Molding and Casting:
What is molding and Casting and how it works.
What is molding and Casting and how it works.
Some references about the "Rubber Foot" I want to create for my project.
Molding and Casting is the process of creating a mold from a 3D model or a physical object, and then casting it with certain material to make copies of it, or to reply the model. I found this definition from the guys of Smooth-On that defines it pretty well:
Molding or Moldmaking is the act of creating the cavity / form that carries a negative or reverse impression of an original model. Molds can be made of a rigid material, such as plaster or plastic resin or more commonly, a flexible material such as rubber. The material to use should be chosen considering the material of the model, the material to be used to make castings, and whether there are any undercuts.
Casting is the act of pouring liquid material into the cavity of a mold. After a period of time, this liquid will cure via chemical reaction or cooling. The solidified part is also known as a casting, which is ejected or broken out of the mold to complete the process. Casting materials are usually metals or various cold setting materials that cure after mixing two or more components together; examples are epoxy, concrete, plaster and clay.
For the Silicon Mold I used the Easyl 940-FDA -Silicona Alimentaria which comes in two different pots that you have to mix in equal parts of 1-1. You should always check for the datasheet to see the specifications of the mix, because it could be in a proportion of volume or weight. In the datasheet you can also see the whole process of preparation and the indications you should have in mind.
To measure the amount of silicon needed, a good tip was to fill the mold with water, and pour it into a measuring container to check the volume. That will be the volume needed of silicon (half of the volume of each one of the mixes).
Then you should clean and dry the mold very well, and add some Release Agent in spray. You should do this outside since it is a hard chemical, from a distance of 20 centimeters from the mold, and try not to inhale the spray.
Poor the two parts of the silicon and mix it very well. In the datasheet is specifies the time you have to work with the silicon, which in my case was 30 minutes, and the time it will take to dry and get hard. You could also put it into an oven, but in my case I let it dry for 5 hours and it un-molded pretty well.
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