DIY Acrylic Molding at Home?
 

I'm interested in creating some basic shapes out of acrylic but don't
want to cut acrylic sheets or order custom cuts from manufacturers.

My shape is basically 0.75" thick x 2.50" long x 3.00" wide.

I need to create alot of these quickly and inexpensively.

Are there at home acrylic polymer kits I could use or could I create my
own mold and buy off the shelf acrylic to create these?

I am a newcomer to plastics and don't know where I could buy acrylic
liquid and what I should buy, etc.

Thanks for any help.

Mike

http://www.alumilite.com/ has allot of good information that may help you
granted the total cost to set up can be a little on the expensive side if
you go with all of there products and accesories. Instead of using their
silicon mold making material i use the copper silicon gasket material from
the auto parts store and i use a slightly modified old preasure cooker with
my air compressor for getting bubbles out of transparent castings

On 17 Jan 2005 15:16:58 -0800, "Mike Brophy"
wrote:

I'm interested in creating some basic shapes out of acrylic but don't
want to cut acrylic sheets or order custom cuts from manufacturers.

My shape is basically 0.75" thick x 2.50" long x 3.00" wide.

I need to create alot of these quickly and inexpensively.

Are there at home acrylic polymer kits I could use or could I create my
own mold and buy off the shelf acrylic to create these?

I am a newcomer to plastics and don't know where I could buy acrylic
liquid and what I should buy, etc.

I don't know of a pourable acrylic. They do have clear plastic
molding stuff at hobby stores; I think it's polyester. Not too
expensive, but it shrinks quite a bit when it cures.

Check out
http://www.eagerplastics.com/4101.htm I haven't used this stuff, but
I've used other stuff that is probably similar.

Clear urethane is better, but it's pricey. I've had good luck with
Polytek products.
http://www.polytek.com/products/poly_optic.html

Their catalog is a good primer on making cast plastic objects.

Does the Eager Plastics stuff need degassing during the pour? I don't
have the equip and need something with low viscosity so I can have
virtually bubble free castings.

Thanks again.

Mike

On 18 Jan 2005 16:37:13 -0800, "Mike Brophy"
wrote:

Does the Eager Plastics stuff need degassing during the pour? I don't
have the equip and need something with low viscosity so I can have
virtually bubble free castings.

I haven't worked with materials from Eager, but any pourable material
will need either degassing or pressure while curing if you want
bubble-free castings.

Having said that, hobby shops do sell clear polyester casting
material and many hobbyists don't have either vacuum or pressure, so
you might get acceptable results with such materials.