The word you were looking for is "surfactant". Very much enjoying this series, keep'em coming! I like how you're covering fully kitted out professional shops mainly, but also some diy type setups like this. Something for everyone.
Surfacant... too funny. In my years, that word never came up. But now I can sneak it into a future video. ha. yes, we start filming some simple DIY videos next week. Very simple stuff... just trying to lay down the basic safety stuff and intro to mold concepts. Stay tuned. Michael
You were very generous in your evaluation of that video. It didn't do a good job at explaining much of anything, and would cause other DIYers to have more failures because of what was skipped. Like - Safety gear How to use a knife Measuring out the silicone Best mold cutting once it has set up, and how to do the arm holes Mixing plaster, how much plaster to water, how do you know when there is enough plaster in the water to be strong. Using surfactants Tapping or vibrating a mold to reduce air pockets His video is going to cause more frustration than it helps.
All valid points. I am struggling with the aspect that there is not much solid mold making intel that comes up in my feed or searches. It's too much to try to teach all in one video and I think this guy did a good job of showing the 'concepts' of silicone mold making... but fell short on the instruction. This is common with small distributors.. I am more fussy with people who are professionals who are showing sloppy skills. I think their videos carry more weight than the little snap shot videos. Those deserve some extra mold kung fu. We have a new extensive silicone video coming up in the next few days... its about 50 minutes long with lots of instruction. Only the durable viewers who are actually making molds will make it through! Thanks for tuning in. Michael
@@ShapeShifters-TV No peril. Your critiques were spot on, I would have just been much more picky. I've learned some from several makers. This is my first exposure to your channel but here are a few you might not have checked out yet. Tested, Punished Props Academy, Evan and Katelyn, Steady Craftn, And others I don't remember right this second. I am going to go through your backlog and see what else you've covered.
To add to @@Walsfeo's list of makers... I would love to see Michael's take on Robert Tolone and Miscast. Two mold makers with totally different approaches to molding and casting.
I blew into a mold to get the excess powder out, in an introductory class, forgetting what the instructor said about getting moisture in contact with the resin, and it foamed up, when she poured it in. This is the first time I’ve admitted that! 😜
Can you do a video about small scale silicone casting? Since you think this form for the mold wastes quite a bit of silicone I'm curious what dimensions and shape you would use and also how you would do the clamping since using rubber bands on a square mold will just deform it.. Also I've been quite confused myself by the industrial vacuum casting setups for silicone molds that they use for automotive prototypes, they generally use silicone molds that are extremely oversized and use staples to hold them together.. When I saw them I just thought it's a waste since they break the mold and waste a lot of silicone but they are the real pro's so maybe there is something to it. Also using blocks of cured silicone is something I've heard people use and I've tried and it's just a huge mess and a pain so I don't get why anyone would do it.. Would love to hear your opinions
This is what I mean btw: ua-cam.com/video/ERFKpPc6CJU/v-deo.html What I do myself is 3D print a mold box with an open 3D printed mesh on the inside of the box that the silicone molds into. (where the seam line will be cut I leave only a few plastic strips so it connects but I can still easily seperate). Then the mold box also acts as the back support for all the silicone parts of the mold so they keep their exact shape when putting it back together again.. Since I print the mold box I can keep silicone usage to the absolute minimum, takes a bit of time to design the box but once you know how it's not that bad.
Thank you for reaching out. We have some simple videos coming out soon that illustrate the use of an adjustable mold box system. It is very simple and helpful. Very common in ceramic world. I see so often on YT people making mold boxes with cardboard, wood scraps, legos, tupperware, to go containers etc etc.. all of which can work, but if you are making more than a few molds on your journey, the adjustable mold boxes are mint. I will have to find one of my previous videos that shows on type of box (clink boards) aluminum boards that I used for making plaster and silicone molds. It worked well, was fast and totally reusable. I will post link when I find the example. I saw the vacuum casting mold video before. With the right equipment, it is a super effective process!
The word you were looking for is "surfactant".
Very much enjoying this series, keep'em coming! I like how you're covering fully kitted out professional shops mainly, but also some diy type setups like this. Something for everyone.
Surfacant... too funny. In my years, that word never came up. But now I can sneak it into a future video. ha. yes, we start filming some simple DIY videos next week. Very simple stuff... just trying to lay down the basic safety stuff and intro to mold concepts. Stay tuned. Michael
You were very generous in your evaluation of that video. It didn't do a good job at explaining much of anything, and would cause other DIYers to have more failures because of what was skipped.
Like -
Safety gear
How to use a knife
Measuring out the silicone
Best mold cutting once it has set up, and how to do the arm holes
Mixing plaster, how much plaster to water, how do you know when there is enough plaster in the water to be strong.
Using surfactants
Tapping or vibrating a mold to reduce air pockets
His video is going to cause more frustration than it helps.
All valid points. I am struggling with the aspect that there is not much solid mold making intel that comes up in my feed or searches. It's too much to try to teach all in one video and I think this guy did a good job of showing the 'concepts' of silicone mold making... but fell short on the instruction. This is common with small distributors..
I am more fussy with people who are professionals who are showing sloppy skills. I think their videos carry more weight than the little snap shot videos. Those deserve some extra mold kung fu. We have a new extensive silicone video coming up in the next few days... its about 50 minutes long with lots of instruction. Only the durable viewers who are actually making molds will make it through! Thanks for tuning in. Michael
@@ShapeShifters-TV
No peril. Your critiques were spot on, I would have just been much more picky.
I've learned some from several makers. This is my first exposure to your channel but here are a few you might not have checked out yet.
Tested,
Punished Props Academy,
Evan and Katelyn,
Steady Craftn,
And others I don't remember right this second.
I am going to go through your backlog and see what else you've covered.
To add to @@Walsfeo's list of makers... I would love to see Michael's take on Robert Tolone and Miscast. Two mold makers with totally different approaches to molding and casting.
I blew into a mold to get the excess powder out, in an introductory class, forgetting what the instructor said about getting moisture in contact with the resin, and it foamed up, when she poured it in. This is the first time I’ve admitted that! 😜
Good mold group therapy. ha. Glad you found our channel.
Can you do a video about small scale silicone casting? Since you think this form for the mold wastes quite a bit of silicone I'm curious what dimensions and shape you would use and also how you would do the clamping since using rubber bands on a square mold will just deform it..
Also I've been quite confused myself by the industrial vacuum casting setups for silicone molds that they use for automotive prototypes, they generally use silicone molds that are extremely oversized and use staples to hold them together.. When I saw them I just thought it's a waste since they break the mold and waste a lot of silicone but they are the real pro's so maybe there is something to it. Also using blocks of cured silicone is something I've heard people use and I've tried and it's just a huge mess and a pain so I don't get why anyone would do it.. Would love to hear your opinions
This is what I mean btw: ua-cam.com/video/ERFKpPc6CJU/v-deo.html
What I do myself is 3D print a mold box with an open 3D printed mesh on the inside of the box that the silicone molds into. (where the seam line will be cut I leave only a few plastic strips so it connects but I can still easily seperate).
Then the mold box also acts as the back support for all the silicone parts of the mold so they keep their exact shape when putting it back together again..
Since I print the mold box I can keep silicone usage to the absolute minimum, takes a bit of time to design the box but once you know how it's not that bad.
Thank you for reaching out. We have some simple videos coming out soon that illustrate the use of an adjustable mold box system. It is very simple and helpful. Very common in ceramic world.
I see so often on YT people making mold boxes with cardboard, wood scraps, legos, tupperware, to go containers etc etc.. all of which can work, but if you are making more than a few molds on your journey, the adjustable mold boxes are mint. I will have to find one of my previous videos that shows on type of box (clink boards) aluminum boards that I used for making plaster and silicone molds. It worked well, was fast and totally reusable. I will post link when I find the example.
I saw the vacuum casting mold video before. With the right equipment, it is a super effective process!