From the Firefly Shops.........

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Looks interesting. Any plans to offer ie as a kit?

I had not planned on doing so, but I guess I could drag out all of the molds if there was interest.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Mold made and resin poured.....



Now I have sides to work with,

[J. S. Bach]

What ends and roof do you plan to use, Pittman?

[Rufus T. Firefly]

What ends and roof do you plan to use, Pittman?

My own resin castings -- pretty sure that those were shown in my column 5(6?) years ago.....but I'll post up a photo of those and the drive soon.

[J. S. Bach]

Nice, probably lost in one of the purges.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

What ends and roof do you plan to use, Pittman?

My resin castings from long ago in OST and from the kits that I used to sell..........

[J. S. Bach]

Very nice, especially the ends.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Very nice, especially the ends.

The mold for those is a "squish" mold that works surprisingly well, once I learned how to actually use it,

I have 2-3 other molds for ends since I while I can and have scratched together ends from wood, just pulling a pair out of the parts box saves a lot of time and aggravation.

[rogruth]

Rufus,
What is a "squish" mold?

[webenda]

Common molds have pour gates and vents. They are filled with resin after the two halfs of the mold are put together by pouring the resin into the pour gate holes(s).

Squish molds are filled by pouring an excess of resin into one half the mold then assembling the other half of the mold, squishing the excess resin out during the assembly (putting the two halves of the mold together.)

Blue Resin Squished out of Squish Mold.jpg (34.45 KiB) Viewed 13800 times

[rogruth]

OK. Makes sense. I think.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Squish molds are filled by pouring an excess of resin into one half the mold then assembling the other half of the mold, squishing the excess resin out during the assembly (putting the two halves of the mold together.

And with a very little bit of practice and learning just how much resin to put in the 1 half. there is then very little excess to squish out.

While the vented molds are useful, the basic squish actually can be more efficient to use for some shapes that would otherwise trap air and ruin the casting.

[robert.]

When casting piece to replace missing bronzes mounts for furniture. I use a vibrating football game to shake out air. For years i bought kits to make my molds. One day my wife says " why do you use that stuff? It's too expensive." She made some molds for me after that. All she uses is silicone caulk and water. A $4.00 tube and water.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

When casting piece to replace missing bronzes mounts for furniture. I use a vibrating football game to shake out air.

I rarely have issues with bubbles, but when I think it might be a problem, I put the mold I'm making or the resin I'm casting on the clothes drier and run a cycle. If I'm actually thinking in advance, I'll even do the laundry.

For years i bought kits to make my molds. One day my wife says " why do you use that stuff? It's too expensive." She made some molds for me after that. All she uses is silicone caulk and water. A $4.00 tube and water.

Kits are expensive; I buy resin on 2 lb lots and RTV in 1 lb lots. What does your wife use for resin? How many castings does she get from her molds?

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Here's the drive that's going into this little trolley........