When I first got into casting I basically followed factory guidelines. A mold contains 2 halves. But those are steel injection molds. As my experience has progressed, I have found that maintaining a 50/50 mold split is making for ALOT of extra work because of where the cast line ends up.
We all know how much I hate cast lines. With steel the molds are unforgiving so it has to be a 50/50 split. We are using silicone. which is flexible. We can bend and stretch the mold carefully to remove pieces from the mold that would be impossible with steel. Not only that, by varying the surface contour, we are helping to ensure positive alignment of the mold halves.
These following pictures are the new molds for Homeworlds upcoming Anniversary Edition Crystal Roboid.
This is a sprue mold. The left side would be the bottom of the mold. By being able to bend the mold to aid in the release of the cast piece, I can now cast the holes in the boots so I dont have to manually drill them. I have moved the Mold break line so that it falls on the edges of piece instead of in the middle of the detail. So Detail is no longer affected by sanding. This is HUGE news for me.
Here's a shot of the mating part of the mold. At the top of the mold you see a small channel and at the bottom you see both the vent and spout. We could not do this if these were steel molds
The unconventional mold split also helps to guarantee a perfect mold alignment along with the locators.
Im looking forward to doing this more and more.
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