Recently, silicone molds have been increasingly used, which is distinguished by the fact that it hardens at room temperature without shrinking and forms rubber. For the production of molds at home, you can use a two-component composition.
Silicone rubbers and compounds are quite simply converted into molds at home, without requiring additional equipment, because they allow independent manual pouring. So, silicone for molds is used for different purposes, you can consider copying a simple product. To begin with, you can cast an epoxy part into a split mold, which consists of two parts.
While an inexpensive and very common silicone sealant is well suited for this operation, it is more convenient and much easier to use a two-component material that is designed specifically forcreating forms. Epoxy resin is also used for casting. There is a lot of this material on the market, so when choosing it is important to take into account such a requirement as not too short a polarization time. If two-part mold silicone is used, a release agent may be needed to separate the halves from each other.
At the moment, there are a lot of separation products that are designed specifically for this purpose. They are usually in the form of wax-based aerosols, but regular melted wax or petroleum jelly can also be used.
Plasticine can serve as the primary building material in this case. Before you start making a mold, you can check the selected materials for consistency with each other. In the event that this nuance is missed, you can spoil the whole work. You need to make sure that the silicone comes off easily from a surface made from the same material as the part you want to copy. If this does not work out, then it will need to be covered with a release agent. Next, it is important to make sure that the epoxy separates well from the silicone after curing, and that the physical properties of the material are satisfactory after curing. Only then can molding silicone be used.
The manufacturing process begins with the fact that plasticine is applied to a flat surface, into which the copied part should be pressed. If we are talking about a flat part, then it can be pressed up tothe border along which the form will then be divided. If it is voluminous enough, then you will need to apply another layer of plasticine around the perimeter. The material must be well pressed against the part, which will allow the formation of distinct borders.
Before using silicone for molds, it is necessary to make a wall of the future container, which is implemented using the same plasticine. At the bottom of the container, you can make several recesses so that the halves can then be docked to each other. Now that everything is ready for pouring, it is quite possible to use liquid silicone for molds. After hardening, you can remove all the plasticine, as a result, only the silicone mold remains.
