Sillicone Molding?

[Boba Fett]

Ok, screwing around the other night, I tested out silicone caulk as a molding material. Worked pretty good for me. Putting the acrylic paint away, an insane idea struck me. I mixed up another small batch, and applied it to the latex glove I was wearing. After it dried, (was pretty sloppy, a test) it came out pretty good. Flexible, yet strong enough for me. Then I laid it out on a sheet of plastic, and spread it out. I have this flat sheet of silicone. Now, I was wondering, is there any way to MOLD silicone? I was thinking of using it to detail my Emile reach undersuit. I thought if I cut the layers, I could make simple details. But how about more complicated stuff? This is a too-up between soft armor and molding, but it's molding specific, so hey, what the heck. I know I couldn't make an entire undersuit from it, but layering it on top of long-johns or something? Just an idea... and for some reason, I find this stuff really cool!

 

[Nintendude]

The only way I can think to do it is to make a negative clay mold and put the silicone into that to create the suit pieces.

 

[Brandon McClain]

If I understood right, you want use your silicon as a master, and find a way to cast it. If that is the case then yes. If you want to use the silicon as the medium for your pulls, then you can use smoothcast as a mold, and do pulls from that. If you want to do something like flex foam as the casting medium, and have a mold that is silicon, you can use sonite wax and release agent to mold silicon over silicon. It is the same principle as making a two sided box mold. Smooth on has some great video tutorials for doing simple box molds you may want to check out. Hope that makes sense...

 

[Boba Fett]

Kinda right... I wasn't clear. I'm open to using pretty much anything for molds, but I want to CAST it in sillicone. Like those pieces on the lower back of the spartan 3's in reach? So it can flex? That's what I'm going for. And @ Nintendude: good idea. I'll try it out.

 

[Lonewolf Armorer]

The only problem I can see you running into is that silicone caulking cures differently than molding/casting silicone. Silicon caulking is an air drying cure where as molding/casting silicone's use chemicals to induce curing. What this means is that in a think enough piece cast in caulking the center would not cure. I'm not saying it can't be done it will just take a little playing around.

 

[project phoenix]

could someone direct me to some molding stickies please? thank you in advance!

 

[Boba Fett]

Acrylic paints helps it react, but yeah, I was planning on getting 1 relatively thin layer in there (with more paint for coloration) then filling it with layers of caulk, with less paint. Now, is there anyway to make a silicone to silicone mold? and any ideas on how to make a mold besides clay?



EDIT: go here, phoenix.

http://405th.com/forums/index.php?s...62&hl=master cheeze&fromsearch=1&#entry382462

 

[cgspartan]

you could always just go with a different kind of rubber. A tin cure silicon or a urethane rubber would work fine for suit accessories. You don't always need to go for the most expensive choice. (if you do urethane rubber though, make sure to use their uv resistant additive to keep it from discoloring in the sun over time)



Most tin cure silicons and urethane rubbers are on average 80-100 from smoothon for a gallon kit (that's 1 gallon of partA + 1 gallon of partB = 2 gallons total)



most silicon caulking is roughly 3-5 dollars per tube. And are 10-12 ounces in a tube, meaning that it takes up to 10-13 tubes to make a single gallon.

And 20-26 to make the same amount as a gallon kit of a 1:1 mix silicon or urethane from smooth-on.



What am I getting at here?

That silicon caulking can be anywhere from 75 to 130 dollars for 2 gallons, or you can spend the exact same amount or less on a urethane rubber or tin silicon from smooth-on and get a MUCH higher quality end product.

 

[ShadoKat]

I have a similar question... I want to use rubber for the sole of a custom boot. I was planning on sculpting it from clay, then making a box mold and casting it in rubber. I just ordered a gallon kit of Rebound 25 for other projects and was thinking of using it for both the mold and the cast. Probably not the best idea, but I don't have the funds for a more suitable casting rubber at the moment. Will Sonite wax or some other release agent be sufficient, or is this just a terrible idea in general? One of the reasons for this is that I don't want the Rebound to "go bad" if I have too much left over. Anyone have a general idea of the shelf life of this stuff?

 

[beaker]

I have a similar question... I want to use rubber for the sole of a custom boot. I was planning on sculpting it from clay, then making a box mold and casting it in rubber. I just ordered a gallon kit of Rebound 25 for other projects and was thinking of using it for both the mold and the cast. Probably not the best idea, but I don't have the funds for a more suitable casting rubber at the moment. Will Sonite wax or some other release agent be sufficient, or is this just a terrible idea in general? One of the reasons for this is that I don't want the Rebound to "go bad" if I have too much left over. Anyone have a general idea of the shelf life of this stuff?

First Rebound will not flow inside a mold cavity, simply to high a viscosity... as long as you seal your original with Krylon Crystal Clear you don't need a release from the model... to release silicone on silicone (plat to plat OR tin to tin) we recommend ease release 200... you could cast vytaflex 60 into the rebound mold without a release... good rubber with high abrasion resistance for shoe soles (though production shoe soles use a much different type of rubber as an FYI)...

Rebound has a 1 year shelf life unopened, once you open it we cannot guess what it might be because of factors beyond our control...

 

[beaker]

you could always just go with a different kind of rubber. A tin cure silicon or a urethane rubber would work fine for suit accessories. You don't always need to go for the most expensive choice. (if you do urethane rubber though, make sure to use their uv resistant additive to keep it from discoloring in the sun over time)



Most tin cure silicons and urethane rubbers are on average 80-100 from smoothon for a gallon kit (that's 1 gallon of partA + 1 gallon of partB = 2 gallons total)



most silicon caulking is roughly 3-5 dollars per tube. And are 10-12 ounces in a tube, meaning that it takes up to 10-13 tubes to make a single gallon.

And 20-26 to make the same amount as a gallon kit of a 1:1 mix silicon or urethane from smooth-on.



What am I getting at here?

That silicon caulking can be anywhere from 75 to 130 dollars for 2 gallons, or you can spend the exact same amount or less on a urethane rubber or tin silicon from smooth-on and get a MUCH higher quality end product.

good quote! Another thing to remember, tin silicone is usually a 1:10 mix ratio by weight (oomoo being an exception) so a gallon kit usually yeilds 12 pounds of material... plat silicones usually is a 1:1 mix ratio so something like a gallon kit of mold star 15 actually gives you 18 pounds of material so is the $60 more for the plat make up for the extra 6 pounds of material? that is a question you can decide... personally the easy mix ratio (1:1 by volume as opposed to mixing by weight) Mold Star has a library life about 3x that of tin and the fact it does not need to be vacuumed make it a nice choice in my books BUT I understand budgets that is why I say you can make the call... 1 part silicone caulk is not a great choice, it can make voids in the mold simply because of it's inability to flow properly and as you pointed out NOT really cost effective in the long run... just my 2 cents...