The first button is out of the mold!!!
I cast my first test pour in pure PUR. The casting came out better than I expected: no distortion and negligible shrinkage. In fact, it came out so good, that I have foregone the filled pours: if I had gone the two-piece mold route with a hefty sprue, it would be worth a shot; but as it is, the pour sprue is too narrow to take a thicker compound, and the wear-and-tear on the mold would severely limit the number of castings I could get out of it.
While the pour was curing, I removed the molded buttons on the jacket. If you decide to replace your buttons, I would strongly suggest drilling a center hole into the molded buttons before proceeding to remove them: this will provide you with the original alignment. You don't have to use it; but it's nice to have in case the original alignment works for you.
The second button is in the pressure pot now, and I should be demolding in the next 30 minutes, give or take. I'm going to try to be finished with the first run by Sunday morning at the latest.
More to follow. . .
Great idea to pre-drill before removing the original buttons. Glad to hear you are happy with the first casting!
ReplyDeleteHey guy!
ReplyDeleteMy pleasure. The other thing about pre-drilling is that if you elect to have a shank on your button--which given the thickness of the material is virtually de-rigeur [nb: look at the third right button from the top on the source image]--the pre-drilled hole is your attachment point in which to insert the shank.
After I demold the last pour, I will have but three buttons to cast!