Filling the Mold

Once the mold had been properly cleaned, it was time to fill it with resin to create a proper cast. 

First item of business was cutting a pour hole in the top of the mold so the resin could fill the entire mold properly. This was a bit tricky because the handle I designed was so thin, but we managed to make it work. 

After, I rubber-banded the mold together to ensure that no leakage would occur when resin was poured. I then partnered up with another classmate and we poured our first round of resin, going with royal purple for our first prototype casts. 

Using a funnel, I poured the resin into the mold, ensuring there was a little bit extra in the funnel to fill the rest of the mold as the cast began to settle and compress. I had to secure the funnel with an extra rubber band because my mold was so small, but overall it held its shape well. Once the resin was poured, the mold was placed with the others in the pressure chamber to set properly. 

~At least 6 hours later - Cast #1~

After cracking open cast #1, I immediately noticed that this cast didn't come out quite right. The texture of the cast was closer to Laffy-Taffy than a harder resin, and the cast completely fell apart in my hands when trying to take it out of the mold. I suspect this was due to a mixing error with the resin, and for the next cast, I would be much more careful with mixing the correct parts accurately. 

Carefully mixing the new resin, I went with a lucky green for cast #2. I let this one go to set, fingers crossed that we'd get a better cast this time around.

~A few days later - Cast #2~

After cutting through the rubber band layer on my mold, I cracked it open to reveal my first successful cast!

Fortunately, the resin solvent seemed to be better proportioned this time around, resulting in a successful cast. Unfortunately, the funnel was jammed so far into the mold that it had become part of the cast. In future iterations, I would either place the molded object further down from the drip hole or use a smaller funnel. 

Funnel being absorbed into the resin cast

After taking it out and cleaning it up a bit, the cast was probably an 80% success. For the next round using this proportion for the resin solvent and a smaller funnel, the next model will be even better than its predecessor.

With cast #3, I used cardboard to properly bind the sides and a mini-sized funnel to fill the mold. The resin color of choice this time was a lovely shade of blue. 

~The next day - Cast #3~

For this iteration, the resin part proportions again worked successfully, this time coming out a baby blue color. 

The small funnel did result in less damage on the handle, although the damage wasn't completely avoidable. For the next iteration, I would continue to use this funnel but perhaps place it a little higher. 

For the 4th and final cast, I used a bright orange for easier visibility and to pay tribute to the safety orange used in a lot of safety equipment. I raised the funnel out of the mold a little bit to prevent too much damage to the handle itself.