Hello fellow resin addicts,
I've submitted my patient admittance form and I wanted to say hello to everyone. It's amazing that such a community exists and from what I've seen so far, everyone has been incredibly helpful and insightful in these threads. The level of knowledge and mastery that many of you possess is truly inspiring.
With that said, I've gleaned over pertinent threads and have a general understanding of the molding/casting process. However, in terms of the barrier of entry, I have to admit that I am a bit overwhelmed. For reference, I have zero experience in casting but would like to take the plunge as soon as I feel properly prepared.
Full disclosure. The goal of this endeavor is to create keycaps for my personal keyboard collection. Resin casting provides the level of personal expression that no other pre-made keys can do. So where do I start? I've read the tutorial by Paulson Games and understand the basics of casting.
Keycaps by nature are temperamental as they must meet pretty precise measurements to fit into the keyboard itself and function under constant use. As such, I fear that I may need to look into vacuum chambers/pressure pots. Currently, I have bought the following items:
Super Sculpey Polymer
Legos
Wax Carving Kits
Tweezers
Polymer Mixing cups
Precision scale to measure grams
Stir sticks and plastic cups
Magnifier to detail work
3m respirator
I have held off buying molding medium (silicone), resins and dyes as I am not absolutely sure which ones I should purchase. I have also allocated $300 to purchasing proper equipment. The plan is to mold small shapes and designs on existing keycap (PBT). Cure the master in an oven. Create split mold with silicone and cast with colored resin. Based on experience of my fellow artisans, surface bubbles are a huge problem when dealing keycap production.
So here are my questions: (tl:dr)
Given the size of the product I am trying to make, which type of silicone should I be using. I am looking in the direction of Smooth-On products.
How would I go about determining sprue location when creating the mold?
Which would be a better investment with my current budget? Vacuum or Pressure?
Given the small scale of production( 10"X10" - 25cmx25cm lego baseplate), what parameters should I be looking for while shopping for a vacuum/pressure chamber?
I have many more questions to ask and fear that this post may be a little long-winded. I humbly request your guidance. Thanks in advance!