Tip. Finish the inside of the mould with a clear-coat paint, then apply a PVA mould release. The purpose behind the clear-coat is to give you a mirror finish on your object, which saves a lot of finishing work. When making a fiberglass mould, we actually apply spray release first, then apply the objects paint, then do the fiberglassing... your object comes out prepainted and ready for a quick sand and final coat.
Great start there! As the couple others have mentioned, using an actual mold release wax will likely help a lot, as would using a PVA release agent. Also, you want the mold surfaces as glass smooth / polished as possible. not only does this affect the part surface finish but it also significantly aids it part release from the mold.
I really appreciate you sharing your efforts here. I think that one of the biggest problems was your use of 3D resin printing. It's pretty clear that without proper mold release, your epoxy is bonding to the resin mold. Live and learn! GREAT job!
This was my first attempt using resin and you're right it was bonding to the mold. I would buy a better release spray next time. I started making silicone molds also and if I don't cure the resin print 100%, it stops the silicone from curing where it touches it. The 3d resin prints are great for fine details but can cause a lot of issues!
If you line the mold with aluminum tape, then apply mold release liquid or wax, that will help with releasing the mold. A jar of mold release wax doesn't cost all that much and works really well. Forged carbon fiber is really cool stuff.
@Mike Camera true, it might just be the rough mold surface that's gripping the resin. Maybe gluing cling wrap in the mold with spray adhesive would provide a slick barrier to apply the mold release to? Your mold looked pretty smooth though, so maybe just the wax on the mold would be sufficient. Maybe a small port to shoot compressed air in to pop the mold apart would help, but I've never tried that.
The vertical walls on my dish had 0 degrees draft. If those had a couple degrees I think it would release a lot better. But even my bottom half held onto the part more than I wanted. I'd use a better release wax next time.
0:41 Your resin printer can do a much better job with rounded parts than you think. I ran into the same issue with mine, which I later discovered was an issue with my STL export for the slicer. When you export from CAD, there should be some export options (software dependent) that will increase the resolution. A cylindrical piece I printed went from 48 facets to incredibly smooth - you'll easily see the difference in Chitubox.
I'll take a look at that. I knew I could change the resolution for viewing my CAD on the computer, but I didn't know you could change the resolution for exporting. Thanks for the tip!
@@mikecamera818 You also might try to put the mold into a freezer for 30 minutes or so before attempting to extract the part. It can help to brake the bond without ruining the mold.
considering the most complex part of this whole process is your mold, making your final product came out pretty good for using a petroleum jelly. It would come out significantly better if you one upd it and used a mold release wax. on top of that the strength and the part comes from the exothermal reaction that happens with the resin and mold during compression. so when you make the mold you don’t need to make anything for resin to escape other than naturally from the compression overtime. It’ll compress as far as it needs to go and excess resin will come out whatever resin is left over in the carbon, will be structural the rest of it doesn’t matter. Really good job with what you used though!
Agreed, release wax would have made everything a lot easier. I designed a channel around the mold so excess resin could squeeze out more easily when being compressed. My first mold didn't have this channel so there was a lot of surface area that got glued together by the excess resin coming out. Again, if I had used a good release wax that probably wouldn't have been an issue. Thanks!
3 part mold would have helped. Tried to keep it simple for my first attempt, but I didn't even add draft to the mold so my part got stuck. Thank you! Trying to grow my channel every day.
![[TF2] The Russian Bear Trap](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/YFNSwz2_rOA/mqdefault.jpg)
Tip. Finish the inside of the mould with a clear-coat paint, then apply a PVA mould release. The purpose behind the clear-coat is to give you a mirror finish on your object, which saves a lot of finishing work. When making a fiberglass mould, we actually apply spray release first, then apply the objects paint, then do the fiberglassing... your object comes out prepainted and ready for a quick sand and final coat.
That sounds like a much better process. I was trying to see how good a simpler process was, but of course it had its downsides.
Great start there!
As the couple others have mentioned, using an actual mold release wax will likely help a lot, as would using a PVA release agent. Also, you want the mold surfaces as glass smooth / polished as possible. not only does this affect the part surface finish but it also significantly aids it part release from the mold.
Agreed. I didn't realize how important the wax or a release agent was. Prepping the mold better would make the whole process so much easier.
I really appreciate you sharing your efforts here. I think that one of the biggest problems was your use of 3D resin printing. It's pretty clear that without proper mold release, your epoxy is bonding to the resin mold. Live and learn! GREAT job!
This was my first attempt using resin and you're right it was bonding to the mold. I would buy a better release spray next time. I started making silicone molds also and if I don't cure the resin print 100%, it stops the silicone from curing where it touches it. The 3d resin prints are great for fine details but can cause a lot of issues!
If you line the mold with aluminum tape, then apply mold release liquid or wax, that will help with releasing the mold. A jar of mold release wax doesn't cost all that much and works really well. Forged carbon fiber is really cool stuff.
Thanks for the tips! If I do another part I'll definitely buy some release wax. I'd like to stay away from tape because of the added thickness.
@Mike Camera true, it might just be the rough mold surface that's gripping the resin. Maybe gluing cling wrap in the mold with spray adhesive would provide a slick barrier to apply the mold release to? Your mold looked pretty smooth though, so maybe just the wax on the mold would be sufficient.
Maybe a small port to shoot compressed air in to pop the mold apart would help, but I've never tried that.
The vertical walls on my dish had 0 degrees draft. If those had a couple degrees I think it would release a lot better. But even my bottom half held onto the part more than I wanted. I'd use a better release wax next time.
0:41 Your resin printer can do a much better job with rounded parts than you think. I ran into the same issue with mine, which I later discovered was an issue with my STL export for the slicer.
When you export from CAD, there should be some export options (software dependent) that will increase the resolution. A cylindrical piece I printed went from 48 facets to incredibly smooth - you'll easily see the difference in Chitubox.
I'll take a look at that. I knew I could change the resolution for viewing my CAD on the computer, but I didn't know you could change the resolution for exporting. Thanks for the tip!
@@mikecamera818 if you cant find that option i use .step and i get no faces around my curves
I'll check it out thanks for the suggestion!
Print the mold out of PLA (epoxy does not stick well to plastic) and use special wax mold release.
That would be better. I have a resin printer though, so I wanted to try it.
@@mikecamera818 You also might try to put the mold into a freezer for 30 minutes or so before attempting to extract the part. It can help to brake the bond without ruining the mold.
considering the most complex part of this whole process is your mold, making your final product came out pretty good for using a petroleum jelly. It would come out significantly better if you one upd it and used a mold release wax. on top of that the strength and the part comes from the exothermal reaction that happens with the resin and mold during compression. so when you make the mold you don’t need to make anything for resin to escape other than naturally from the compression overtime. It’ll compress as far as it needs to go and excess resin will come out whatever resin is left over in the carbon, will be structural the rest of it doesn’t matter. Really good job with what you used though!
Agreed, release wax would have made everything a lot easier. I designed a channel around the mold so excess resin could squeeze out more easily when being compressed. My first mold didn't have this channel so there was a lot of surface area that got glued together by the excess resin coming out. Again, if I had used a good release wax that probably wouldn't have been an issue. Thanks!
@@mikecamera818 still got a really nice piece! Look forward to seeing more
Maybe a 3 part mould would have worked better.. Great video by the way. Can’t believe you only have 1.3k subscribers
3 part mold would have helped. Tried to keep it simple for my first attempt, but I didn't even add draft to the mold so my part got stuck. Thank you! Trying to grow my channel every day.