Which Smooth-On Product To Use?

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Boba Fett

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I want to harden my pep pieces with smooth-on resin, but not sure which one to use. 385? 300? or smooth-cast roto? I'm not sure. I got in big trouble yeterday because I used fiberglass resin... I brought it into the house before it was 100% oder-free, and my mom pitched a fit. She has a VERY sensitive nose. So I need to get non-toxic stuff, to prevent dying. Thanks!
 
Either Smooth-Cast 300 or 320 will do. Both are almost the exact same, but the Smooth-cast 320 addapts to so-strong tint (the tint Adam uses) and any other compatable tint better then the Smooth-cast 300.



Both are a joy to work with, just don't get it on your skin. Its not always fun to attempt to scrub off.



Good luck!
 
AS far as I know. More along the lines of a liquid plastic. And 1 more question I have, I found Mold-star 15 from Smooth-on. Extremely cheap at 15gallons for $160 or so. Now, is this a good mold-material? I wanted to mold a set of reach armor for myself, but rebound is like $170 a gallon. Has anyone used the stuff? Using this, I could drastically reduce my cost. I'm not worried about getting perfect quality, I in fact planned to use sillicone caulk as a mold, since I want to get maybe 2 pulls. But this stuff... very cheap, and I should be able to do the entire set of armor in 15 gallons. Not a big guy I am... 5'5", 130 lbs. Worth it? Thanks for the help!
 
So it can be used as normal resin? For example, I could use this stuff on both the inside and outside of a piece to strengthen it? how does paper react to it?
 
you just roto it on the inside you wont have to do any thing on the outside the paper acts like a one time mold



cqb was done useing just casting resin (smooth cast 300)



photo-13.jpg
 
i suggest investing in two things: any of the smoothcast 300series and the foam-it (not flex foam it) expanding foam

these two really compliment each other as to the fact that this actually makes things cheaper by having to use less.

the plastic for the nice clean finish and the foam for the support
 
That helmet is very pretty. Did you cut out the faceplate after you used the smooth-on.

Has the paper been sanded away, or is that helmet already bondoed and sanded?
 
Hurtwm said:
What exactly is this stuff? Is it like normal Resin?

it's a bit stronger than ordinary resin. it's like liquid plastic
 
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Well, I think it will work for hard objects

but like in the description says, It wont work with clay



BTW

its not 15 gallons for 160, its only 1 so it will be pretty much the same as rebound
 
Boba Fett said:
AS far as I know. More along the lines of a liquid plastic. And 1 more question I have, I found Mold-star 15 from Smooth-on. Extremely cheap at 15gallons for $160 or so. Now, is this a good mold-material? I wanted to mold a set of reach armor for myself, but rebound is like $170 a gallon. Has anyone used the stuff? Using this, I could drastically reduce my cost. I'm not worried about getting perfect quality, I in fact planned to use sillicone caulk as a mold, since I want to get maybe 2 pulls. But this stuff... very cheap, and I should be able to do the entire set of armor in 15 gallons. Not a big guy I am... 5'5", 130 lbs. Worth it? Thanks for the help!



That product is NOT 15 gallons for $160. it is a 1 gallon kit of mold star 15. A 1 gallon kit of any product on smooth-on's website which is a 1:1 mix ratio, will give you 2 gallons of finished product. ( 1 gallon of part A, 1 gallon of part B ) So this product is only fractionally less expensive than rebound25.



Any quality mold making product is not going to be cheap. So if that is how you classify a "good" mold making material, you may want to try something else.
 
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cgspartan said:
That product is NOT 15 gallons for $160. it is a 1 gallon kit of mold star 15. A 1 gallon kit of any product on smooth-on's website which is a 1:1 mix ratio, will give you 2 gallons of finished product. ( 1 gallon of part A, 1 gallon of part B ) So this product is only fractionally less expensive than rebound25.



Any quality mold making product is not going to be cheap. So if that is how you classify a "good" mold making material, you may want to try something else.



Ok, I thought it too good to be true, but just wondering. It's just when I clicked, "buy online" it showed a result for a 15 gallon kit that costs 160. Must be 160 to the gallon... Rebound 25 is the way to go then, I presume. And no, I'm not trying to be a total cheapskate, I just thought that if it was that insanely inexpensive, it would be worth the reduction in quality. However, since I'm now being regulated to using smooth-on as my only source of hardening pep, molding is starting to become a less-attractive idea. Besides, I'm 16 and still a ways to grow as of yet. Thanks for the responses all! You really helped me out on this.



EDIT: the only reason I thought it could have bee a 15 kit for 160 is because of this: http://www.smooth-on.com/Mold-Star=-Silic/c1341/index.html?catdepth=1 must be a typo or something, cause rebound also weighs 18 lbs to the gallon.
 
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Boba Fett said:
EDIT: the only reason I thought it could have bee a 15 kit for 160 is because of this: http://www.smooth-on...html?catdepth=1 must be a typo or something, cause rebound also weighs 18 lbs to the gallon.

It's not a typo, you are reading it wrong. Notice the dash between "15" and "gallon". Take a look at the difference between the two ways of writing below:



"Mold Star 15" gallon unit.

"Mold Star" 15 gallon unit.



Smooth On means the first one, the number 15 describes the silicones hardness.



Edit: Here's a good visual for the hardness scale. Mold Star 15 is Shore 15A.



Hardnessscale.jpg
 
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Hurtwm said:
That helmet is very pretty. Did you cut out the faceplate after you used the smooth-on.

Has the paper been sanded away, or is that helmet already bondoed and sanded?



Yeah the faceplate was cut after i used smooth cast 300 you can do it both ways but both have the pros an cons...the paper was just sanded away i have never been able to peal it away some have i havent but the helmet has a light standing an a light about of bondo i say there was more time cutting and folding then sanding an bondoing



EDIT: heres a picture of what it looks right after roto casting it works great on the hayabusa



photo-3.jpg
 
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Mold star 15 is a 1 gallon unit. There are some pros and cons. It does not need to be vacuum degassed, which saves money on a pressure vessel and a vacuum pump which can be very expensive. The downside is the pot life and demold time. Demold time is 16 hours. It is suitable for box molds, but is not feasible for making a glove mold. I have worked with dragon skin 10 and its the same price as rebound 25, and its phenomenal stuff. Can't speak for Rebound, I will know in a week when it get here though! The nice thing about dragon skin is that you have more options when it comes to cure times, it is a lot faster. This can be tough when using the fast stuff when doing print layers because it has a tendency to hold small bubbles. Small batches make it easier. I really love the stuff, its great. The nice thing about rebound is that its a brush on mold, it has a slower pot life and demold time, but it is still workable on vertical surface etc. If you check out the smooth-on website, they have some great videos that help you figure out what you want to use.
 
Spartan 051 said:
Yeah the faceplate was cut after i used smooth cast 300 you can do it both ways but both have the pros an cons...the paper was just sanded away i have never been able to peal it away some have i havent but the helmet has a light standing an a light about of bondo i say there was more time cutting and folding then sanding an bondoing



EDIT: heres a picture of what it looks right after roto casting it works great on the hayabusa



photo-3.jpg



Thats incredible. I am definitely going to try this on an ODST helmet. Thanks for the help.

What do you use for gluing your peps? In other words, will the smooth-on dissolve normal white glue and super glue?
 
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i use super glue mainly out of habit just what ive been using im not sure if normal pva glue because of the heat



then a side note smooth cast doesnt stick to hotglue i have spent many hours sanding and finding hotglue that i had to pull out an refill
 
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