Mould for resin help

[Vapaneezer Scrooge]

So I'm trying to make resin panels for Billet box and other mods, the billet box is the trickiest due to the recesses.

I've just attempted to make my own from clear silicone, cornflower and food colouring and it didn't got too well!

Apart from quite a messy process the mould I ended up with just wasn't good enough due to the tight tolerances.

Any ideas? I had thought of getting one CNC machined but I don't know what material to use that the resin won't stick to.

 

[mattc1]

Hi bud, you can make a mould out of most hard plastics, metal, but add wax, a tinny bit to the mould before you start

 

[vapesmarter]

You would need the right resin but resin needs not to react with the mould most resins that won’t (shatter if you drop them) are moisture sensitive then you have the problem of air bubbles plus resin is cured via an exothermic reaction so they could warp, I’ve made many many doors they are very labour intensive

plus billets in general vary by about 0.25mm which is another problem

then magnets

curved or flat doors

on and on it goes….

 

["Misfit"]

Is it not spelled Mold ?

 

[Vapaneezer Scrooge]

Is it not spelled Mold ?

Only if you're American, Mold is just American spellings for the word mould, the actual word has the 2 different meanings.

 

[Vapaneezer Scrooge]

Hi bud, you can make a mould out of most hard plastics, metal, but add wax, a tinny bit to the mould before you start

That's something I can try without blowing money on a CNC mould, plenty of objects around the house & shed to test, I will need to find a thin spray on wax or release agent, thanks for the idea.

You would need the right resin but resin needs not to react with the mould most resins that won’t (shatter if you drop them) are moisture sensitive then you have the problem of air bubbles plus resin is cured via an exothermic reaction so they could warp, I’ve made many many doors they are very labour intensive

plus billets in general vary by about 0.25mm which is another problem

then magnets

curved or flat doors

on and on it goes….

Thanks for answering, I figured if anybody on here knew about resin it would be yourself.

I'm just using regular 1:1 art epoxy resin and I hadn't even considered how brittle it could be at 3 - 4mm.

I have kind of nailed the BB door size and magnets with my latest 3D printed panels but curved doors are out of my reach for either 3D printing (curves look awful) or resin pouring, air bubbles are easy enough to torch out on thin items

It all went tits up with moulding due to the tolerances, the internal recesses and fire button hole worked well but the magnet holes and the outer profile were the problem.

I think you've nailed it by saying "labour intensive" but I'm going to try a bit more as I've invested so much time already and bought a ruck of resin related stuff, worst case scenario is I go back to printed panels with a resin coat on top.

Thanks for the brain fodder.

 

[Deleted member 54254]

Tried molding rubber with a release agent on the part?

 

[Vapaneezer Scrooge]

Tried molding rubber with a release agent on the part?

Funny enough I was just watching some vids on release agents, WD-40 might just work

 

[Deleted member 54254]

Nah, just buy the proper stuff

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_...ics&store_cat=0&store_name=dwrplastics&_oac=1

 

[Deleted member 54254]

I used their gear when I did the button castings for some mechs.