Casting 'Hexagonal' shape???

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devowoodworking

devowoodworking

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Just wondering if any of you casting guys can answer my question, my latest puzzle uses 3/4" hex stock and I started to think it might be cool to use some 'Alumilite' in solid colors...if anyone is interested in following up on this theme send me a PM and I can give you more specifics, here's a pic of the finished puzzle in four woods; Wenge/Lacewood/Purpleheart/Benge
I also added a pic of what the pieces with notches look like, piece length is 3" :cool:
 

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devowoodworking said:
Just wondering if any of you casting guys can answer my question, my latest puzzle uses 3/4" hex stock and I started to think it might be cool to use some 'Alumilite' in solid colors...if anyone is interested in following up on this theme send me a PM and I can give you more specifics, here's a pic of the finished puzzle in four woods; Wenge/Lacewood/Purpleheart/Benge
I also added a pic of what the pieces with notches look like, piece length is 3" :cool:
Click to expand...

Honestly I would think about seeing if charlie or one of the other mold makers could make a mold of your shapes. You could do it yourself as well if you took the time. That way you wouldn't even have to do any cutting. Just pop the pieces out of the mold and finish them.
 
Making a mold for that would be pretty simple.

  • Build a small mold box out of UHMW or plastic cutting board. (I would seal the edges with Goop and tape it together with duct tape. Screws are too much bother.)
  • Temporarily affix the item to be copied to the bottom of the mold box. (Remember, the bottom of the box will become the top of the mold.)
  • Mix up your silicone rubber and pour it into the mold. (Choose a rubber with a low 'Shore A' number. This will make your finished mold more pliable to let it stretch away from the cast object. Also, try not to stir in too much air.)
  • Set the mold in your pressure vessel and pressurize it, reducing the size of any bubbles.
  • After the mold has hardened, carefully remove it from the mold box. Gently take the sides of the box off first, then carefully peel away the bottom. It will be a good idea to peel the Goop off the bottom of the mold box. Then you can carefully work the cast item out of the mold, rather than ripping it out, still attached to the mold box. The rubber mold will stretch to help you out, but you still need to use care.
  • To use the mold, it's probably a good idea to rebuild the mold box around the mold (with the mold flipped over). Since you needed to use a less hard rubber for teh mold, it may flex a bit if it is not supported in a mold box. If making pen blanks, this flex is unimportant, but if casting an item in it's finished shape, it's necessary.
 
John, why can't you use the normal square blanks of your choice and shape them with either a table saw or router? I think even with cast hexagons you will have to do lots of finishing anyway. All you need is one deep surface bubble and the whole cast blank is useless.

You can also shape them into perfect hexagons on your lathe:wink:
 
Well actually Steven, I now have made all my 'hex' stock for my next run of puzzles from the four woods I mentioned in the opening post :wink: I make it on the tablesaw in fact...I was hoping to make a variation by casting four distinctly different colors to sell as an alternate choice for puzzle customers :cool:
 
PR_Princess said:
Well, I was wondering when you puzzle guys were going to finally see the light come over to the dark side! :rolleyes::biggrin::cool:

Welcome John!:biggrin:
Click to expand...

Funny you should mention that Dawn, this particular puzzle design was originally licensed out to 3M company (1970) and some 100,000 were made in white (ugly) injection molded styrene! It was supposed to have been made in 4 colors but to save a few pennies they opted for the one color:mad:


I would like to make a few of these puzzles from some from your solid color polyresins, do you have enough in stock of your Red/Black/Blue/Yellow? :wink:
 
devowoodworking said:
I would like to make a few of these puzzles from some from your solid color polyresins, do you have enough in stock of your Red/Black/Blue/Yellow? :wink:
Click to expand...

Geeze John, how many did you have in mind? (Something tells me I am going to regret asking that question! :eek: )

In addition to the solids though, have you considered a puzzle out of lightly tinted transparent color(s)?:confused:
 
PR_Princess said:
Geeze John, how many did you have in mind? (Something tells me I am going to regret asking that question! :eek: )

In addition to the solids though, have you considered a puzzle out of lightly tinted transparent color(s)?:confused:
Click to expand...

Well, I would need 3 blanks (of each color) x 4 colors so a total of 12 blanks for each puzzle and I was thinking of maybe a modest half dozen or so puzzles to 'test the waters' so to speak (most of my customers, shun anything other than wood:rolleyes:) Now there are other similar designs that require all one color as well (so long as I can glue pieces together, I assume epoxy would work?) so some of your other mixed colors would probably work best for those :wink:

The lightly tinted transparent color(s) would probably be a nice touch as well...:cool:
 
John, all the puzzles that you and others have given me seem to part rely on friction ( as well as very accurate cutting )to keep them together. Will this be ok with slick plastic?.
CA is great for PR but I'd go for epoxy so you could still move bits into exact place.:wink:
 
Thanks Steven, epoxy sounds like the wise choice! :wink:

There's a couple of things I'll be watching for when using 'cast' puzzle pieces, not the least of which is fit, and the other is finish, and our puzzlework relies heavily on both so...just have to wait and see how it all pans out :wink: I'm excited to see what some of those vibrant colors will look like in a puzzle :cool:
 
skiprat said:
John, all the puzzles that you and others have given me seem to part rely on friction ( as well as very accurate cutting )to keep them together. Will this be ok with slick plastic?.
CA is great for PR but I'd go for epoxy so you could still move bits into exact place.:wink:
Click to expand...

This could be overcome with careful mold preperation. Using a shrinkage scale and surface preperation to design in the friction.
 
John, just a quick thought. have you taken any of the regular PR or Alumilite blanks and cut them down to the hex stock that you need?
 
wolftat said:
John, just a quick thought. have you taken any of the regular PR or Alumilite blanks and cut them down to the hex stock that you need?
Click to expand...

That's pretty much were I'm at right now, unfortunately I don't have any blanks (PR or Alumilite) to even try it, you'd think it should work out fine, but without trying it, I can't be sure :wink:
 
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