Lab July 31, 2019

This week we learned about molding and casting. We watched a quick demo on how to create a mold of an object using a two part silicone material, and then cast it using powdered plaster mixed with a little bit of water. We also were given a tutorial on how to create actuators using a sewing machine.

The Mold

Making my mold was a pretty simple process.It took a little less than twenty minutes to make but did create a few problems here and there. The first thing I had to do was settle on what I wanted to make a mold for. At first I was going to use the cap of an old perfume bottle that had a nice flower design on it, but unfortunately it was a little big. Instead I decided to use on of my rings that had a shape design on it. The next step was to figure out how I was going to place my ring to make the mold. I couldn't just lay it flat at the bottom of a cup because the whole ring wouldn't translate correctly, so I decided to use of of Rob's tricks. I took some string and tied one side around my ring and the other around a popsicle stick. I then placed the popsicle stick on the top of the cup so that my ring would be suspended about halfway up my tiny cup. Next I mixed the two parts of silicone and started to fill, but this proved more tedious than it probably should have been. In an attempt to conserve the molding materials I continously made too little silicone, and had to remake the molding material at least three times. I also managed to get quite a bit of airbubbles into the mold, but most seemed to pop at some point in the pouring process. Afterwards all that was left was to wait.

The Product

As easy as I thought the mold making process was it turns out getting a nice clean product wasn't as simple as I thought it would be. When my mold had finished setting I came across a very big issue. How was I supposed to cut out my ring without damaging the mold? The answer? I couldn't. I ended up cutting the mold into two parts and tried to use it as if it was a two piece mold, but my end product left much to be desired... The ring ended up being way too thin and delicate, and because of this couldn't be removed from the mold without it breaking.

Round 2

After my first initial failure I decided to go back to the perfume bottle cap I originally wanted to make a mold of. I repeated the mold making process, but I tried to use a weighted cup to keep the cap from floating up. This only somewhat worked, but the mold came out okay so I moved on. I managed to cut out the cap without completely destroying my mold and poured in the plaster. The final product was kind of succesful? The flowers on the cap came out really well, but the shape was a little off. It also had a few cracks and holes, but I think for the most part, especially when compared to my first try, this was a success.

I also finally got my Miami Beach Sign to 3D print successfully: