Making a mould of a resin piece?

[Sulla]

I broke my original small latinum piece I scratch built from styrene, and the first mold has failed. Is there a problem with casting a new mold off an existing resin casting? Do I need to worry about a mold release? I was only using powder for the resin casting previously.

 

[fettster]

as long as its a silicne mould, it wont be a problem, if you use urethane rubber, be sure to use plenty of release agent

 

[Sulla]

Cool, I've been using silicone.

Thanks!

 

[dropshipbob]

Making a copy of a copy is fine untill you get into making a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy, etc. Then you start to lose detail.

 

[exoray]

Making a copy of a copy is fine untill you get into making a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy, etc. Then you start to lose detail.

With what he said, take your "new" resin master you are going to mold and tuck it away in a safe place so it can be molded again down the line, avoiding yet another generation when the new mold fails...

 

[micdavis]

You would be better off fixing your original master.

 

[MattMunson]

You would be better off fixing your original master.

Amen.

The things you deal with when recasting (though in this case, it's of course not a sin!!!) is shrinkage and loss of detail. Both are a fact of life, though they can be minimized. If you're using lower end (ie, cheap) materials, both will tend to be more significant, especially the shrinkage. On small pieces like those, it may not be as big a deal, but it'll still be there.

I would say that on the second generation, you're not likely to lose much detail, but any more than that and you might start to see edges softening up, and stuff like that.

So yeah, your best bet is to repair your master, and mold that.