Benefit of a Smush Mold

I have a post Im working on that goes through the process of creating a Smush Mold.  You have heard me talk of them before.  Great for doing small detailed parts, but with a high err rate if you aren't careful. 

Smush molds have what I call a Detraction Benefit.  The Detraction being the design of the mold is such that resin gets in between the mold halves themselves resulting in extreme flash.  If one takes to long to "Smush" or put the two halves together and the resin has already started to cure, you run the risk of having a cast piece thicker than planned.  If the resin cures too much before putting the molds haves together it can really distort the cast to the point of being useless.  But here is the Detraction Benefit.  Casts have a 3%-5% Shrinkage Rate.  So a 5 mm pin cast will be closer to 3/16" (.187")  5MM=.197"   So it will be too loose for a standard 5 mm hole. 

If I make the mold split down the middle of the 5 mm pin, I can at 180 Degrees apart have the pin slightly bigger than 5mm because of this extra "flash".  With little sanding this can be brought back to a standard 5 mm fit @ 180 degrees.  It wont be perfectly round but that's also another Benefit.  You "Don't" want a perfectly round 5 mm peg.  None of MEGO's pin are a perfect 5mm...you need room for the air to escape or the pin will always push back out when you try to put it in the hole.  It wont seat properly.  With a slightly oval pin this is accomplished.

So in this way, A Smush mold holds some benefit to a Sprue Mold.  But it will come at the cost of some extra sanding.

WITH GREAT SADNESS

This week has not been kind to the Micro community.  Todays banner pic (compliments of Geotroid) is a tribute to my friends and will be up until Im ready to take it down.

After a long battle Chris Jones has passed away.  He was a vibrant and active member in the community.  Another close friend has had a family member pass and a very very dear friend of mine, Bill Jones has also passed away.

Being a friend is probably one of the worst things to be personally.  Because no one but you and your friend know exactly how close you are.  Immediate family usually has no clue and you get left out of the loop.

 Bill Jones was a diamond in the rough.  Billzebub as he comicly played with variations of his name for online ID's.  It was my privilege to have known him. 
The world is darker today.  Bill was a good friend of mine...Bill...You are GREATLY missed.  Take care Buddy! 

BREAKING MICRONAUTS NEWS

Bry just informed me that at the HASBRO investors meeting today that Transformers will be doing a MICRONAUTS crossover.

Currently I cant find any thing on it but it was apparently just announced today.  IF this is true...then I wil gladly say...Its good to be wrong once in a while.  I didn't think it would ever happen.  Especially with Fuktory One sinking Palisades Toys.  Fuktory One was the designation collector gave the factory that produced Series 1 Micronauts.  Yup, I said I would like to see it happen but didn't believe it would.

This could be SO cool.

LEGO VS MEGA BLOCKS

For casting purposes, I use LEGO to make my mold frames.  They are easy to build, they can recreate a mold frame perfectly and can be re used over and over.

NOTE***PLASTIC BREAKS DOWN AT 170 DEGREES F.  STEAM IS CREATED AT 212 F.  "DO NOT" PUT YOUR LEGO THROUGH THE DISHWASHER.  IT WILL WARP.

Seriously.  Some people have done this to clean their LEGO. 

Mega Blocks...yeah.  Mega Blocks are cheaper k/o versions of LEGO.  I do not use them.  In fact I have thrown most of mine in the garbage.  I "DO NOT" recommend using them.  They react with the mold release and the silicone some compounds.  The Mega Blocks plastic breaks down and becomes sticky.  They lose their color as well.  Not to mention they don't hold together even remotely as tight as LEGO.

BUBBLETRON

As most of you either guessed or know, it was me who bought the Bubbletron off Ebay recently.  I haven't seen one on Ebay in 14 years. 

This one has an unpunched card.  It also is loose.  The blister has been lifted on the right side to allow for easy removal.  The chest decal is quite faded.  I would suspect that whatever bubble fluid is inside has been replaced.  Either the fluid leaked out and did the damage to the decal and weakened the card enough to allow the blister to be removed on the one side or someone lifted the blister on the one side and this item is played with. 

Either way, Im happy to have it.  The price was stupid I know.  But I could be dead before another one ever becomes available.  

 

Its pretty faded, but it isn't peeling from the edges. 

Working the Properties of the Mold

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.

MIX WELL...ALWAYS!!!

One thing you will keep hearing at Homeworld is MIX WELL.  First off, I do not use sub standard products for any project.  ALL of Homeworlds Blog Exclusive's are made with fresh stock.  Whats left over I use for customs and commissions.  And then I experiment and have fun with whats left.  Sometimes I dont use it all and I might have 1/4 of a bottle left sitting for a month or two.

Here's what they DONT tell you about the shelf life of a product.  The SHELF LIFE  of a product is directly linked to the AMOUNT LEFT IN THE BOTTLE.   If you have two bottles of the same product one 1/4 full and one that is 3/4's full...the one that is 3/4's full will have a longer shelf life.

I always say that 90% of casting/molding issues can be traced back to ineffective or improper mixing.  I recently found a bottle of the reacting agent for the silicone molds I had forgotten about 3 months ago that was almost 1/3 full.  It was worse than molasses.  Now if I didnt have the pressure pot I wouldnt have tried this because the pressure pot helps force the silicone.  But before I throw something away, I want to be sure its garbage.  This was the perfect opportunity to experiment with.  LETS SEE WHAT THESE PRODUCTS CAN DO!

And I mixed the shit shit out of it.   It looked like it was half cured already.  And I mixed it first in its container by itself and then I mixed it with part B and mixed the shit out of it some more and globbed the silicone into the frame and threw it into the pressure pot. 

I dont care what the outside of the mold looks like.  Just whether or not it made a good mold internally.  And it worked beautifully.  Unfortunately I dont have any pictures just yet...but it proved to me once and for all that mixing is the most important part of casting.

Big Man Toys

I missed the last run at Big Man Toys.  Lee was nice enough to run 1 last cast for me.  BMT in league with Creative Consultant Bryan Wilkinson have created a new figure based on parts from the Micronauts Battle Cruiser.

My ONLY complaint...it isnt articulated.  But Im working on that.  :-)  This is an incredible little guy about 2 1/2".  I asked Lee to send me one right out of the mold.  I suddenly have an urge to paint.  me.  Yes.  You heard that.  I want to paint this guy.  Although I am not sure if I am going to go with the Cosmic Attack Cruiser or the Transfer Fortress colors.  Black and gold doesnt seem to bad either. 

I spent the morning sanding.  Unfortunately I had to sand some detail away, but it still looks great.  Im hoping to paint it tomorrow in between molds.