Recently, silicone is increasingly being used for molds, which differs in that it hardens at room temperature, without shrinkage, and forms rubber. For the production of molds at home, you can use a two-component composition.
Silicone rubbers and compounds are quite simply converted into forms at home, without requiring additional equipment, because they allow for independent manual filling. So, silicone for molds is used for different purposes, you can consider copying a simple product. To begin with, you can cast the part from epoxy resin into a split mold, which consists of two parts.
Despite the fact that an inexpensive and very common silicone sealant is well suited for this operation, it is more convenient and much easier to use a two-component material that is specially designed to create forms.
Epoxy is also used for casting
. There is a lot of this material on the market, so when choosing it is important to take into account such a requirement as a not too short polarization time. If bicomponent silicone is used for the molds, a release agent may be necessary so that the halves are separated from each other.
At the moment, there are many separation products that are designed specifically for this purpose. Usually they are made in the form of wax-based aerosols, but you can also use regular melted wax or petroleum jelly.
In this case, plasticine can serve as the primary building material. Before you start manufacturing the mold, you can check the selected materials for compliance with each other. In the event that this nuance is missed, you can spoil all the work. You need to make sure that the silicone easily separates from a surface made of the same material as the part you want to copy. If this does not work out, then it will need to be covered with a release agent. Further, it is important to make sure that after hardening, the epoxy is qualitatively separated from silicone, and also that the physical properties of the material satisfy you after hardening. Only then can molding silicone be used.
The manufacturing process begins with the fact that plasticine is applied on a flat surface, into which the copy part should be pressed. If we are talking about a flat part, then it can be pressed to the border, along which the shape will then be divided. If it is sufficiently voluminous, then you will need to apply another layer of plasticine around the perimeter. The material should be well pressed to the part, which will allow for the formation of distinct borders.
Before using silicone for molds, it is necessary to make a wall of the future container, which is implemented using the same plasticine. At the bottom of the tank, you can make several recesses so that the halves can then be docked to each other. Now that everything is ready for pouring, it is quite possible to use liquid silicone for molds. After hardening, all plasticine can be removed; as a result, only the silicone mold will remain.