Reproduction badges from silicone moulds

[Kramer1981]

Actually just noticed this and it looks cool! My suggestions: Being an HVAC tech I have a 1 cfm vacuum pump that will pull a -50 inch vacuum, thats getting into the area when pickle jars start kerploding. I have made a brake bleeding reservior to use with it that will suck an m/c dry really fast!

 

http://www.harborfreight.com/25-cfm-vacuum-pump-98076.html

 

A friend of mine used to work at a fiberglass plant. He had this stuff he mixed with fiberglass resin he called "cav-uh-sell" it was like a hard plastic, when cured it was a snotty yellow/brown color, but it was almost like acetate (screwdriver handle) when fully curde-pretty damn hard

 

Ever notice "vato loco" chrome spray paint NEVER looks like the cap on the can?

 

I have noticed some of the model car chrome pieces have a little copper color on the backside, maybe spray some of that copper gasket paint and try plating?

 

Also, some of the model car aftermarket companies offer something called "vacuum metalizing", I have no idea what it is or how its done, or weather tolerance

 

http://muellercorp.com/chrome.php

 

A few years ago I asked a friend of mine about making some repop emblems for one of my hearses, he has like 10 cnc machines, he quoted me $50 an emblem, out the door, not a ridiculous price, that was him making the computer program and all...must be nice for your dad to be a retired ESAB rep...

 

Anyway, some food for thought, I might piddle around a bit if I get too bored...

Edited November 4, 2012 by Kramer1981

[DATS_IT]

hey bud, great work casting. i.m keen on a few of those badges next time your doing a pour!

[Dguy210]

Weird the way these things work out, but anyways we ended up needing to chrome some 3D printed plastic parts cheaply for something at work. So I made up some of my own Tollen's reagent and have been running some experiments. Long story short adhesion to the printed acrylic is poor but adhesion to polypropylene and polystyrene is quite good. So I'm going to try a couple of different things, first a Tin Chloride precoat or clear coat first, and if that doesn't work I might just use it as a base for electroplating. Either way I now have a good excuse for spending work time/resources on figuring out a cheap chrome-like coating. I'll post pics of the shiny bits later, I unfortunately only got one in-process shot for the initial test I ran late on Wednesday before I left for the long weekend. The inside of the clear plastic ended up mirrored while the white plastic ended up with a weird shiny coat to it, the acrylic piece is black and can't be seen here as it is inside the white lid. I'll post pics on Monday.

 

[Skib]

[72240z]

You guys have made a lot of progress. Wish I had the means to contribute right now. Good work....

[Dguy210]

Weird the way these things work out, but anyways we ended up needing to chrome some 3D printed plastic parts cheaply for something at work. So I made up some of my own Tollen's reagent and have been running some experiments. Long story short adhesion to the printed acrylic is poor but adhesion to polypropylene and polystyrene is quite good. So I'm going to try a couple of different things, first a Tin Chloride precoat or clear coat first, and if that doesn't work I might just use it as a base for electroplating. Either way I now have a good excuse for spending work time/resources on figuring out a cheap chrome-like coating. I'll post pics of the shiny bits later, I unfortunately only got one in-process shot for the initial test I ran late on Wednesday before I left for the long weekend. The inside of the clear plastic ended up mirrored while the white plastic ended up with a weird shiny coat to it, the acrylic piece is black and can't be seen here as it is inside the white lid. I'll post pics on Monday.

 

 

Shiny bits, the black piece on the left is the test piece I'm interested in though.

 

So trying a copper electroplating now. My super ganky electroplate rig:

[Dguy210]

So the electroplating does not work in conjunction with the Tollen's. I tried half a dozen variations, sanding down the piece in-between to get a fresh surface. I can get an even coat with the Tollen's if I pretreat the surface, but it just does not come out shiny on this plastic, and it wipes off very easily. If I precoat with graphite and electroplate (I ended up putting together a better rig than that pictured) I can get a shiny but not even coat, or I can get an even but not shiny coat. Neither is very durable. Graphite coating of some of my resin cast pieces did not work at all for some reason.

 

We ended up deciding to just cast the part we need in a low-melt alloy instead. I did some other screwing around with the piece afterward and did end up with kind of a cool finish, but not what I was looking for. So back to the drawing board.

 

[Dguy210]

So this happened this weekend.

 

New revised mold for the Violet badge to cure some problems with the edges.

 

Also cast the Bluebird-U badge. This is giving me some problems with fill though due to the complexity of the mold. Note the missing part on the edge of the U. I think I've got it solved, but I'm out of casting resin, so I won't know until I get down to the plastics shop later.

[bonvo]

this excites me

[72240z]

Ya me too lol I need 432 emblems

[MikeRL411]

So the electroplating does not work in conjunction with the Tollen's. I tried half a dozen variations, sanding down the piece in-between to get a fresh surface. I can get an even coat with the Tollen's if I pretreat the surface, but it just does not come out shiny on this plastic, and it wipes off very easily. If I precoat with graphite and electroplate (I ended up putting together a better rig than that pictured) I can get a shiny but not even coat, or I can get an even but not shiny coat. Neither is very durable. Graphite coating of some of my resin cast pieces did not work at all for some reason.

 

The "Proper" way to go would be expensive aluminum or chrome [maybe silver?] vacuum deposition which is unreasonable unless you could piggy back on a larger job. A possible reasonable alternative might be to go to a real scale modelers shop, look for a product that airplane modelers use [i can't remember the trade name]. It's an aluminum spray that is applied to parts in one direction, allowed to dry and them polished/burnished cross wise to the sprayed application. It looks just like aircraft "skin brightened" aluminum panels. If available, you would most likely have to clear coat for long term survivability.

Edited December 5, 2012 by MikeRL411

[Dguy210]

The "Proper" way to go would be expensive aluminum or chrome [maybe silver?] vacuum deposition which is unreasonable unless you could piggy back on a larger job. A possible reasonable alternative might be to go to a real scale modelers shop, look for a product that airplane modelers use [i can't remember the trade name]. It's an aluminum spray that is applied to parts in one direction, allowed to dry and them polished/burnished cross wise to the sprayed application. It looks just like aircraft "skin brightened" aluminum panels. If available, you would most likely have to clear coat for long term survivability.

 

Yeah, aluminum vapor deposition is the proper way, it's just pricey at the production scale I'm using. Thanks for the tip on the airplane modeler's spray I will give that a try.

[h190]

why not cast out of aluminum using scrap l series heads and sand molds.  then you could plate whatever you wanted on them.

[Dguy210]

why not cast out of aluminum using scrap l series heads and sand molds.  then you could plate whatever you wanted on them.

 

I'd go zinc or one of the other pot metals first before aluminum.  I don't believe sand molds would pick up the necessary detail here, you'd probably want to go more a plaster, lost wax method.

[MikeRL411]

 

I'd go zinc or one of the other pot metals first before aluminum.  I don't believe sand molds would pick up the necessary detail here, you'd probably want to go more a plaster, lost wax method.

 

And, you need to put in risers to vent the lost wax mold so that the filler metal will flow properly and leave no bubbles. With a little skill, and some luck, you could make the risers the posts to which the user would add the "speed nuts" to lock these to the fender.

[Dguy210]

  And, you need to put in risers to vent the lost wax mold so that the filler metal will flow properly and leave no bubbles. With a little skill, and some luck, you could make the risers the posts to which the user would add the "speed nuts" to lock these to the fender.

This has definitely crossed my mind. I haven't wanted to start down the high temp molten metal path just yet.

[Dguy210]

Will post more here in a moment. Version 2.0 of the coupe badge, reinforced the resin with metal wire taken from some steel wool to help support the thin sections. Works quite well as this casting is prone to breaking on the thin spots on the C and between the O and U.

 

[Dguy210]

Thought I would update this thread.

 

I've not been working on this much lately during January as the KA and everyone in the house being sick has been taking up my time. Got a moment to work on this a bit this week as I've been recovering from the flu.

 

There are several others not shown here, I forgot to take pics of the ones I brought to the Friday meet, and I haven't recast some of those yet. Note: Many of the originals these molds were taken from are on loan.

 

I've been doing some test painting with a silver spraypaint also, looks ok, but not chrome.

 

Version 3 of the Coupe badge with a different mold, slightly better casting.

 

 

Test piece for painting, this casting has a slight defect on the middle part of the W.  The gold paintpen was acting up unfortunately so it is not quite as good as I like. I'm probably way too picky on this stuff though.

 

 

The current stash of ones I've been making, these are in various conditions. The Bluebird-U badge has an extremely high failure rate unfortunately.

 

[DeviousPsycho620]

Maybe vacuum forming was the wrong term. I was talking more about laying carbon fiber sheets and such on a form and vacuum sealing them to cure.

 

Hey tristin. We use what you are talking about in cabinetry all the time to laminate veneers to mdf. There is a valve you can buy to hook to a standard air compressor that will create a giant vacuum sealer. Then all you need is some thick plastic and some two sided 3m tape. Works well. We use to use it when i built yachts too.

[Datsun510sss1800coupe]

Do you have jdm fender emblems for a 510 sss coupe

[Ratwagon1600]

Do you have jdm fender emblems for a 510 sss coupe thanx

Like these?

 

[MicroMachinery]

I really like those Bluebird-U ones..

[Laecaon]

 

 

 

Test piece for painting, this casting has a slight defect on the middle part of the W.  The gold paintpen was acting up unfortunately so it is not quite as good as I like. I'm probably way too picky on this stuff though.

 

 

 

 

I must have this wagon badge! I NEED IT!

[Datsun510sss1800coupe]

I'm talking bout the ones that say bluebird only 2 on fender one on trunklid..

[CorAce]

I have had good luck with no bubbles in the large scale molds I have made, I have an old 6" bench grinder on the end of my work surface that vibrates the piss out of everything  when I pour my silicone. I let it run for about 10-15 minutes until all the big bubbles stop coming up. If you come up with a suitable chrome substitute let me know I could use it.