OT: Molding

[icor1031]

Not related to my other thread.

How do you create a mold? For explanation, let's say that you have a dinner table leg.

You want to create two molds.
One, you can pour some sort of plastic into.
Two, you can pour molten metal into.

How do you do it? And, how do you remove the table leg from the mold, so you can use the mold?

Thanks!

[Whitneyville1]

Most resin molds are made from RTV molding compounds, then filled with resins like Alumilite. Most metal molds are sand molds. These work well for aluminum, zinc, iron and steel, although they require some finishing on the surface. You can get alot more information on resin casting at www. micro-mark.com.

[ROTECH]

In nearly every application the mold will be 2 pieces. Just using your table leg example, you can do many plaster mold methods. I have only done one like this and the results were mediocre because I was impatient.

In your last thread I mentioned foam. Some foams hold a shape perfectly when the part is pressed into them. Then cover the impression with anything such as tinfoil and pour in the material. The hard part is taking your time with the original master form. After that step the rest is up to the craftsman. I'm sure a few goof google searches and you can get much better info though.

[MGrant1957]

If you are looking for casting it with less machining/sanding you could try a somewhat more complicated method like Investment Casting. Lot of work to set it up properly, but the more parts you make, the cheaper they get.

[benchtester]

You might find this site interesting.

http://www.douglasandsturgess.com/

Particularly the book section:

http://www.douglasandsturgess.com/mm...BOOKSDVD-BOOKS