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Hi all was wondering if anyone on here knows what exact materials are used to make hard composite molds for open pours. I've used silicons and they work great but wanted to try making some composite hard molds like the ones made by a Ukraine company on eBay. That's  

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18 hours ago, CNC Molds N Stuff said:

I believe those are  CNC machined out of a countertop material similar to Corian.  

 

Have another question is their a brand that’s inexpensive that you might know about. I’ve seen some composite molds being sold for a very low price way cheaper than silicone molds. I’ve seen a company called moose ridge molds selling some composite molds and their super cheap and was hoping to find out what type of materials was used to make those. 

 

Thank you. 

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The raw material of stone mold should be epoxy resin added with marble powder and yes, the oversize of raw mold is machined by a CNC machine to obtain the thinest details.

In Germany, some guys are realizing molds in corian with CNC machine and 3D printers, too.

On the base of my personal experience the epoxy resin sometimes can dissolve a soft bait while you are trying to clone it.

I really prefer the RTV2 silicone and with right insert and wall thickness you can obtain a stiff injectable 2 halves mold.

Bye

 

Cami

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12 hours ago, Bass-Boys said:

Bob, Have you ever tested cutting any of that material with your CNC ?

 

Nope.  I sure haven't.   I've cut a few other synthetics like acetal, hdpe, peek, phenolic, G10, polycarbonate, and both cast and extruded acrylic,  etc, but no synthetic countertop material.  I would expect you can take a lot of depth of cut with it, but still the bulk of the cost of a machined mold is machine time.  I've stuck with aluminum because it just works.  If I sell a few less that's ok.  I don't have to worry about a chemical reaction or heat tolerance causing issues... well except for the guys casting tin pewter.  That does tend to stick to aluminum a bit.  I tell them at the very least they need to keep a good coat of graphite in the mold, but...  

 

 

Edited by CNC Molds N Stuff
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On 6/6/2018 at 5:16 PM, OIR said:

made a terst run of a stone mole..but too many ribs make it vulnerable

fail2.JPG.a160684324794764cfdbd701f0732bd7.JPG

 

but made a copi of the top and took 5 shots of plastisol..works okfail1.thumb.JPG.0434318d78ffe7a26ebf686544b8bc62.JPG

This another awesome mold what brand of materials did you use to make the stone mold also the what type of materials or brands was used to make the blue and clear/white mold and process. Sorry for all the questions but this is exactly what I've been looking for and ines again they are amazing how great they look. 

 

Thank you you very much for sharing 

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well the white mold is from ebay ...the blue is leftover silicone

the clear is epoxy

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Soft-Plastic-Lure-Mold-Bait-DIY-Do-It-Moxi-Authent-X-Grub-Twister-Worm-Fishing/192315222466?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&var=492260024013&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/The-Ultimate-Crystal-Clear-Cast-Resin-2-Kg-Epoxy-Resin-1-Harder-Transparent/222885311224?hash=item33e4fff2f8:g:SxgAAOSwxo9aqoRE

 

but im on it..

Aluminium oxide powder + epoxy

IMG_0227.JPG.958aaeda740d4082576cbbdcaa678619.JPG

the first clear one is now stone hard..so in 4-5 days time I can test run the white one..its more simpel.

but I think I can copy the ribber one if I use vaseline and not som liquid wax

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I think Smooth-On makes some aluminum filled resins...  I've been interested in them but the cost sq/in vs. other materials isn't even close to being reasonable unless you only want to  make 1 mold and/or back fill most of the mold with something more cost effective.

 

I machine molds from Urethane Resin - Freeman 5169/5179 Foundry Tooling Board - used for making thermofom molds/stuff like that.  It works reasonably well... but can/will distort from heat as it gets hot.... so you really need to clamp it well.  Advantage is as Bob alluded to... you can machine it very easily - even a novice like myself can cut thin ribbed/detailed parts with really small mills and get nice results without breaking tools.... no flood or coolant to mess with and you can take some deep cuts with a small machine  (TAIG) compared to aluminum.  I wouldn't recommend for production as with any resin mold - much longer to cool down and the clamping issue... but it's somewhat reasonable cost wise compared to aluminum.  Perfect for a hobbyist/novice machinist. (And I use machinist lightly!! LOL!)

 

Real interested to see hear how the epoxy/aluminum combo works... if it can pull heat from the pour quick - that would be nice - as it's the one negative of the resin based (2 part) molds I hate.

 J.

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tail.thumb.JPG.96077453df33d4ec5e0f766e09ad35a9.JPG

 

made 6 molds.

4 molds made out of  100G epoxy + 50g Aluminium oxide powder

2 mold made of just 130g epoxy

the 2 molds of pure epoxy was just...bad

but.. the 4 Aluminium oxide works great.

I see if I get the time to test em more...and if it works I post how to in  Homebrew Tools.

(and yes it pull heat from the pour quick)

 

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On 5/31/2018 at 5:14 PM, Joelh831 said:

Hi all was wondering if anyone on here knows what exact materials are used to make hard composite molds for open pours. I've used silicons and they work great but wanted to try making some composite hard molds like the ones made by a Ukraine company on eBay. That's  

I use Hydrocal, a powdered plaster that is WAY less expensive than hard, mold-making silcone. It's 3-5 times harder than plaster of paris, and brushing on two coats of glaze gave me a very glossy surface that releases well. Hydrocal is a bit tricky to mix, but if you search for it on YouTube, there are two EXCELLENT how-to videos on the process. (Follow it to the letter!) Bags of 5 lbs. to 25 lbs. are widely available on amazon.com; my first 5-lb. bag cost me just $15. Hope this helps

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