NickJ Posted June 22, 2019 Share Posted June 22, 2019 Gave it a hoon today, made a mould with plaster of paris, heated it to 150C then poured in lead free solder. Only issue is the detail didn't come out. Mould not warm enough/too warm? the left overs that I poured into a piece of aluminium had full detail so thinking to try again cold. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kimjon Posted June 22, 2019 Author Share Posted June 22, 2019 2 hours ago, NickJ said: Gave it a hoon today, made a mould with plaster of paris, heated it to 150C then poured in lead free solder. Only issue is the detail didn't come out. Mould not warm enough/too warm? the left overs that I poured into a piece of aluminium had full detail so thinking to try again cold. Not sure what went wrong there? I played around and did a YKK zip using cuttlefish again, as it had fine boarder and writing on it and it came out perfect. Maybe silicone would be better for your sized application. Link: https://www.smooth-on.com/products/mold-max-60/ Cool thing is you can melt it and try it again. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickJ Posted June 23, 2019 Share Posted June 23, 2019 Had another go this afternoon... After many attempts and mould redesign, this was the best. With the part standing vertically in the mould on the left edge, the first half is perfect and the top turns to crud. Worked it out to be the metal cooling fast during pouring as I only have 80g in the pot, more metal, more thermal mass. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kimjon Posted June 23, 2019 Author Share Posted June 23, 2019 41 minutes ago, NickJ said: Had another go this afternoon... After many attempts and mould redesign, this was the best. With the part standing vertically in the mould on the left edge, the first half is perfect and the top turns to crud. Worked it out to be the metal cooling fast during pouring as I only have 80g in the pot, more metal, more thermal mass. Looking much better and showing potential. Do you have vents to aid fluid flow? Hard to see on my photos but I have 8x needle sized vents (4 on each half) cut into the mold to help the air escape as the metal goes in. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokin'joe Posted June 23, 2019 Share Posted June 23, 2019 1 hour ago, NickJ said: Had another go this afternoon... After many attempts and mould redesign, this was the best. With the part standing vertically in the mould on the left edge, the first half is perfect and the top turns to crud. Worked it out to be the metal cooling fast during pouring as I only have 80g in the pot, more metal, more thermal mass. maybe try it as a flat single-sided mould ? ... the same way pendant sinkers are made Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickJ Posted June 23, 2019 Share Posted June 23, 2019 Yeah, 2 vents at the top. Can see the intended pour and vent, I thought gas would get trapped in the small point. Turned out that got blocked from gas and general bubbling away, couldn't fill quick no matter how hot I got the mould. So I opened the vent up and used it as the fill point and the original fill as the vent, that worked perfect, couldn't pour fast enough and little to no bubbling. Apologies if my terms are incorrect, I'm pretty much just working this out as I go! Small pin holes is a good idea and makes sense now I have had a play, this shape seems happy, but it is a concern on the next badge in line. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickJ Posted June 23, 2019 Share Posted June 23, 2019 1 minute ago, smokin'joe said: maybe try it as a flat single-sided mould ? ... the same way pendant sinkers are made That was round 1, I changed to this design to see if that gave more "pressure" in the mould Also the next badge I really want to copy is much larger and to my current observations won't quite work this way. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post NickJ Posted October 4, 2019 Popular Post Share Posted October 4, 2019 Had another play this evening, started the moulds last weekend and baked them out for 24 hours. Also gave the plaster a few more days before opening up, retained a bit more detail than before. Solder poured much easier and I really should have poured faster, the area around the 1 is just starting to show signs of cooling off. 11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kimjon Posted October 5, 2019 Author Share Posted October 5, 2019 Fuck yeah...you nailed it! That's about as good as you'd ever expect to get. Nice work. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickJ Posted October 5, 2019 Share Posted October 5, 2019 Cheers! But... I'm in the situation where each pour is superior than the previous that I can't help wanting to try once more. Tis a terrible cycle. And I now feel I should work out a furnace to melt Ali and give that a hoon. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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