Test mold report

[schaf]

Some weeks ago,Newlondon 88 sent me a mold to test for him before going into production. Unfortunately I have no camera at the moment so no photos,so downloaded one of Charlie's photos from a previous post.

Being a test mold it is not real pretty to look at but it does work a treat.
The mold is for 2 Sierra tubes and has a little bung at each end , designed to fit inside the tubes. Excellent idea as there is no need to weight the tube and there is no seepage of resin into the tubes. No release agent is required with this mold.

The design is mainly for label casting or one color casting as there is very little room on both sides of the tube and under the tube. Therefore there is no room for swirling colors. There is now no need to drill the blank to insert a tube as the tube is cast directly into the resin.

Very economical in the amount of resin used.

A excellent design that works well. Newlondon 88 will be very busy when he goes into full production.

I am disappointed that I have no camera,maybe when it returns in a couple of weeks I can post photos then.

Regards

Terry

[Rum Pig]

Looks Well sounds good to me very cleaver:2tsup:

Can't wait to see the photos:)

[Penpal]

I have heard of writing with thumbnails dipped in Tar but never thumbnails without a camera quite an oxymoron.

Liked your pics and Charlies efforts and your testing I guess are the pics you refer yet to come.

All the best Peter.:2tsup:

[Simomatra]

Another http://www.thepenshop.net/forum/images/smilies/clever6613.gifidea keep up the good work Charlie and thanks Terry I hope you are going well with your testing

[BoomerangInfo]

I had some test mold on my bread the other night. Suffice to say, it failed the test.


:feedtroll:


Russell

[NewLondon88]

Glad that worked, Terry.
I'm in the process of making the production molds now. They're 9" round to fit the
pressure pots and hold 6 pen kits each.

And yes, they're prettier :D

Biggest problem is making the masters. I tried doing them in my shop, but my table
saw and sander don't do 90 degrees very well. :? SO I have a machine shop cutting them.
But that's around $500 per pen kit, including the Delrin. Oooo.. that stuff machines SO
nicely!

Now I just have to figure out how to produce more than one mold per day..

ps .. Russell .. that was terrible :p

[garypeck]

i sure could do with some of these moulds when they are ready......

[BoomerangInfo]

Biggest problem is making the masters. I tried doing them in my shop, but my tablesaw and sander don't do 90 degrees very well. :? SO I have a machine shop cutting them.
But that's around $500 per pen kit, including the Delrin. Oooo.. that stuff machines SO
nicely!

$500 per master do you mean?? Good grief. Good thing those IAP guys will buy anything that's put up for sale. I'm sure you'll recoup your outlay in no time :wink:

Russell.

[NewLondon88]

$500 per master do you mean?? Good grief. Good thing those IAP guys will buy anything that's put up for sale. I'm sure you'll recoup your outlay in no time :wink:

Russell.

No, no .. the $500 per kit is MY cost! The molds will be around $70 or so. Considering
there's about $45 worth of silicone in each one, and I can only pour one per day without
making more masters, I'd have to sell 15 of each mold before I break even.
Somehow I see myself selling 14 of each right away, and then the 15th about 2 years
from now.. :p

[NewLondon88]

i sure could do with some of these moulds when they are ready......

I'll put you on my list. The first two pen types should be ready by the middle of next
week or so, then I'll post some photos so people can see if it is really what they want.
I'm trying to write up some hints and tips right now.

[BoomerangInfo]

No, no .. the $500 per kit is MY cost! The molds will be around $70 or so. Yeah, that's why I said per MASTER - for you to set it all up to cast in other words, not per MOLD.

Eh, anyway, I know what you mean. I've got to remake my original master and couple others (just in plain wood) and trying to get them accurate with dodgy gear is kinda difficult, hence why I'm way behind schedule.

I know ya gotta spend money to make money, and the spending's not the problem, it's making it back again that seems to be an issue :p

Russell.

[NewLondon88]

Still got a few kinks to be worked out, but nothing major.
The masters are working for one pour (for now) and they come
apart when de-molding. I ordered a resin additive that should take
care of that, but since I can pour a new set of masters in a few
hours, it's all good..

[BoomerangInfo]

Looking good Charlie. Twelve blank at once! Now we're talking production mode :P

I'm wondering if you PP is the same size as my PP - what's the diameter?

Oh there's still one problem I see though. Not fussed on blue - do they come in red? :wink:

Russell.

[NewLondon88]

The ID of my pot is (I think) 9.5" or 9.25" maybe. I went with 8.5" OD on the mold
figuring people need room to get their fingers around it. Then I decided to put round
holes in it in case someone wants to build some sort of rack system and stack them
in the pot.

LOL .. and I can do red. It takes dye very well. :p


Looking good Charlie. Twelve blank at once! Now we're talking production mode :P

I'm wondering if you PP is the same size as my PP - what's the diameter?

Oh there's still one problem I see though. Not fussed on blue - do they come in red? :wink:

Russell.

[NewLondon88]

Just to update, the 6 set mold isn't working out so well..
Too heavy, too much silicone and not flexible enough

The 4 set works fine though..

[mag]

Charlie,

Do you have a list of the kits you will be making the molds for.

Looking for Dayacom EB's.

Mike

[NewLondon88]

Charlie,

Do you have a list of the kits you will be making the molds for.
Looking for Dayacom EB's.
Mike

I know there's a few versions of the EB, and I've never bought one.
But if that's the one that has the same size tube as the Sierra, then
I have that mold now. I'm not sure if that's Dayacom or Berea.

I've been changing them around, not quite happy with some things I was
trying to do (namely, the six pen molds) so I finally settled on a 4 pen mold.
But for the Sierra/Wall St / Elegant Beauty pens, that's really 8 pens per mold.
But you can pour them in pairs, you don't have to pour all 8 at once.

ps .. I do have a list of the molds I'll PROBABLY produce .. but it depends on
requests and volume. I'm back to having a machinist produce the masters, and
they're about $300 per pen kit. And that's before I produce any molds, so I need
to recoup that before I can move onto another pen type..

Also, the 4 pen mold fits into a flat rate envelope, so shipping is easier.
Pricing is probably going to be around $50 and will be made to order.
(It takes a day to cure, so I can only make one per day)