ComposiMold Mold Making Blog

Get Your Free ComposiMold Reusable Mold Making Material Trial

stan@composimold.com — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 21:02:40 +0000

Haven’t tried ComposiMold yet? Well this is your opportunity to try it out for free! You pay the shipping and we’ll send you a 4 ounce container of ComposiMold. ORDER HERE

Give it a try on a small project. This will give you a chance to experience how easy it is to use. It might also inspire you to apply the process to larger projects in the future. There are limitless possibilities with ComposiMold!

Head over to our ordering page: www.ComposiTherm.com and click on the blue link at the bottom left of the screen for “Free ComposiMold Trial + Shipping” and enter FREETRIAL in the coupon/promotional code box upon check out. Easy!

(Psst! You could also apply this discount rate to a larger container of ComposiMold by entering FREETRIAL in the coupon/promotional code box upon check out. This will save you $5.75. Sweet!)

OFFER ENDS June 1, 2012 or while
supplies last. Offer valid only for ComposiMold (not ComposiCast or
Accessories). Please, one time use per name and address.

For More Information visit:

www.ComposiMold.com

www.Facebook.com/ComposiMold

www.YouTube.com/ComposiMold

order at
www.ComposiTherm.com

Get Your Free ComposiMold!

Chocolate Dog Castings with ComposiMold

stan@composimold.com — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:23:40 +0000

What a fantastic example of a super unique chocolate casting! Molds were made with ComposiMold-FC and cast in chocolate.

Thank you Rachel for sharing these amazing plaques from your show! Rachel said that she obtained the shapes from old shields she had from years past. The molds and chocolates were made over the weekend.

What a blast! Thank you again for sharing.

We would really love to see what you are making!

www.ComposiMold.com

To order your ComposiMold-FC visit http://compositherm.com/focomomama.html

visit us at www.Facebook.com/ComposiMold or www.YouTube.com/ComposiMold

Thank you!

Recreating a Balloon Animal with Fiberglass

stan@composimold.com — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 01:22:36 +0000

Here is an example of a unique use of ComposiMold from a course at the University of Southern Maine. Thank you Mark and Stephen for allowing us to share this! We would love to hear about what you have done with ComposiMold!

MEE 352 – Analysis and Design of Composite Structures
Mark Jacobs, and Stephen Knittweis

What follows will be an informal recounting, rather than a formal report, of the engineering challenges, the design decisions to overcome them and the techniques learned as a result during the course of my project to build a fiberglass balloon animal.

When the project was first assigned I had no ideas for what to make. I knew I didn’t want to make something so simple that it would essentially be a cop out and hardly give me any experience with the materials. Since the requirements were open-ended, I wanted to make something light-hearted and fun as well, to mix the comical with serious design.

When Steve suggested we make a pressure vessel by wrapping fiberglass around a balloon, inspiration struck in the form of a pressure vessel in the shape of a balloon animal. A little more discussion later we decided to shift from a seriously functional pressure vessel to a piece blending engineering design with art. We would keep the pressure fitting in the piece but it would be more for appearances than actual use. And then I spoke one of the most dangerous sentences in the history of civilization; “After all, how hard can it be?”

After my initial exuberance wore off, I realized that I didn’t know how to make balloon animals.

Challenge – The first and simplest challenge was to learn how to make a balloon animal. Solution – A quick internet search and a visit to the party store gave me a “balloon animal starter kit” and I set in practicing making the star of the project.

Challenge – How would the mold be designed to get a full coverage mold that would yield a product that retained the characteristic look.

Solution – A two-part mold was made using the cardboard from soda containers, old sales flyers and water thinned white glue. This created a permanent mold not prone to the shrinkage of the balloon animal from which it was made.

Challenge – Now we have a fragile, but stable and detailed negative mold to work with, the question is how can the mold be reinforced so that it may be worked with freely without fear of damaging it. The danger was that the mold was fragile enough that there was a real chance that the reinforcement effort could crush or damage it during the effort.

Solution – Inspiration was found in the form of the paper in my household shredder, by combining the shreds with thinned white glue we could make a loose fiber reinforcement structure, contained by cardboard walls, that would be strong enough to protect the mold but not so heavy that it would collapse it while drying.

Challenge – The molds were detailed enough that the walls had been built around the ears and legs tightly enough to create reverse angles. It became evident that it would be extremely difficult to apply fiberglass to these tight spaces. Even if we were able to apply the glass successfully, it was likely the mold would need to be destroyed to remove it.

Solution – After applying carnauba wax as a mold release agent, a silicone mold making material was painted into the mold. The goal was to create a flexible positive mold that could be removed from the negative mold without destroying either.

Unfortunately, the silicone ran and pooled in the bottom of the mold, leaving the sides tissue thin and unable to withstand being peeled out of the mold. Applying multiple layers to build up thickness was impractical due to time constraints, and the mold material was too expensive to use to completely fill the mold for a solid casting.

Challenge – At this point we were offered access to a reusable mold material called ComposiMold made by a local company collaborating with Campus Ventures. The ComposiMold was perfect for what we needed to do, but we still had the challenge of the reverse angles and how to remove the positive mold after it cured.

Solution – I used my Dremel to remove the overhangs of the reverse angles, and then filled the holes caused by that removal with spackle. A thinned coat of white glue was applied to re-seal the porous surfaces of the patched spots.

Now that the mold had straight sides the next challenge was to devise a way to help facilitate pulling the ComposiMold out after it cured. Nail heads suspended from small pieces of wood were placed at regular intervals to act as anchor-points providing additional leverage during de-molding.

Now with the ComposiMold in hand, the project starts to pick up speed. It melts readily in the microwave when heated in 30 second bursts and stirred in between heatings. It poured smoothly and spread evenly throughout the mold.

Twenty-four hours later it pulled easily from the mold with minimal effort. The pieces of wood were carefully removed and the nails nipped off at the surface.

Now with a positive mold laying the fiberglass became dramatically easier. The random fiber direction “cat fur” fiberglass was used for its ease of pressing it into tight corners and getting good coverage of complex curves. The loose cross-weave fabric was much more convenient to use and held its shape better than the cat fur and was used to cover holes and wrap around the figure to seal the two halves together.

The ComposiMold pulled out of the fiberglass shell just as easily as the papier mache mold. The ComposiMold was then re-melted, after the nail heads were removed, and re-used for the second half of the balloon animal.

Each half was trimmed, sanded and dressed in preparation for being mated together. The next step was to build up a base around each leg to allow it to be free-standing. I rolled strips of fabric into “logs” before saturating them in the matrix and wrapping it around the feet to build up bases. Two blocks were wrapped in the white silicone-coated, non-stick paper to support the model while the bases dried.

Strips of loose cross-weave fiberglass were wrapped around the piece joining the two halves together and sealing any holes that remained in the structure of the piece.

I am pleased with the final result and think that we were successful but even more than that I’m pleased with the journey of challenge and discovery that we worked our way through. I learned how to make a balloon animal, how to work with papier mache, the utility of ComposiMold and different characteristics of fiberglass weaves and some do’s and don’t’s of mixing up resin.

My secondary goal was also successful. The balloon project got people talking and got people interested. At one point in the shop, someone who I had never met came in and said “Is that the balloon animal? I heard about that.” That kind of buzz can only be good for morale and can help to keep people engaged.

Ice Casting-Super Cool Shapes in a Flash with ComposiMold

stan@composimold.com — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 00:55:28 +0000

Thank you to B for reminding me about this great casting material-cheap, easy, and fun. That’s a nice combination. The important thing to remember when making ice in ComposiMold mold is to Freeze the ComposiMold first. By freezing the mold, you get much better edges and improved detail.

To make, make the molds how you normally would: melt the ComposiMold, pour over your original Master and then freeze the mold. Take out your Master and pour in water.

I have heard the theory that warm water is supposed to freeze faster than cold water because the warm water has more air trapped in it so more surface area. Is this true? Does anyone have the patients to test this?

Two casting materials that are as reuasable as the ComposiMold mold making are chocolate and Ice. Any others?

For more information visit www.ComposiMold.com
To order ComposiMold Reusable Mold Making Materials go to www.ComposiTherm.com

Also, check us out at www.facebook.com/ComposiMold and www.YouTube.com/ComposiMold

Thank you!

What is the difference between PowerMold and ComposiMold?

stan@composimold.com — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 22:46:50 +0000

First, how ComposiMold Reusable Mold Making Materials and PowerMold Reusable Mold Making Materials are the same:

Melt at 130 F in the microwave or double boiler

Are pourable to make pour molds

Flexible, rubbery

Of course, Reusable

Differences:

PowerMold is stiffer than ComposiMold. PowerMold provides better support for two part molds or for polymer clay molds.

PowerMold has a Shore A hardness of around 25 at 70 F (the cooler it is the harder it is). ComposiMold is around 10.

ComposiMold is lighter colored (light amber). This is nice to allow you to see through the mold to your part.

ComposiMold is more flexible. This is nice to flex around parts and shapes.

ComposiMold is a more viscous so it is easier to filter.

PowerMold is more expensive than ComposiMold

PowerMold is a cooler name than ComposiMold (I like to say PowerMold like I am going to a Monster Truck show).

Thank you!

www.ComposiMold.com

to order visit:

www.ComposiTherm.com

What do you do if you have bubbles forming in your mold? Or the purpose of Bubble Buster.

stan@composimold.com — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 01:24:35 +0000

In a nutshell, Bubble Buster busts bubbles. Bubble buster is a PVA/water solution that reduces the ability for the bubbles to stay on the surface of your master (original) when you are making a mold with ComposiMold or PowerMold.

To see it in action, place a rock or other object in a glass of hot water and let it sit for a while. At some point, bubbles should form on the surface because the air in the water is coming out of solution.

Now spray the rock or other object with Bubble Buster or use a solution of water and PVA glue. The bubbles will not (or at least should not!) form on the rock.

Do that with ComposiMold and you will have great molds with no bubbles.

Thank you!

For more information visit:
www.ComposiMold.com

To order the ComposiMold-FC:
http://www.compositherm.com/

How Many Unique Molds Can You Make with ComposiMold?

stan@composimold.com — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 01:09:48 +0000

I am asked this question a lot: How many molds can you make with ComposiMold? The official answer is that when it was certified to conform to ASTM D-4236, it was certified for up to 35 times. Unofficially, we have made over unique 50 molds with the same reusable mold making material.

To put this in perspective, if we were to use a non-reusable mold making material, you would have to purchase a lot of material whereas with ComposiMold, you would need to purchase it once.

For example, if you made one 20 cubic inch mold (about 16 oz of ComposiMold) with a non-reusable mold making material it would cost about $25, or about the same cost as the ComposiMold.

But on your second mold, it cost you another $25 for the non-reusable mold making material, and nothing more for the ComposiMold mold. So you have spent $50 for 2 non-reusable molds and still $25 for 2 ComposiMold molds.

Now you make 4 unique molds and you have spent $100 for the non-reusable molds and still $25 for the ComposiMold molds.

You get the idea.

At 35 molds, it would cost you $25 x 35 = $875 for the non-reusable molds, and, yes, still only $25 for the ComposiMold.

Yikes! That’s quite a savings.

In some instances, where you are making a large number of the same part and you have already figured out the mold making process, it may be worth the expense, however, in many instances, it is worth working with the ComposiMold.

Here it is in graph form:

That is why we say: Make more unique molds with 1 pound of ComposiMold than you can with 20 pounds of other mold making materials. Costs less and good for the environment.

For more information visit www.ComposiMold.com

To order visit www.ComposiTherm.com

For our videos visit www.YouTube.com/ComposiMold

And become our Friend at www.FaceBook.com/ComposiMold

Enjoy!

Unique Chocolates For Halloween

stan@composimold.com — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 13:11:39 +0000

Instead of Snicker’s Bars or random store bought sweets, you may like to make your own unique chocolate shapes with ComposiMold-FC. You make the shape, make a mold out of your shape, and then make chocolate castings. The shapes can range from letters (shown in a previous blog post) or specialized for the Holiday Season. The nice part about ComposiMold-FC is you can make a Halloween Chocolate, followed by a Thanksgiving shaped chocolate, followed the next Holiday Season, followed by the next…By melting the ComposiMold, you can make lots of different shapes with the same ComposiMold.

Here we show the process for making a Halloween Chocolate Pumpkin using a pumpkin magnet. Super easy:

Step 1. Place the magnet into a container, such as tupperware or other plastic container

Step 2. Pour ComposiMold over the shape to make the rubber mold, let cool.

Step 3. Pull out the original shape (the Master)

Step 4. Melt the Chocolate. We used an orange colored chocolate. You can also use white chocolate and add orange food coloring.

Step 5. Spoon the chocolate into the mold. With smaller molds, the squeeze bottles work great.

Step 6. Let the chocolate cool. Place in the refrigerator or freezer to cool faster

Step 7. Peel the ComposiMold away from the chocolate.

Step 8. Make more chocolate castings and then more shapes!

For more information visit:
www.ComposiMold.com

To order the ComposiMold-FC:
http://www.compositherm.com/cooz.html

Chocolate Casting in ComposiMold Molds-It’s as easy as ABC…

stan@composimold.com — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 01:36:52 +0000

We needed a quick advertisement item for a gathering of several hundred people. Someone suggested chocolates, but not just any chocolates. Alphabet Chocolates. A through Z. White, yellow, and milk chocolate. So we started the mold making and chocolate casting.

Step 1. Do not make chocolate castings when you are hungry. You will eat too much of the chocolate.

Step 2. Find your shapes. In this case alphabet magnets. They floated in the ComposiMold so we used a touch of polymer clay to hold the shapes down.

Step 3. Melt the ComposiMold. We used 2, 32 ounce containers of ComposiMold for these molds and we had some left over. When we are finished we will melt all of it down again and reuse it for the next time we want to cast chocolates. It took approximately 8 minutes to melt each 32 oz container (times will vary depending on your microwave and elavation).

Step 4. Let the ComposiMold cool and pull out the shapes. This took a couple of hours. We could have cooled it faster in the refrigerator, but we used the time to make some labels. Place the mold orifices facing upward.

Step 5. Melt the chocolate. We melted the chocolates on low heat over the stove. Always stir.

Step 6. Pour the chocolate into the mold shapes and cool. We put them in the refrigerator.

Step 7. Make more.

Looks great and the shapes can be truly unique. And the best part of it is, next time, we can make other shapes with the same ComposiMold!

Enjoy!

For the food contact ComposiMold-FC visit:

http://compositherm.com/focomomama.html

for more information about ComposiMold, visit: http://www.composimold.com/

Super Awesome Sylvia Says it Best. Simple Molding and Casting for Toy Duplication with ComposiMold

stan@composimold.com — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 18:33:30 +0000

Check out this amazing, oop, excuse me, Super Awesome Sylvia describe how to “clone” your toys using ComposiMold. She describes the process so well!

For more of her videos or more Make Magazine videos go to http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2011/01/simple_molding_and_casting_for_toy.html

See www.ComposiMold.com for more information on ComposiMold
and to order visit www.ComposiTherm.com

Thank you and a special thanks to Sylvia for an awesome presentation!