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#62 – Mould Closure

June 21, 2020 By //  by Stuart

Closing moulds correctly is vital to get good casts out of them. There seems little point in making a good mould and then getting bad casts out of it.

In this episode, we take a look at things to consider in ‘mould closure’. Essentially, a mould other than a flat or open mould will usually need to be attached or fitted to another component to produce a cast.


To listen to the podcast, you can stream or download from here, or simply subscribe through your favourite podcast app – we are on many, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, IHeartRADIO , STITCHER , Luminary and Google Podcasts.


This could be another part of the mould if a ‘multi-piece’ mould is made and/or a core which will be placed into the mould to create the interior.

These pieces need to remain securely in position, and may be required to exert a lot of force if the cast piece needs to have thin seams which are more easily repaired.

That has cost implications – think about having to repair bad seams of fifty casts out of a mould which wasn’t closed correctly! Small block moulds are often clamped together for speed and convenience, but what happens if the mould is huge, such as a full body or a dinosaur?

Check out the notes included with this episode for a deeper dive with pictures.

Tap here to download these free notes!
Ratchet straps are good but can be too powerful if you overcrank it!

In the podcast, Todd mentioned a cool gargoyle figure (pic below) that has an Oni demon style face that he was going to mould. We chat about risers to reduce the air bubbles that could be trapped in the mould, a common issue with smaller pieces with tight details.

Todd will be moulding this fella in silicone, and risers will be needed to reduce the chance of catching air bubbles in those details such as wing tips and chin hairs.

Many thanks, as always, for your time checking the stuff out. You can email us directly at stuartandtodd@gmail.com or leave us a voice message on our site.

If you enjoy this podcast and got something out of it, would you do us a solid and tell just one more person about us? Send them a link and help us grow!

–Stuart & Todd

To listen to the podcast, you can stream or download from here, or simply subscribe through your favourite podcast app – we are on many, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, IHeartRADIO , STITCHER , Luminary and Google Podcasts.

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Previous Post: « #61 – Cutting Edges
Next Post: #63 – Things That Go Wrong »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. John Scherer

    July 21, 2020 at 7:33 am

    Hi,
    Just my 2 cents, I’ve taken apart wooden clothes pins and used them for wedges
    when opening my epoxy molds. They work pretty well and are inexpensive.
    Thanks
    John

    Reply
    • Stuart

      July 22, 2020 at 7:07 am

      Hi John. That’s a great tip, thanks for sharing!!
      -Stuart

      Reply

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