Moulding Parts

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peterwaller
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Moulding Parts

Post by peterwaller »

I have been toying with the idea of moulding parts for the ants and was wondering if anyone had any experience of this.
I am looking at this as the material with possible fibre glass strengthening.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Jesmonite-AC100-W ... 3355e21658
And possibly this for the mould.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Vinamold-Red-reus ... %26ps%3D54
widow_twanky
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Re: Moulding Parts

Post by widow_twanky »

peterwaller wrote:I have been toying with the idea of moulding parts for the ants and was wondering if anyone had any experience of this.
I am looking at this as the material with possible fibre glass strengthening.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Jesmonite-AC100-W ... 3355e21658
And possibly this for the mould.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Vinamold-Red-reus ... %26ps%3D54
You can mould HDPE quite easily, just stick a blow torch on it and melt it. Haven't quite found out how to get it consistent in a mould yet.

You can get green red and blue for free but you have to change your milk type regularly and get fat when you want the blue stuff :lol:

Andy
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Team Orr
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Post by Team Orr »

at my new school we have a vacume former, so if you want moulds drop me a line :)
"if it wasn't for Edison we'd be watching TV by candlelight"
Jack Orr
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olivers
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Post by olivers »

Hi Peter, I've cast quite a few things. I get supplies dfrom Alec Tiranti eithger in Theale or North London. http://www.tiranti.co.uk/

I use silicon resin for the moulds then cast in polyester resin. Have also made several R2 releated items by using a silicon mould then using standard epoxy resin and fibreglass cloth (finer than standard fibreglass from say Halfords).

Depending on the finish you want you can use a gelcoat for a hard smooth finish.

Am on holiday this weekend otherwise would talk to you at Reading Robot Club.
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BeligerAnt
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Post by BeligerAnt »

Looks good, Peter.

Since it?s acrylic resin, you will probably need some filler to give it impact resistance.
Glass mat is easiest to use, but not so good for fine stuff.
Glass cloth is easy to use, carbon fibre cloth is OK, but Kevlar cloth is quite difficult. You have to work hard to get the resin to go into it.

If you are trying to laminate fibreglass, carbon or Kevlar, you will need some means of supporting the rubber mould so that you can press the resin into the cloth, and keep everything the right shape.
Gary, Team BeligerAnt
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peterwaller
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Post by peterwaller »

Chears for suggestions the amount and variety of expertise on this forumn never ceases to impress me. I am looking more at wheels and chassis part rather than armour so hopfully won't need to be quite so resiliant to impacts. I still have some very fine glass cloth form my days of moulding fibre glass skinned model aircraft wings in vacuum bags.
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Post by Nathan Windisch »

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Last edited by Nathan Windisch on Sun Aug 25, 2019 7:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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BeligerAnt
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Post by BeligerAnt »

Peter, my wheels always seem to lose chunks to your spinners, so I would make them as impact-resistant as possible! :wink:
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Post by Andrew_Hibberd »

If you make 2 mould an inner and an outer, compressing them together forces the plastic into the fibre sheet.

The only moulding i have done was during my GCSEs, so a while ago now.
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