Giuliano

Ok, I think I got a good pour this second time around.

I cut out two large pieces of posterboard to fit the front and back of the mold, sandwiched the mold in between them, and taped the edges together nice and tight.

I also taped around the entire bottom and side edges of the mold, so nothing could leak out, and then covered that with plastic wrap.


A little excessive, but it's working..

I mixed up 500 grams of resin, which actually was too much, and made the pour - it went in slowly, but I got resin coming back out the venting channels at the top, so I think it worked.

I think I could have gotten by with 300 grams of resin, but I'll know for sure after it's all cured and I can weigh the newly cast part.

There's some resin still left in the mixing bucket I made, and in this picture you can see the resin's color prior to curing, which is yellow in color.


In the time that I took to write this post, the resin in the bucket has cured to a white plastic.

The resin in the mold is just starting to cure, however.
It'll finish its cure in about 16 hours, and you bet I'll let it sit there in the mold for at least that long.


The reason the resin in the bucket cured so fast is that there's a large amount of resin in the bucket, so the curing process generates more heat, which causes the "kick" to happen sooner.

The "kick" is when the resin goes from a liquid state to a solid, and you can actually see it happen in the bucket..

Sometimes it happens very quickly, which is why you have a limited time to pour the resin once you mix the two parts together.


Tomorrow afternoon, or about 16 hours later, I'll cut the tape off and open up the mold.

You can be sure there will be more pictures..

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big_cali_dave

Check www.freemansupply.com They have a 2 part silicon tooling mix that lets you make a nice flexible silicon mold. Needs no release agent, and has a smoother fill and mold surface.
It's expensive to start, but a gallon of the silicon will go a long way.
Dave

Giuliano

Thanks for the link.

The stuff I used is pretty much the same, a silicone molding rubber, and is very flexible and non-stick.


I got mine in a 1-gallon bucket for about $86.

Giuliano

The resin actually is at a solid cure at about 1 hour, but I let it sit for 4 hours before I opened it up.

And it was a near perfect pour.. excellent.


I sliced off the tape, and peeled off the back part of the mold, and I can tell I got a nearly perfect pour.


The picture shows the back side of the part, and as you can see, there's some flash (thin resin) around certain sections, but that's to be expected.

I don't think any of it leaked out at all, this time..


I'm going to wait another 8 hours or so before actually pulling the piece out of the mold, because I don't want it to deform if I pull it out while it's still soft.


But as you can see, it's looking good!

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Giuliano

Did I say 8 hours?

I meant 8 minutes.. 'cause that's about all the patience I had left.


I gently pried the mold away from the part (note: not the part away from the mold.. there's a difference), and as you can see, it looks pretty good.

There's a few air bubbles cast into the plastic on the bottom edge of the opening, but otherwise it's looking good.

A little trimming, some putty, and it'll look just the same... until I start chopping it apart to extend it.

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Seraph

Nice.

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imprezive one

wow, that looks really nice! can't wait to see the whole part out of the mold.

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Giuliano

Well, I was going to stop here, seeing as I've duplicated the bezel...

But I suppose I can go on, and modify the duplicate, and modify the mold too..


The first thing I need to do, after I finish trimming the piece, is to cut it in three places so I can start extending the bezel.

The upper left and right pieces will then be placed apart, sized to fit the dash, and will be joined together with a section of brass/copper/aluminum square stock or U-channel.

The space in between will be built up with pieces of cured resin, and the cracks filled in with modeling-grade epoxy putty.


And then I'll do the same to join the new top piece to the original bottom piece.

The front of the bezel is actually curved at the top, so it'll take some shaping by hand to get it to look right..

Cuts shown here in red lines:

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killerfishes

one word.

sweet

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Giuliano

Yeah, it's coming along nicely..

So far I've cut out the holes and trimmed the edges, and cut the part in half horizontally in preperation for extending it.

I originally thought I would have to cut it in half horizontally, and then split the upper half, but it looks like I won't have to do that - the top piece is almost the right width, and all I'd need is to fill in some around the sides, and in the gap between the upper and lower halves.


Although I did run into one problem - the thickness of the part was about twice as thick as the original, so I must have gotten something wrong with the original 2-part mold.

I've been taking a dremel to the back to clear out some of the excess to get it to fit correctly against the A/C dials, and it makes a bit of a mess..


I've got some 3mm plastic rod that I can use to connect the top and bottom halves, and then I'll fill in the gap with some epoxy putty.

Also, I don't think I got the curve of the front to exactly match the original, so I may have to heat it up in some hot water and re-adjust it.

nzKAOSnz

pictures of this latest step please?
(Hanging out in eager anticipation :P)

Giuliano

Just as soon as I get home, in about an hour or two.. ;-)

Giuliano

Here we go..

I took the duplicate bezel that I had cut in half, taped the two halves to the foamboard LCD mockup, and stuck it in the dash.

And it fits!

Mostly - I still have to do some reshaping of the upper part, but not as much as I originally thought.

The top piece doesn't clear the upper viewable area of the LCD, so I may need to shave some off the top of the bezel, not a big deal.

This test fit also confirms that I'll have enough depth behind the bezel for the LCD.

It'll also sit at the same angle that the original radio was at, so I won't have to change the angle of the opening.


I think I also figured out why the duplicate was thicker - I believe that when I set the thicker part of the mold down (which cast the front), I accidentally compressed the mold a bit from the sides, causing the front to bow out and make the piece thicker.

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Giuliano

I fixed the warpage problems - one of the nice things about resin is that it's a thermoplastic - it gets soft when heated, and hard when cold.

I boiled up some water, put it in a suitable pot, and dunked the resin parts in it for a minute or two.

With the hot water, the plastic became soft and pliable, so I gently bent it back into the shape I needed, and ran it under cold water to set it in place.

It worked like a charm, as now the lower piece fits perfectly.. I may still have to do some dremeling to get it thinner, though.

NiN^_^NiN

Very Nice work

I'm sure if you made a few more bezels people would buy them

Nice work can't wait to see it finished

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