1st Attempt casting

**gawdelpus** · 5th October 2009, 12:12 AM

Found a little time this week to have a try at "clear casting" had some diggers clear cast and fixer for a few months, finally had a try at this aspect of the pen crafting .
Found a mold at Big-w for $1 .50 .looked like silicone for Ice making

well the :diggers" said water clear on the label .

I had a couple of sierra tubes so turned up some dowel plugs for each end and the middle . Just fitted neatly into the mold and the larger diameter kept it from bottoming out ,and also central in the mold. Next I used some medium CA on the tubes and sprinkled with craft glitter as best I could, my fingers looked pretty colorful at the end hehe. I had determined that I needed 20 mills of compound to fill and cover the tubes and wood, was not sure on the activater for this amount ,so got it wrong , I used 2 drops,should of been about 6-8 I found out later. It took about a day to set and I removed the new casting on the second day was slightly tacky but hard,it is no longer tacky so will try and turn tomorrow, I really don't expect that I can make a pen from this as it was really only a proof of concept,but we shall see ,I might be surprised in the end, all in all was a worthwhile project for future reference ,I am thinking more for labels or stamps or whatever ,there are plenty of good acrylics available to cover most needs for pens , but this could cover more specialised needs .I Just took the photos with flash ,not cropped a lot so you can see the mold as well . Cheers John .

**NewLondon88** · 5th October 2009, 02:13 AM

Looks good, John.
I don't think the 2 drops is a problem, as the resin will probably cure with heat anyway.
The catalyst just supplies the reaction that gives you heat. You could probably cure them
in a toaster oven with no catalyst at all ,if you really needed to.

Looks like a good alternative to expensive casting gear.

**artme** · 5th October 2009, 04:37 AM

Interesting John. That should make a great pen. The choice of kit for the blank will determine just how great.

**munruben** · 5th October 2009, 07:09 PM

Interesting tute John, thanks.

**BoomerangInfo** · 5th October 2009, 08:17 PM

Ahh so that was the mould. I have one of those, but haven't tried it yet, as the tubes didn't look deep enough to make anything other than a slimline. If you've managed a Sierra out of it, I'll have to look at it again.

Russell.

**MBUMIK** · 5th October 2009, 09:36 PM

well done mate, next time i am in big w i will have to see if i can find the moulds as well, i was going to try and do the same thing in a home made box but that looks much better until i can save enough to get one of new londons resin save moulds, i wish he had of made them with 4 different sorts of pens 1 in each corner rather than all the same, but still thats the way the resin breaks i suppose

MIK

**NewLondon88** · 6th October 2009, 07:29 AM

Originally Posted by MBUMIK

...until i can save enough to get one of new londons resin save moulds, i wish he had of made them with 4 different sorts of pens 1 in each corner rather than all the same, but still thats the way the resin breaks i suppose
MIK

Four different pens in one mold just kills my production ,because it means that on that
particular day I can only make ONE mold instead of four.

BUT .. I've been able to make some 'half and half' hybrid molds lately, and they're going
well enough. (half cigar, half Sierra ... half majestic squire, half baron etc. etc.)

I know it's not as good as 4 separate pen kits in one mold, but hey .. it's better!

**gawdelpus** · 6th October 2009, 07:40 AM

Originally Posted by BoomerangInfo

Ahh so that was the mould. I have one of those, but haven't tried it yet, as the tubes didn't look deep enough to make anything other than a slimline. If you've managed a Sierra out of it, I'll have to look at it again.

Russell.

Russel it will take a 3/4 dowell in the mold so will fit most pens ,Thats what I got, a piece of dowell then just turned to suit the tubes ,with the sierras only took 20 mills of compound to fill to top of mold , not as clever as "Newlondons saver "hehe but to experiment with its good value

. Cheers ~John

**MBUMIK** · 6th October 2009, 09:34 AM

Originally Posted by NewLondon88

Four different pens in one mold just kills my production ,because it means that on that
particular day I can only make ONE mold instead of four.

BUT .. I've been able to make some 'half and half' hybrid molds lately, and they're going
well enough. (half cigar, half Sierra ... half majestic squire, half baron etc. etc.)

I know it's not as good as 4 separate pen kits in one mold, but hey .. it's better!

i understand the problem

but if you can do half cigar half siera i will order on in a couple of weeks, they would be the 2 most probable moulds i would use at the moment anyway

thanks for your response mate

MIK

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