Make shift vibration "plate" for better castings?

tubachris85x

tubachris85x

Master Member
So, I have a day to produce several quality cold-cast pieces by tomorrow. The issue is that the piece has very fine detailed letters, but the issue from my test casts is that airholes are getting in there and not allow it to fully form. To make it worse, I need to do these in cold cast, as you may know, makes the resin much thicker when pouring.

The alternative idea for this is to use something like a vibration plate that some dental labs use for when they make molds and such. The thing is..I don't own one!

However, as silly as this sounds, I was thinking of using my mouse sander, of course without the sand paper. Whether it be me putting it around the mold VS underneath it or directly applied, since it may be too powerful and just cause a mess.

Thoughts? I'm getting desperate to get these castings done right!
 
Worth a shot, but it might even make the metal powder sink to the bottom giving a different look on different parts. This is based on concrete experience, so it may not apply.
 
I think it's worth trying.
Before we had a vac chamber we used to sit moulds on our disc sander and it definitely helped to move the bubbles.
 
Thanks guys! I don't think the aluminum powder sinking will be an issue since I "dust" the mold with the powder before pouring resin, so I'm sure that will be fine. I'm absolutely worried that it can cause more air bubbles, for whatever reason.

Anyways, I was thinking of taking the mouse sander, mounting it up-side down in a vice-grip and setting a piece of MDF or styrene so I can support the mold and go from there.

It might be so stupid it could work..
 
It's worth a try. If the shape of the mould allows it I would also try brushing in a small amount of the resin, using the brush to get resin into all the tiny details and pop any small airbubbles that occur. Once you have that beauty coat, you can pour the rest of the resin in on top of it.
 
bookface said:
It's worth a try. If the shape of the mould allows it I would also try brushing in a small amount of the resin, using the brush to get resin into all the tiny details and pop any small airbubbles that occur. Once you have that beauty coat, you can pour the rest of the resin in on top of it.
Click to expand...

Why didn't I think of that? My mind doesn't always function...I'll give this a shot. I'm using a slow-cure resin so I *should* have about 7 minutes of work time...so I can probably do a combination....brush the resin, use the vibration a bit, then pour the rest of the resin...I'll have to experiment. I've got at least a gallon of the resin.....
 
It definitely works. I use a sander for vibration when casting quite often. It's also quite handy held against the side of a silicone mixing pot (with no sandpaper in obviously!) to increase the rate the bubbles rise to the surface.
 
I have heard where when molding things in hydrocal, they pour the slurry in, roll it around, and then pour it back out of the mold to evenly coat the inside of the mold and prevent surface bubbles getting trapped, if the resin is thin enough and the working time long enough, and depending on the mold, you may be able to do something similar.
 
I had a similar thought to this vibration plate issue. What I planned to do (and still will, by the sounds of it) is to get an electric motor and mount an offset weight to it, and mount that to a dedicated casting table.

I just don't have the cash for a pressure pot right now.
 
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