of a multi-piece mold is that there are seams, and in my case, flashing where material seeped between the different sections of the mold. At this point, I decided to call it quits on the foam casting for the time being to focus my efforts on a more JBV Creative style solution to creating a ‘finished’ version of the figurine. That we will cover in a future video!
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#propmaking #foamprops #molddesign #moldmaking #moldmaker #moldmakingandcasting #3dprinting #3dmodeling #makersgonnamake

[mo_adventures]

The reason why a one piece mold didn’t work most likely has to do with the fact that there is no vent allowing the air in the arm to escape as the foam level rises. Adding a small vent should let the cavity fill without a problem.

[fred]

I don’t know how you come up with these amazing designs. Great work!

[littlesnowflakepunk]

My solution to the arm problem (albeit for a different purpose) was to use a one piece mold and just use a syringe to fill the arm prior to filling the rest of the mold. Alternately, I've also had success using a vacuum chamber to suck the bubbles out of thin sections.

[jetw]

It looks really cool and fun to make it, but I'm still not quite sure what it is for...

[ytuser]

As someone who knows solidworks very well, I am baffled as to how you designed such an abstract shape as that figurine, much less the corresponding mold box with tolerances!

[Merlynswolf]

Hey I’m a mould maker and you can definitely make this in once pice! I’d be happy to give you some tips. Let me know

[dHawk]

Nice work but did you knew that you could place a model in the cura slicer and make a mold by going to the settings and kliking on a setting witch is called mold. Hope this helps 😊

[SianaGearz]

One piece mould looks like the way to go. But you need to give it an air path to evacuate the arm. You should drill a hole in your shell and stick a hypodermic needle through it through to the arm cavity to make a channel in the silicone. You may then need to shorten the needle. The air would be able to make its way through the needle. Ideally you'd achieve a small sprew there that you can just clip off. There is still a lot to go wrong there and trial and error, but fundamentally lack of evacuation is why the arm won't fill, so that's the direction to dig in.

[skateboardingjesus]

A one-piece glove mold with a carefully placed seam split would work perfectly for that. I've used them innumerable times with great success.

[ChiefSmokinWater]

Would love to see how the clay is gonna work!

[mindfireart]

Next time, make registration marks in your molds, so they will fit more snug and you’ll have less/no flashing.

[Pirate_YAR]

The phone looks like the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy with the DONT PANIC in nice friendly big letters

[kd]

Put a vent hole in the arm and injection port in the bottom

[truck]

Where do you get the silicone liquid that you poured to make your mold?

[lover]

What’s the program designer do you use

[Permabull_Moonman]

Look up gating and venting for mold making.

[redjack]

Gonna take a guess without watching the next video: You're using Smooth-on, so you go with their resin that's made for smoothing and coating 3D prints.

[CHSidChou]

good old XTC 3D, i hate working with it tho

[kalvindick]

Make a Breather whole so the airs leaves the arm and it can fill.

[rohanpatel]

can you mold on a surface of a carbon fiber product?