GameCube Fusion, rev 4. (worklog)

Portables, case replacements, mods etc, all in here!
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Ashen
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GameCube Fusion, rev 4. (worklog)

Post by Ashen » Wed Jun 12, 2013 5:00 pm

I know, I know.. I know what you're thinking: "Godammit Ashen, are you ever going to finish anything else other than 100 stupid GDMF GCp's?" To which I have to say: "Well yes, eventually. What can I say? I love the GameCube."

So now that that's out of the way, on to business.

This revision of the Fusion is going to be VERY similar to the 3rd revision, with a few subtle changes as you'll see soon enough. Why make a worklog for something that's going to be super similar to the last one you ask? Well, you'll find that out soon enough also.

"Pretty cryptic man. So where the hell are you at with this new thing anyway?"

Well, I'm not much past the starting point. but far enough to show some stuff now I guess. I've designed and made a new mold for Vac forming, got it all wrapped up and this morning I made some forms out of em. They came out pretty nice.

Here you can see the old rev 3 molds and the new rev 4 molds:
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As you can see, these are pretty much carbon copy's of the old molds besides the trigger areas, which I'll be using N64 triggers for. I've made the molds roughly 2mm wider and 1.5mm taller to buy myself a bit extra breathing room for packing stuff inside, among other reasons which will be revealed later. The other cool thing I've done is indented the 3DS analog stick area's this time by using a 0.8in thick piece of Lexan (polycarbonate sheet) and pre-cutting the hole area's out and then gluing the lexan to the piece of MDF I used to make the mold. This is the result:

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Trimmed up (33mm total thickness this time):

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"That all looks really great man, but I still don't understand the point of seeing you do pretty much the same thing over and over again."

Well, for one thing. I plan to document everything in great detail for this portable and post it here ( even like some video logs and stuff *gasp*). Pretty much so even someone who's dumber than dogshit should be able to make a functional GCp. The OTHER and most important reason for this worklog is this:

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Which I recently acquired for a pretty significant sum of spare cash. I'm going to attempt to make silicone "negative" molds out of the vac formed case you see above once its completed. This should be a pretty fun and interesting process, and if it works out right and I don't completely fuck it up. I should be able to reproduce completed cases like nobody's business. Which will be great for both me, and anyone who would wish to purchase a case that they can pretty much drop stuff in and call it complete. As I said, I'm going to try to go into great detail and document this process as best I can here, so that if anyone else would want to try, they could do it also.

I learned about this process by following Bungles awesome worklog for his first N64p over on MBB.
http://www.made-by-bacteria.com/forum/v ... s&start=40
He's also documented the process already in pretty great detail. Which gives me plenty to go by. So thanks Bungle!

Next step before any silicone pouring can occur is getting this vac formed case pretty much perfect. More soon!
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Re: GameCube Fusion, rev 4. (worklog)

Post by megalomaniac » Wed Jun 12, 2013 6:44 pm

alumilite nice...ive been meaning to call them for the last 2-3 weeks already...
emu_kidid wrote: beer is like WD40 for megalomaniac's brain, gets the gears moving
>>> BadAssConsoles.com <<<

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Madridi4ever
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Re: GameCube Fusion, rev 4. (worklog)

Post by Madridi4ever » Wed Jun 12, 2013 9:21 pm

Good luck Ashen :)
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deckard
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Re: GameCube Fusion, rev 4. (worklog)

Post by deckard » Wed Jun 12, 2013 10:21 pm

Looking forward to watching this progress! Great looking molds.
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emu_kidid
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Re: GameCube Fusion, rev 4. (worklog)

Post by emu_kidid » Wed Jun 12, 2013 10:37 pm

Ashen wrote: Pretty much so even someone who's dumber than dogshit should be able to make a functional GCp.
That's me! :P
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Re: GameCube Fusion, rev 4. (worklog)

Post by Jexion » Thu Jun 13, 2013 1:42 am

SUBSCRIBED
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Ashen
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Re: GameCube Fusion, rev 4. (worklog)

Post by Ashen » Mon Jun 17, 2013 5:48 am

Progress! Just a little.

Alright, so I've been getting some casework done. As promised, I'm gonna try to cover every detail of how I do stuff.

I started with the back of the case and worked on the shoulder buttons first. Now, when I'm fixing to make holes into my nice new formed case you might think I spend a lot of time measuring and stuff but I really don't. I do measure a bit but I don't go overboard. I like to "fit and eyeball". Which means I'll take the part I need to make a nice hole for and trace it where it will go in the case. Then I drill some preliminary holes and start filing, fitting, filing, fitting, filing, fitting and so on and so forth. I do this with just about damn everything. You can kind of see how I do it here:

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Yes, I know the triggers are backwards. Thank you.

Next I worked a bit on the front of the case. Getting the buttons from a DS Lite frankencased in. Same thing as above, place and trace:

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After I'd dremeled out the area needed and things fit well where they should I taped the button inserts into the front half of the case:

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Notice that I covered the whole way around the inserted piece. This is because I don't really frankencase "normally", I go buckwild with this stuff:

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And it does me right. It fills in gaps that putty or epoxy and other shit can't get into AND its tough as nails. You'll rip the rest of the case apart before you get that loctite or the inserted piece to break free. Plus it sands real nice. So yea, pour in the loctite:

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I let it dry overnight, then take the tape off. Sand the front a little bit and re-fill any spots that may not have filled all the way with more loctite. Wait for it to dry then sand to perfection:

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Aaaand, today I did a bit more work on the vents on the back of the case. Again, less measuring, more eyeballing:

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Needs cleaned up a little bit still, but it didn't turn out to bad so far. :D

Saw a guy over on Benheck has made up a nice little tut for casting smaller parts:
http://rosecoloredgaming.wordpress.com/ ... ing-parts/
Pretty damn cool. But I'll be taking a different approach to it.

That's it for now.
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Ashen
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Re: GameCube Fusion, rev 4. (worklog)

Post by Ashen » Thu Jun 20, 2013 5:55 am

Making some progress on getting the case done, almost there.

Front is pretty much done. As you can see I've kept things simple for this, no extravagant tiny holes for speakers or such as it would be a nightmare to replicate with the silicone/casting that I'll be doing. I have to pay special attention to little things like this to [hopefully] make my molds last as long as possible and making de-molding as easy as possible in the end. Still looks pretty boss IMO:

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The fan/vent holes in the back are pretty much wrapped up also. Again, trying to keep things simple to help with casting and de-molding. No tiny holes and such. Used vents from an N64 for the hot air escape. So handy, those N64's:

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Got most of the stuff done for switches, buttons, charge jacks, etc done on the top/bottom of the case. Again, roughly measured where I want stuff to be. Drill some small preliminary holes and file, fit, file, fit:

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The SD slots are obviously not finished yet.

And started some work on sculpting/adding some of the inner case. You can see that there is a spot to just drop the heatsink in and will hold it there securely. Also some preliminary work on the shoulder button mounts and the mounts for the [dual] tact switches:

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And my modified N64 shoulder buttons. I'm especially proud of my solution to the Z button. These are pretty much ready to be primed and clear coated for replication:

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Un Ga Du Ha.

:roll:
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Ashen
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Re: GameCube Fusion, rev 4. (worklog)

Post by Ashen » Sat Jun 22, 2013 6:35 pm

After priming, sanding and clear coating the shoulder buttons they were finally ready to go. I super glued a piece of polystyrene in between both buttons to act as a pour channel or "runner" if you want to get technical. I also taped off the hole from the inside for the z button:

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Then I cut out a bunch of pieces of foam board to use as my small mold box and added little "guides" to where the face of the mold will be. This will help line things up once both halves are poured:

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I then jammed the buttons down into a chunk of clay and sculpted around them where I wanted my parting line to be. I tried to pick the best spot where any flash could be trimmed off easily and also a spot where flash defects of trimming wont be seen from the outside of the finished case:

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Then boxed it in completely and taped off all the seams so silicone won't flow through. Mixed up a small batch of silicone and poured it in very slowly from one side of the box, letting it flow slowly around everything and fill the box:

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I had a bit of silicone left over so I quickly improvised a small "box" out of clay and jammed a 3DS analog cap down inside so that I can replicate it. Best way I could think of quick to make the most out of whatever waste I had:

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I did all of this around 3am est last night. So by 8pm tonight I should be able to de-box these and get ready for the second pour.

I've also got most of the rest of the work done on the actual case. A little more sanding and things will be ready to be primed and clear coated. I added in the "sidewalls" and bolt brackets:

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These are simply thin pieces of lexan cut to length and super glued to the inner walls of the case. These really help sturdy things up and make the case halves align perfectly.

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I bolted the nuts to the bolt brackets adn added some epoxy putty around where they will seat off. Waited for the epoxy to cure and popped the bolts out. Now I can easily drop the bolts in and superglue them in place once the case is cast:

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Voila!:

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deckard
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Re: GameCube Fusion, rev 4. (worklog)

Post by deckard » Sat Jun 22, 2013 9:31 pm

Wow your project is coming together nicely! Looking forward to seeing the finished result. :)
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Re: GameCube Fusion, rev 4. (worklog)

Post by Diminuendo » Sat Jun 22, 2013 11:06 pm

Ashen wrote: I bolted the nuts to the bolt brackets adn added some epoxy putty around where they will seat off. Waited for the epoxy to cure and popped the bolts out. Now I can easily drop the bolts in and superglue them in place once the case is cast:

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could your provide more information on these? Are these like screw holes that you screw into two different sides of a piece of plastic and then you can screw your two case halfs together?
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Re: GameCube Fusion, rev 4. (worklog)

Post by dilav » Sun Jun 23, 2013 12:10 am

Nice case work, looking forward to see how these molds and cases turns out.
Diminuendo wrote: could your provide more information on these? Are these like screw holes that you screw into two different sides of a piece of plastic and then you can screw your two case halfs together?
What's not to get? He made a border where the nut fits on the inside of one of the case piece, and the other case piece will have a bolt screw on the outside

Bolt and nut?
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Ashen
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Re: GameCube Fusion, rev 4. (worklog)

Post by Ashen » Sun Jun 23, 2013 5:12 pm

Yea, Dilav's got it. I'll go into more detail about this/show it better later on.

Came home from work last night and de-boxed my shoulder buttons mold. I carefully cut all the tape at the seams and pulled the foam board apart:

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This is what I got out of the box:

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Pour looked pretty good. Time to remove every last bit of clay and trim up any unnecessary undercuts left behind. The clay pulled out pretty easily:

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Cleaned the mold up with some isopropyl alcohol and re-boxed the whole thing again. Then I applied a thin layer of petroleum jelly to all of the silicone so that when I pour the next batch the two halves of the mold won't bond together. Silicone apparently bonds to just about nothing, except itself. So this part is critical. I then super glued my pour spout and vents to the parts:

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Then re-pour:

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We'll see what we've got tonight. With any luck, I'll be able to cast some buttons. :D
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Re: GameCube Fusion, rev 4. (worklog)

Post by emu_kidid » Sun Jun 23, 2013 10:30 pm

is that a mcdonalds straw? :P
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Ashen
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Re: GameCube Fusion, rev 4. (worklog)

Post by Ashen » Sun Jun 23, 2013 11:42 pm

That it is. :twisted:
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Ashen
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Re: GameCube Fusion, rev 4. (worklog)

Post by Ashen » Mon Jun 24, 2013 6:35 am

Got home tonight and de-boxed the whole shoulder button mold and pried apart the silicone. Even with the petroleum jelly layer on there it was still kinda tough to pull em apart. Everything went well though and this is what I've made:

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I removed the wooden dowel vent plugs and the straw I used for the pour channel along with the original buttons and then cleaned up both halves of the mold with isopropyl alcohol:

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Mixed up some plastic, held my breath and poured it in. 15 minutes or so later I had these:

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Trimmed up:

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The hinges didn't form well, I probably should have put little vents on them. But its not really a huge deal. The buttons are perfect replica's otherwise. I'd call it a success. :D
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Re: GameCube Fusion, rev 4. (worklog)

Post by emu_kidid » Mon Jun 24, 2013 6:51 am

When does the portable kit go on sale? can't wait, these look awesome :D
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Ashen
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Re: GameCube Fusion, rev 4. (worklog)

Post by Ashen » Mon Jun 24, 2013 4:46 pm

Thanks man! This was the easy part though, we'll have to see how the rest of the case goes... I have a feeling the thin walls of the case are not going to be fun. Gonna be abit though until we find out. I just first coat primed both halves of the case. So far its looking good. :D
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Re: GameCube Fusion, rev 4. (worklog)

Post by pr0ton » Mon Jun 24, 2013 6:07 pm

Ow ow ow, you're good! Love seeing these hi-res under-construction images.

emu_kidid doesn't mean these portable case kits, but the final GCp right?

Edit: re-read and you're going to sell these cases :)
DOL-001&DOL-101 <- PAL
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Re: GameCube Fusion, rev 4. (worklog)

Post by liquitt » Mon Jun 24, 2013 6:45 pm

haha nice! button making - looks like fun! good luck on the rest mate.
looks fantastic so far!
please search before you ask - a lot has been discussed already!
(or use google with "site:gc-forever.com *term*")
http://is.gd/MDmZcr

we also have a wiki filled with knowledge
http://is.gd/dX58Rm
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Ashen
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Re: GameCube Fusion, rev 4. (worklog)

Post by Ashen » Thu Jun 27, 2013 6:13 pm

Got the two case halves all primed and clear coated and ready for some silicone sexual adventures. I got a little ahead of myself here and already had the front hot glued to a piece of posterboard and had already added the "guide pins" to the front half poster board. Here are the two halves:

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As I said the front is already mounted to a piece that looks like this:

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I did this so that the parting line of the mold halves are where the actual parting line of the case halves will be, This will make flash trimming and vent placement easier when I pour the other half of the silicone and cast the parts.

Here is the back of the case sitting on the posterboard cutout, as you can see the parting line should end up pretty seamless (hopefully):

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For the front half I went around the entire perimiter and hot glued the case to the posterboard. This will prevent the silicone from seeping through when poured. I also hot glued a piece of lexan in the hole for the screen. Since it is such a large opening I wanted something sturdy here:

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I then taped off all the small holes from the inside, or put clay on the inside of some of them:

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Boxed it in and sealed off all the seams of the box with some hot glue:

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Then, shortly afterwards something like this happened:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GYOW6UI ... e=youtu.be
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Ashen
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Re: GameCube Fusion, rev 4. (worklog)

Post by Ashen » Fri Jun 28, 2013 6:26 pm

Last night I came home from work and got the back half of the case all taped off and boxed in and poured it the same way I did the front half of the case. I didn't really take and pictures or anything because its pretty much the same process I outlined yesterday and showed for the front case half.

This morning I de-boxed the front half and removed all of the "guide pins" and stuff blocking the holes.

Here it is de-boxed:

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A little isopropyl alcohol (to remove the hot glue) and pulling and prying later and I had this:

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Now comes the really fun/tedious part where I get to spend alot of time building up the wall thickness of the case with clay and adding the pour spouts and air vents before I can pour the other halves:

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Stay tuned!
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Ashen
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Re: GameCube Fusion, rev 4. (worklog)

Post by Ashen » Sat Jun 29, 2013 6:59 pm

I've gotten everything all sculpted in the front of the case like I wanted, This should sturdy things up a good deal:

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Then added a crapton of vents and two pour spouts:

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Hopefully I'll get to box this up tonight after work and pour some silicone.

Also I de-boxed the back case half:

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More soonish! :D
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Ashen
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Re: GameCube Fusion, rev 4. (worklog)

Post by Ashen » Sun Jun 30, 2013 4:52 pm

Last night I re-boxed up the front case half, sealed off all the seams and painted all the exposed silicone with a thin layer of petroleum jelly:

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Mixed up a pretty large batch of silicone and poured it all in:

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We'll see what kind of mess I've made tomorrow during the stream. :D

I also started sculpting in the clay on the back half of the case to increase the wall thickness:

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Still a ton of work to do on this side. This is the most critical part because most of my main components go in this side and I want to make sure everything is still going to fit nicely. This is the reason I increased the size of the vac form mold by a few mm:

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Tomorrow. Stream. Be there.
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Ashen
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Re: GameCube Fusion, rev 4. (worklog)

Post by Ashen » Tue Jul 02, 2013 5:25 pm

Been a bit since an update. Though if you watched the stream yesterday you've already seen some of this. ;)

After waiting 18+hrs for the second pour of silicone on the front case half to cure I de-boxed the whole thing and pried the two parts of the mold apart and removed the original. Then I proceeded to clean up both halves as best I could. Things looked really well, unfortunately I didn't have time to do a test pour right away:

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I built this little "vibrator table" thing to put my silicon molds on when I pour the plastic, in theory it should help little nooks and crannies fill correctly and help force out any trapped air inside the mold as the liquid plastic is poured in. This has seemed to work well in practice so far, though there are so many factors to consider I don't want to say how much it really helps:

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I've done alot of reading up on casting this stuff the past few days and apparently its recommended to heat up the silicone molds before you cast. So I brought a little toaster oven up to my modding room and rigged it up for heating my silicone molds. The recommended temp to cook them at is roughly 120-140 degrees F for like 25mins. The time required can vary depending on your mold size though.

At any rate, with my nice new silicone mold halves heated up in my oven I got the rest of everything all ready and did a test pour:

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This "Alumilite White" requires about 10-15mins to set up after its poured, though I recoomend to do a post cure also. This is where you take the filled mold and stick it back in the oven for an additional 20-30mins after the initial casting and curing is done. This helps to harden the plastic even more, which is kind of critical in this case, with such thin walls.

After cooking for roughly 25mins more I took the mold out of the oven and let it cool to room temperature (like 40mins). Then I pulled the two mold halves apart:

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Aside from a few small sections where I'm getting voids or little air bubbles the whole process has gone alot smoother than I thought it would. I still have a few more tricks I can try to eliminate these during the pour:

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These little imperfections can always be filled and the cases painted. not what I was hoping for, but still acceptable in my book.

At any rate, after this its time to de-mold the case, prying out carefully and flexing the silicone mold:

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You can see the massive flash there is after the pour. This stuff is easily trimmed off though. It looks alot worse than it really is.

Here is a pic of the back half, where all of the vents and pour spouts are. you can see these need to be trimmed off and some parts dremeled out after de-molding:

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Here are the few I've cast so far. Doing a bit of experimentation each time has seemed to improve the quality a little bit each pour:

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And here are some close ups of the tiny detail inside, this stuff really fills nicely:

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More soon!
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