Anyone here ever moulded/casted stuff ?

[Wotto]

Hey all,

I am going to have a ( probably feeble ) attempt at re-making the (top sections only) of the boney flippers from SS and then ( somehow ) applying them to the flat tops of normal flipper bats in order to re-create that boney flipper look. I realise the boneys are a bit thinner than the standard bats and some 'modifying' would be required when sticking them down on the standard bats.

I think if I got this close to right, then once it is coloured, stuck on and the flipper rubber applied, then it wouldnt look too bad from the players view.

This is just an experiment/ thought for now and may go HORRIBLY wrong, but with the rarity and cost of a pair of these things these days and the fact ( I have read ) that many of the older pairs a brittle, I think its worth a shot.

So has anyone here done ANY casting  at anytime ??
Advice?? 

[ddstoys]

Hey watto
                  ive made some fibre glass moulds with bigger pieces but im sure the same process is involved for a smaller bits. Post me a picture of a bare flipper and ill see if a mould can be made?

[pinball god]

Can't help you there but I've seen your talents and can't wait for the resulting pix. I'm sure it'll work out fine for ya

[Wotto]

Can't help you there but I've seen your talents and can't wait for the resulting pix. I'm sure it'll work out fine for ya

Hmmmmm, lets not get too far ahead of ourselves 
Started today.....
Over cooked the mould ( wifey picked that up as it was smokin the house out) 
Got the latex in there now, see what happens tomorrow

I am NOT confident

[ROLLERBALL]

Damn you love cooking your plastics ect in the OVEN..love it...cook me up some new skate wheels mate...lol

[Marty Machine]

Hiya Wotto,

I've done a lot of hobby-plastic casting 10+yrs ago, this was an offshoot form my Aluminium casting hobby, making bike parts and engineering prototype fittings etc.
The plastics i made were mainly for my (broken) slotcars, windows, bodies, wheels etc etc...

There's many ways to make the moulds, and these days there are "hobby plastic moulding kits" available (something i never had the privelage of).
Check out "injection moulding" on Google for a vast array of building your own injection system (or regular moulding too).

I've seriously been thinking about revisiting my skills to now make pinball playfield parts & ramps at affordable prices ;-)

Good Luck
MM.

[Gamemasters]

Hi Wotto,

I made a pair by using kids plastacine (not sure if I spelt that right). Pushed the original
flipper bat to the point where the boney part met the flat part of the flipper bat. Removed
the original carefully and then just poured in fiberglass. Let it dry solid and then removed it
from the mould. You then have to flatten the bottom so you can stick it to a standard flipper.

[ddstoys]

Plastacine and fibreglass what a top idea.

[chris288]

Wotto, I think this is entirely do-able using a 3D printer, which could make a copy of the part itself or even make an actual mould in which you could pour an epoxy resin into.

My best mate has such a printer, if you can show me a picture actual sized of the flipper or better still a sample one thats busted then I'm sure we can do something.

Incidently the printers worth about $60,000.

Chris