Split Mould Casting Technique

[mangozac]

[blind pig]

Great tutorial Mangozac!

I should PM you more often when you're drunk at 1am.

Split moulds are my prefered method of casting for ease of manufature. Other companies - such as Forgeworld - use split mould for a great deal of their casting, for the reasons you state.

FW use split moulds for quite large model parts, including Reaver Titan legs!

Here is a pic of the backpacks from the FW ORK KOMMANDO CONVERSION SET. As you can see, they use the same process as above for *very* detailed items. The overall length of the casting is a bit under 120mm.

[Kennui]

Now i know why FW stuff have such huge tabs which seem like a waste of resin.

I popped into barnes the other day, lady was busy with others so i didnt have a chat but saw some cool stuff. Like FOAM!

Foam looks like a ton of fun. Foam marines. Yummmmmm.

Or in your case, foam plasma pistol.

[blind pig]

[josh76]

Hi mangozac

I found this guide and have been playing around with split moulds for the last few days.

Previously I'd been making 2 part moulds with pinkysil and only had limited success, there would be a lot work to do once id poured and a substantial amount of resin/pinky wasted, also really severe flashing.

I've found the split moulds to work incredibly well, especially with no pressure/vacuum (something i may progress in to in the future).

Initially I had some air bubble problems due to the relatively small openings, i tried using the technique you described of squeezing the mould to try and fill the cavity but still had some issues. Then I had the thought of needling out these bubbles, essentially just sticking a needle in to the cavity to get it fulled up and it worked really well. For the first time I have two pours that I can use everything on. Very pleasing.

Thanks for the great explanation.

Cheers
Josh.

[mangozac]

Hi Josh, congratulations on being our 100th member! Thankyou for giving such great feedback, it's really great to hear that people are finding this site to useful and improving their skills.

I'm not sure I quite follow you on this "needling" technique. Any chance you could elaborate a bit more? Would it be possible to see pictures of your results?

[amphoterik]

I made a split mold based on this tutorial, and was gonna send pictures of my results. Unfortunately, my results came out horrible. A little more practice I think.

[mangozac]

What went wrong? The mould or the cast? It would still be educational if you could share pics anyway...

[amphoterik]

Well, the problem is twofold. The first is that I failed to make a cut along the molded object, but beside it. This has resulted in problem 2: air bubbles like crazy. I haven't given up on the mold yet, I just am practicing with it to see what I can do better.

I will see about pictures a little later.

[factor40]

Is it possible to get some insight as to how your example would apply to making a mold of, say, 5 guns? My question is...how do you deal withe the silicone that is in between each piece?

[mangozac]

[factor40]

Ah...no need for a drawing, the light just went on

[Seb]

Great tute Zac, clearly you've come back from your trip refreshed

I should get back into basic level casting again, have several ideas that really are best suited to reproduction of key parts.

Bookmarked!
Seb.

[mangozac]

Haha you know this tute is about 7 months old now Seb? No matter

You know if you do need any odd parts reproduced drop me a line and I can sort you out!

[Seb]

Aargh!.. seven months?

Was browsing 'New Posts', this must have been one I missed from my big catch up session a while back.

Looks like I need a holiday then. I'll get my bags.

- Seb.