Very first home-made blank

[Bobostro61]

Not the best, could have used a bit more pearl, but here's the results of my very first home-made PR blank.
The color of the blank is actually a bit more of a royal blue. Looks more navy blue in the photo.

 

[Janster]

Nice first pour!

 

[Bobostro61]

Thanks Jan! I have a really ugly purple one curing right now. I only have the mold that came with the Castin' Craft resin I bought so I can only make one at a time for now. Quite the learning curve on this stuff...

 

[longbeard]

You done good Bob, looks great for the first. You'll get the hang of it.
I built my molds out of 1/2'' UHMW,(i can get enough scrap from work) if you can get your hands on some, works great, blanks will fall out with alittle tap on the bench. But DON'T sand the inside the mold DAMHIKT. Some guys use the thick white cutting boards, some have made the molds out of clear caulking. We also have some GREAT vendors on here that sell molds.
Trial and error little buddy, you'll get it.

 

[Bobostro61]

You done good Bob, looks great for the first. You'll get the hang of it.
I built my molds out of 1/2'' UHMW,(i can get enough scrap from work) if you can get your hands on some, works great, blanks will fall out with alittle tap on the bench. But DON'T sand the inside the mold DAMHIKT. Some guys use the thick white cutting boards, some have made the molds out of clear caulking. We also have some GREAT vendors on here that sell molds.
Trial and error little buddy, you'll get it.

Um..... what's UHMW???

 

[Bobostro61]

Ah... The wonders of google... Ultra High Molecular Weight...

 

[Snowbeast]

1/2" and 3/4" PVC pipe works great for forms also.

The PR pulls away from the sides as it cures and should slide out fairly easily. A bit of persuasion with a dowel and hammer helps too.:biggrin:

I just tape off the bottom end with blue painters tape and the mold is ready to go. When it gets too funky from repeated castings, throw it away and cut a new mold.

Nice first pour, BTW.

 

[Bobostro61]

1/2" and 3/4" PVC pipe works great for forms also.

The PR pulls away from the sides as it cures and should slide out fairly easily. A bit of persuasion with a dowel and hammer helps too.:biggrin:

I just tape off the bottom end with blue painters tape and the mold is ready to go. When it gets too funky from repeated castings, throw it away and cut a new mold.

Nice first pour, BTW.

Great idea! And they come out round too! I like the 1/2" pipe idea too. Nine times out of 10 most of the 3/4" blank ends up on the floor. I'm gonna have to try it! Thanks!

 

[Snowbeast]

1/2" works well for slims and the 3/4" would be for larger body pens. I've even contemplated using 1 1/2" or 2" for casting bottle stopper blanks but haven't gotten to them yet.

 

[betwisted]

good lookin pen, I've recently become a fan of the executives, and the blue with the silver is great. Before I made my silicone molds (smooth-on oomoo 30) I used the disposable ziploc containers (cheap tupperware style). They were inexpensive, effective, and reusable. There was an issue with the rounded corners, but some careful cutting created a couple blanks for single tube pens, and the middle section created 3 or 4 blanks for any pen you want to make. You end up turning off any of the markings on the outside of the plastic anyway.
Joe

 

[Jim Burr]

I like it Bob!! But...what did you learn in the process?

 

[mikespenturningz]

Good job on that pour Bob.

 

[Bobostro61]

I like it Bob!! But...what did you learn in the process?

Hmmm.... What did I learn?

1. Patience is a virtue.
2. PR really stinks!
3. PR is really sticky!
4. Wear latex gloves.
5. Cheap plastic cups from the dollar store melt quickly.
6. Have enough mixing sticks on hand. I'm out of them already.
7. I don't really know what the heck I'm doing and winging it. I'm no chemist.
8. This is kind of fun!
9. One of these days I'll make a good looking blank that I'd actually use on a pen! Besides the blue one that is...
10. Move FAST when it starts to set up.