A Ring

Cool, thanks for the info. I didn't realise they'd cast the rubber molds
too. Now, have to look for a caster and get designing!

Charlie.

"Peter W.. Rowe," wrote in message
...
On Fri, 03 Sep 2004 20:30:42 -0700, in 0õ "Charlie"
wrote:

Could you point me to where I can find more info about making rubber
molds?
I'd like to do some pendants in wax and make lots of copies to sell.
Although I'd be sending them to a caster (anyone recommend somewhere in
the
UK?) I'd like to think about making my own molds.

Charlie.

Charlie, go find the Castaldo web site (google will find it for you).
They have
lots of info.

But frankly, if you're sending out your casting, after you decide upon a
caster,
why not just send them your model, and let them make the molds too.
Normal rates
for standard rubber mold range from 15 to 30 dollars, including the
rubber,
expert mold cutting, and all the rest. Unless you're doing lots of them,
it's
hard to save much money by doing them yourself, once you count in the time
involved, and the fact that as a beginner, you might well ruin a number of
them
before you get one that really works well as a high production mold.

Virtually all the trade casters I know are also experts in the production
of
rubber molds. Commonly, you make the original model in non-precious
metal, or
cheap metal like silver. You might let them keep the original model
there, on
file, in case they ever damage a mold, and then you can let them also keep
the
rubber molds on file. Then you only need to call in an order for such and
such a
stock number, and they've already got the mold ready to inject and cast.
Saves
on you shipping them waxes you inject yourself, and on the time and effort
of
injecting. Now, if you want the control over injecting and inspecting the
waxes
yourself, or for needs like modifying some waxes before casting (such as
sizing
rings in wax, if you don't have multiple molds in different sizes) then
keep that
operation to yourself, and have the caster return your models and molds.
People
do it either way. With a good trade caster, though, your designs are safe
in
their hands, from copying, etc. The basic idea is that time is money, and
keeping the creative work to yourself, but jobbing out the mundane
production
task of injecting molds and casting, makes perfect sense, freeing up your
time
for more creative work.

Peter

On Fri, 03 Sep 2004 20:30:42 -0700, in õ "Charlie"
wrote:

Could you point me to where I can find more info about making rubber molds?
I'd like to do some pendants in wax and make lots of copies to sell.
Although I'd be sending them to a caster (anyone recommend somewhere in the
UK?) I'd like to think about making my own molds.

Charlie.

Hi Charlie,
Peter has covered just about all you need to know about having rubber
moulds made by the caster.
however as your in the UK, I may be able to point you in the right
direction here.
Make a call to H.B. Sale ltd in birmingham 0121 266 5661 and ask for
tony Sale. MD. He supplies lots of tooling to the casting trade and will
point you to a reliable and economical caster in that area.