So i wanna mold my BR im working on.

[MandoMan531]

Hey guys, i want to venture into the world of molding/casting parts. Im working on a BR that i designed to come aparts in to about 5 separate pieces. heres a link to the thread

http://405th.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=10079

near the bottom theres a breakdown of parts. it has a removeable magazine as well and a few "hollow" areas like the scope rail/ammo counter and the magazine socket.

im asking someone with experience in this if it can be done. i see alot of great projects you guys put out and id love to start with this.

also, how sturdy does the original have to be before molding? i made it from 5mm foamcore and hot glue, filled it with Great Stuff expanding foam, and painted on a layer of resin,the final layer will be Bondo and it will be primed (and painted if necessary).

i plan on having the parts assemble with a "peg and socket" system. for example the upper and lower receiver. the lower receiver will have 2 square sockets, one front one rear. the upper receiver will have 2 square pegs to match the sockets, then it will fastened with small flush mount machine screws positioned to simulate real bolts and screws on a true firearm.

 

[Keegan]

OF course you can! I dont see why not!

 

[MandoMan531]

im having trouble understanding how the hollow areas like the barrel channel and magazine slot will mold.

any help?

 

[tubachris85x]

im having trouble understanding how the hollow areas like the barrel channel and magazine slot will mold.

any help?

Well one way that me and another member were planning, was to add the barrel after casting the main body. So just mold the actual body or just the lower reciever. As for where you would load the magazine..Ive yet to really figure that out, because we want our's to be hollow w/ removable clip. This all really depends on how your going to go about molding it.

For us, we are going to be using silicone rubber, so I'd imagine that on your master, you have the magazine area hollow, but with only one opening (all edges completly sealed) and then when pouring the silicone, fill the hollow portion with it, so once its all cured, you will have a large squarish block of silicone, but that would just be a waste in terms of the amount of silicone used.

However, we are going to make a two part mold (two halfs) and combine the two together. Either cast in fiberglass or alternative methods. What did you have in mind for casting? That will also depend on how you want to mold it

 

[MandoMan531]

well for the mold i was planning silicone as it seems *relatively* easy. if you look at the link i posted to my Battle Rifle WIP thread at the bottom you can see the pic with all the peices separated. i plan on molding each individual peice, MAYBE the upper/lower receiver molded together. maybe resin cast? fiberglass may be too difficult to work with.

 

[tubachris85x]

well for the mold i was planning silicone as it seems *relatively* easy. if you look at the link i posted to my Battle Rifle WIP thread at the bottom you can see the pic with all the peices separated. i plan on molding each individual peice, MAYBE the upper/lower receiver molded together. maybe resin cast? fiberglass may be too difficult to work with.

Hmm..making each piece seperatly will either be good or bad. I honestly dont know. If I had to resin cast, then I'd make a 2 part mold for each piece, and cast as it should, but the forward rails, thats always going to be a problem, becuase I think that even if you cast that in resin, that it will be too thin and brittle.

Bah, if the BR didnt have the duel rails on top, the casting methods would be much easier. But if you had a mill capable of machining solid aluminum, I think that would be no problem.

The only reasont that we are going to go the fiberglass route is to make the inside hollow to add *special features* but thats far in the future..

 

[MandoMan531]

well. i can probably cast the tac computer/ammo counter and the forward peice the rails attach to and cut the actual rails from 1/8th inch aluminum. actually now that i thik about it, itd probably be really easy. hardest part will be cutting the aluminum.

 

[tubachris85x]

I just thought of it, instead of trying to mold the forward duel rails as one solid piece, try to cast them as two seperate pieces that you would put together for construction. Cut it length wise, down the middle that is

 

[Harris007]

cant you just put it in silicon rubber so you can get a mold for half the gun. then you can do the same on the other side and piece both parts together. im pretty sure thats how adam makes his rifles

 

[LastSpartan]

cant you just put it in silicon rubber so you can get a mold for half the gun. then you can do the same on the other side and piece both parts together. im pretty sure thats how adam makes his rifles

That was 1 year ago. I'm sure he found a solution

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