RCCrawler Forums

losikid · 08-30-2010, 04:44 PM

I'm wanting to create a mold for radio case (the actual case, see my thread about a 6ch radio in the elec section) and i'm not sure what would be the easiest way to accomplish this. Also do we have any vendors that do this???

CrawlinClodKiller · 08-30-2010, 04:55 PM

Pick up some of the plastic mold kits at Hobby Lobby if you can. You can make a mold and even the case itself with the kits. It is a bit pricey though I think.

SMR 510RR · 08-30-2010, 05:09 PM

How many are you trying to make? 1? 100? 1000? 1,000,000?

That is going to be the determining factor on what you need to do. If you are just going to make one i would probably just piece it together by gluing it. If you are trying to make like 10 then it would be worth it to do some research on mold making and figure out what you need, there are tons of options as far as materials for molds and for the actual molded parts.

There are tons of online vendors for this kind of stuff, most offer kits and have how to videos and such so you can see what you are getting yourself into. I would say you will probably invest at least $100-200 into getting one housing in your hands.

If you just want one you may look into getting it SLA'd. It is a very good way to get a quick prototype but it can be expensive. You would need to get a CAD model of the parts you wanted and send them out to get a quote. SLA's can do quite a bit of detail so you could make a nice housing that would be very hard to achieve by molding it at home.

This is a good source for mold making and casting supplies.
http://www.smooth-on.com/
They arent the best but offer decent products at good prices. Obviously if you were trying to do a whole bunch I would say go for some more expensive and quality materials. Check out their videos and stuff and see if it is something you could/want to do before you buy.

You would have to create a blank somehow and then pull a mold from it. Getting a housing like this out of a mold at home would be a challenge.

Good luck,
SMR 510RR

losikid · 08-30-2010, 08:17 PM

just a few for now, but eventually 4-10 a month

SMR 510RR · 08-31-2010, 12:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by losikid

just a few for now, but eventually 4-10 a month

Honestly if you are going to try to make a run at producing these I would try to figure out what your budget is like. Its going to cost some serious cash to mold something that large and complex...Anything you do at home will probably have some bubbles in it and be prone to cracking if it gets dropped, etc.

To do it at home properly you will for sure need a vacuum chamber or vacuum bagging setup to get the air out. You will need a nice mold, you could pull this from a prototype or have one made for you...It really depends on what you want it to look like and how complex you want it to be. You will need some quality materials and some time on your hands to perfect the process...You will not get it right the first time, ask me how I know.

losikid · 08-31-2010, 04:35 PM

I am thinking one of these what are your thoughts

http://www.smooth-on.com/Urethane-Pl...325/index.html

http://www.smooth-on.com/Urethane-Pl...208/index.html

SMR 510RR · 08-31-2010, 04:57 PM

I would go with the first one or this one:
http://www.smooth-on.com/Urethane-Pl...155/index.html

Most of the other ones are way too soft. 80D isnt even all that hard. The first one is nice because its 1:1 by volume, the one I listed will have to be weighed out 1:5, get yourself a nice scale if you get that one.

losikid · 08-31-2010, 05:02 PM

how much is need do you think for a pistol case, what is the main diff between the my first one and yours other than hardness. I like the natural black instead of having to pay for dye also

SMR 510RR · 08-31-2010, 06:38 PM

Just the hardness. Try the black one, that should work out nice. Being a little softer may actually be nice, it should have more grip to it and flex more before breaking.

Its hard to say how much you would need to do a single case, it all depends on how thick the walls are and that kind of stuff. You should be able to get about 4 cases out of the trial size, that would be enough to at least make sure that you like the material...I would do the trial size and try that out before investing $100 in materials that you are unsure of.

rmdesignworks · 08-31-2010, 07:56 PM

personally for a prototype set up Id do a female and male press mold in a vacuum box. Rigid fiber glass molds of both the inside and outside of the case indexed to fit and tabbed for wall thickness. Shore hradness is great but not for something that can easily be dropped or slide off of a rock at a comp or bashing session. Id also mix short chain fibers into the resin for a much higher tear resistance. black will probably have a higher UV resistance too. Avoid any kind of resin which has any metal additives...it may cause radio interferrence.

losikid · 09-01-2010, 06:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rmdesignworks

personally for a prototype set up Id do a female and male press mold in a vacuum box. Rigid fiber glass molds of both the inside and outside of the case indexed to fit and tabbed for wall thickness. Shore hradness is great but not for something that can easily be dropped or slide off of a rock at a comp or bashing session. Id also mix short chain fibers into the resin for a much higher tear resistance. black will probably have a higher UV resistance too. Avoid any kind of resin which has any metal additives...it may cause radio interferrence.

You seem like you know alot about this stuff, for a good setup how much am i looking at to get a mold made and then how much in materials per case am i looking at to cast it. I already have a guy willing to do all the cad work cheap for me, now i just need to get this best stuff for my money. Durablity is a major thing when it comes to radios and i know very little other than cut and glue about plastic. I have woodworking skills, i'm taking a machining class now at the community college (my hs pays for all of it so why not), but i don't know much about plastic other than when its used in a vehichle its life span decreases by alot

rmdesignworks · 09-01-2010, 09:15 PM

I would mock up the case you have the way you want/need it...and then I would make a copy of the original case with a light weight mold so some personal touches and changes could be made to the case to make it your own,,then make the actual heavy weight molds...prototyping a mold set up would be $300-$500 depending on materials and material availablility for two sets of molds. Included in that would be the first proto and making sure the female/male molds work properly and produce viable copies.

Mayze · 09-01-2010, 11:08 PM

$300-$500!?!?!? That is one helluva bargain!!! We have some washers at work, that we sell, that are injection molded. The mold cost in the neighbourhood of $5000. Cheap like dirt to produce now. Especially doing 3000-5000 part runs. The mold is always the most expensive part. $500 is a smokin' deal for that kind of work!

rmdesignworks · 09-02-2010, 06:07 AM

True that man,,,,the last SHOP mold I worked on was a little over $7,000 and the last Shop mold I built from scratch was around $4,000. I know some short cuts and different materials now for doing small stuff like this so I can really keep costs down.

SMR 510RR · 09-02-2010, 10:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mayze

$300-$500!?!?!? That is one helluva bargain!!! We have some washers at work, that we sell, that are injection molded. The mold cost in the neighbourhood of $5000. Cheap like dirt to produce now. Especially doing 3000-5000 part runs. The mold is always the most expensive part. $500 is a smokin' deal for that kind of work!

$5,000 isnt even that expensive. We sent out some of our silicone injection molds for quotes and got back prices of $20,000...We made them in house to save some money. Granted its not a washer mold and it is a very complex mold. Some of the core pins we have made are 11 machining operations...Dont screw #11 up!!!

losikid · 09-02-2010, 03:15 PM

Ok so what am i looking at 500 or 5000, or whats the chances of getting a mold for 500.

rmdesignworks · 09-02-2010, 04:24 PM

If you would like, I can put together a set of figures on materials. If you then decide to do it i will give you the contact info for the supplier/s and you buy direct from them and have it shipped to me. Your call.....let me know.

losikid · 09-02-2010, 06:52 PM

well i first have to get approved by fcc before i start considering spending or plan on spending anything. Most expensive for fcc is 1-3k and i'm looking at probably another 1-2k worth of getting a case designed, molds built and materials for a case or 2. Thats alot of money of money considering how cheap i'll sell them. So I probably looking at end of next year before i consider doing my own cases. First i need to get a vendor star, then get fcc approval, then sell them, then buy the equipment and make jigs to make alot of them, then worry about the cases, i should be able to last a year on everyones tq radio cases, probably everyone on here has 5 of them sitting in a box, lol. Traxxas used the same case for years and years. I'm just looking for a general pricing so i can think about what i want to do, oh i have a someone who said they'd do all the cad work for 250, for the case, molds, and all the internal rtc components i'd also need molded. Thats sounds like a great deal to me. So now i just need to know how much the other side will cost, the physical side.

08-30-2010, 04:44 PM	#1
losikid Got Worms? Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Golden, CO Posts: 6,116	Molding plastic I'm wanting to create a mold for radio case (the actual case, see my thread about a 6ch radio in the elec section) and i'm not sure what would be the easiest way to accomplish this. Also do we have any vendors that do this???

08-30-2010, 04:55 PM	#2
CrawlinClodKiller Rock Crawler Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: West Omaha Posts: 581	Pick up some of the plastic mold kits at Hobby Lobby if you can. You can make a mold and even the case itself with the kits. It is a bit pricey though I think.

08-30-2010, 05:09 PM	#3
SMR 510RR I wanna be Dave Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: San Francisco Posts: 2,236	How many are you trying to make? 1? 100? 1000? 1,000,000? That is going to be the determining factor on what you need to do. If you are just going to make one i would probably just piece it together by gluing it. If you are trying to make like 10 then it would be worth it to do some research on mold making and figure out what you need, there are tons of options as far as materials for molds and for the actual molded parts. There are tons of online vendors for this kind of stuff, most offer kits and have how to videos and such so you can see what you are getting yourself into. I would say you will probably invest at least $100-200 into getting one housing in your hands. If you just want one you may look into getting it SLA'd. It is a very good way to get a quick prototype but it can be expensive. You would need to get a CAD model of the parts you wanted and send them out to get a quote. SLA's can do quite a bit of detail so you could make a nice housing that would be very hard to achieve by molding it at home. This is a good source for mold making and casting supplies. http://www.smooth-on.com/ They arent the best but offer decent products at good prices. Obviously if you were trying to do a whole bunch I would say go for some more expensive and quality materials. Check out their videos and stuff and see if it is something you could/want to do before you buy. You would have to create a blank somehow and then pull a mold from it. Getting a housing like this out of a mold at home would be a challenge. Good luck, SMR 510RR

08-30-2010, 08:17 PM	#4
losikid Got Worms? Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Golden, CO Posts: 6,116	just a few for now, but eventually 4-10 a month

08-31-2010, 04:35 PM	#6
losikid Got Worms? Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Golden, CO Posts: 6,116	I am thinking one of these what are your thoughts http://www.smooth-on.com/Urethane-Pl...325/index.html http://www.smooth-on.com/Urethane-Pl...208/index.html

08-31-2010, 04:57 PM	#7
SMR 510RR I wanna be Dave Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: San Francisco Posts: 2,236	I would go with the first one or this one: http://www.smooth-on.com/Urethane-Pl...155/index.html Most of the other ones are way too soft. 80D isnt even all that hard. The first one is nice because its 1:1 by volume, the one I listed will have to be weighed out 1:5, get yourself a nice scale if you get that one.

08-31-2010, 05:02 PM	#8
losikid Got Worms? Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Golden, CO Posts: 6,116	how much is need do you think for a pistol case, what is the main diff between the my first one and yours other than hardness. I like the natural black instead of having to pay for dye also

08-31-2010, 06:38 PM	#9
SMR 510RR I wanna be Dave Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: San Francisco Posts: 2,236	Just the hardness. Try the black one, that should work out nice. Being a little softer may actually be nice, it should have more grip to it and flex more before breaking. Its hard to say how much you would need to do a single case, it all depends on how thick the walls are and that kind of stuff. You should be able to get about 4 cases out of the trial size, that would be enough to at least make sure that you like the material...I would do the trial size and try that out before investing $100 in materials that you are unsure of.

08-31-2010, 07:56 PM	#10
rmdesignworks I wanna be Dave Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: ...the burning end of the rope. Posts: 5,013	personally for a prototype set up Id do a female and male press mold in a vacuum box. Rigid fiber glass molds of both the inside and outside of the case indexed to fit and tabbed for wall thickness. Shore hradness is great but not for something that can easily be dropped or slide off of a rock at a comp or bashing session. Id also mix short chain fibers into the resin for a much higher tear resistance. black will probably have a higher UV resistance too. Avoid any kind of resin which has any metal additives...it may cause radio interferrence.

09-01-2010, 09:15 PM	#12
rmdesignworks I wanna be Dave Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: ...the burning end of the rope. Posts: 5,013	I would mock up the case you have the way you want/need it...and then I would make a copy of the original case with a light weight mold so some personal touches and changes could be made to the case to make it your own,,then make the actual heavy weight molds...prototyping a mold set up would be $300-$500 depending on materials and material availablility for two sets of molds. Included in that would be the first proto and making sure the female/male molds work properly and produce viable copies.

Sponsored Links

09-01-2010, 11:08 PM	#13
Mayze Quarry Creeper Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Langley, BC, Canada Posts: 297	$300-$500!?!?!? That is one helluva bargain!!! We have some washers at work, that we sell, that are injection molded. The mold cost in the neighbourhood of $5000. Cheap like dirt to produce now. Especially doing 3000-5000 part runs. The mold is always the most expensive part. $500 is a smokin' deal for that kind of work!

09-02-2010, 06:07 AM	#14
rmdesignworks I wanna be Dave Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: ...the burning end of the rope. Posts: 5,013	True that man,,,,the last SHOP mold I worked on was a little over $7,000 and the last Shop mold I built from scratch was around $4,000. I know some short cuts and different materials now for doing small stuff like this so I can really keep costs down.

09-02-2010, 03:15 PM	#16
losikid Got Worms? Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Golden, CO Posts: 6,116	Ok so what am i looking at 500 or 5000, or whats the chances of getting a mold for 500.

09-02-2010, 04:24 PM	#17
rmdesignworks I wanna be Dave Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: ...the burning end of the rope. Posts: 5,013	If you would like, I can put together a set of figures on materials. If you then decide to do it i will give you the contact info for the supplier/s and you buy direct from them and have it shipped to me. Your call.....let me know.

09-02-2010, 06:52 PM	#18
losikid Got Worms? Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Golden, CO Posts: 6,116	well i first have to get approved by fcc before i start considering spending or plan on spending anything. Most expensive for fcc is 1-3k and i'm looking at probably another 1-2k worth of getting a case designed, molds built and materials for a case or 2. Thats alot of money of money considering how cheap i'll sell them. So I probably looking at end of next year before i consider doing my own cases. First i need to get a vendor star, then get fcc approval, then sell them, then buy the equipment and make jigs to make alot of them, then worry about the cases, i should be able to last a year on everyones tq radio cases, probably everyone on here has 5 of them sitting in a box, lol. Traxxas used the same case for years and years. I'm just looking for a general pricing so i can think about what i want to do, oh i have a someone who said they'd do all the cad work for 250, for the case, molds, and all the internal rtc components i'd also need molded. Thats sounds like a great deal to me. So now i just need to know how much the other side will cost, the physical side.

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