- It's silicone day, woo.
Yeah, today we're talking about silicones
and how to choose them
because you've maybe done resin projects before
and you've mixed up resin.
You've poured it on a tumbler or a surface
and you've maybe bought molds
in order to use them for resin casting.
But here's the thing, making your own molds is really easy.
You just have to choose the right silicone.
So today I'm gonna walk you
through how to choose the right silicone for your project.
Here's the thing.
When I first started using silicones, I found myself
on 10 different websites, looking up terminology,
sorting through a million products,
trying to figure out which one I should use.
And eventually I was just
on forum after forum, after forum, losing my mind.
So in an effort to not have you go
through the same headache that I went through
we've created a really simple decision tree
that's gonna help you choose the right silicone
for your project.
A note as well.
If you're pretty familiar with silicones
you kind of know all the terminology,
stop watching this video right now,
go to the website here with the link
in the description and just go read the chart yourself.
You'll be fine, you'll be able to figure it out.
But if you're new here
and you wanna make sure
you understand everything completely, stick with me,
I'll take you through it.
When I say this is gonna be easy.
I mean, it's like really easy
but we do have to align on three terms
That'll make sure that we have shared language
for the rest of this video.
Platinum versus tin cure.
That's a type of silicone.
Shore hardness, that's how stiff the actual silicone is.
And then also cure inhibition.
That's something that makes it, so it never actually cures.
Those three terms going through them real quick
will help us make sure we're making a good call.
All right, the first thing we need to talk
about is the type of silicones
and there's really two types mostly out there
in the marketplace, tin cure silicones
and platinum cure silicones.
We'll talk about the difference between each
when we're in the actual flow chart
but for now just realize there are two different types
with two different uses.
The second term we got to talk
about is what's called shore hardness
and shore hardest is actually, you've got this one.
I believe this from jump, it's a measure of hardness.
The shore scale is actually how we measure out
how hard something is.
Silicones predominantly are on what's called
the shore A scale.
So you're gonna see an A next to a number.
That number goes from zero to a hundred
with the lower numbers being really flexible
and the higher numbers being really rigid and stiff.
The third thing we got to talk
about is what's called cure inhibition.
Cure inhibition is really simple.
It just refers to something in your master
that's the part you're making the mold of
that inhibits the silicone from fully curing.
It could be the material itself.
It could be the glue that you use
to put two pieces together, whatever it is,
it's gonna cause your silicone to never cure.
We're gonna avoid this
and I'll show you how in the decision tree.
All right, enough shared terminology.
I think we all get it, okay.
We're all aligned.
I think it's time for us to start walking
through this decision tree.
But before we jump in there, if you like this video,
go ahead and like, like this video, right.
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All right, let's start at the very top because
that's where you have to start
with a decision tree like this.
The first question is really simple is the part
you're making a mold of 3D printed, made of clay,
contains vinyl, does it have any krazy glue,
CA glue, cyanoacrylate?
I always get that word wrong.
If it's got any of that stuff in it, yes
then we're gonna go over to the right side of the chart.
If you don't know, trust me, go over to the right side.
You'll thank me for that later.
And if it doesn't well
then we're gonna continue down the left side.
Let's say you think it does or you're not sure.
So we're going over to the right.
All right, our next question.
Does your master have a lot
of undercuts or difficult to reach areas?
None, some, a lot those are our three choices here.
What do I mean by undercuts and difficult to reach areas?
Well, let me grab this kitty, meow.
So this is the cat what we're gonna try to make a mold of.
Now, if we're making a mold of this cat
we're gonna make a box, we're gonna build the walls.
We're gonna pour the silicone over on top of it.
And we're gonna end up with a mold that looks
like this with the actual negative of the cat in there.
Well, that's great, we're done.
We're not quite, look at this cat's neck.
It's upside down inside this mold now
because we've actually poured our silicone.
But look at this.
This is basically a hook, it's gonna be so difficult
to get this cat out of this mold
because it's actually hooking itself to the silicone.
This is what we mean by an undercut.
One that's this aggressive is gonna take a lot
of manipulation in order to get out of the mold.
You can have other materials that have little indents
like this skull here.
The eyes go in a little bit but it's not that deep.
It's not hard to actually pull the silicone around that.
So if you have something
like the cat with a lot of undercuts
we're gonna definitely wanna go down
to the high strength three.
If you just have some, high strength two is a great option.
And if you don't have any, let's say
like this glass right here with no undercuts,
high strength one will do the trick.
High strength one, two and three are named one,
two and three because number one is the champion.
It's the strongest.
It's the most stiff.
Number two is a little softer
and number three is even softer.
So for something like this cat
which we know is gonna be upside down in the mold
we want the softest silicone possible
so we can really flex it around.
When I made this cat mold a long time ago
I didn't have any high strength three on hand.
And I was bummed out what I had to do
in order to get this out is actually had to cut my mold.
That's how aggressive that undercut is.
Using the right silicone means you don't have to end
up compromising your mold to get into the cast.
Look at that.
I mean, honestly, for a lot of you that's the end
of the decision tree and you'll get great results from that.
But those are just three silicone options.
And we have a ton of other silicones
a lot of which are platinum cure.
So let's go all the way back
to the beginning to that cure innovation question.
And let's say you're pretty confident.
You're very confident actually
that there's none of that stuff within your master.
Well, all right, the answer is no,
let's keep going down the left side.
The next question we run into is,
do you need this mold to be FDA compliant
or food safe is kind of how we think about that?
Now, if the answer is yes
then we're definitely in the platinum silicone realm
and we'll jump down this chart.
But if the answer is no, then all right
let's have another question.
Do you need this mold to be transparent or a certain color?
Sometimes if you're using a transparent mold
you can actually see into the mold when you're pouring.
This is really helpful for filling up a mold
or a cavity that has inclusions and things like that.
Other times you might want to color your molds.
Something that is the same material
you might wanna make it blue.
Maybe it's for a client.
Maybe you wanna sell it or maybe it's just
a great way to keep your molds organized around your shop.
Either way, we're gonna use our platinum cure silicones
because they are translucent ones.
If you need your mold to be a certain color, well
that's harder with our high strengths
because it's already dyed a beautiful pink.
So you can't really use color in those.
If you need color in your mold
we're gonna go with the platinum cure.
Now let's say you don't really need the color in the mold.
You're good to go with whatever color it is, fine.
Let's say no, let's keep going down that list.
The next question is,
do you have a measuring preference by weight?
This is where 10-to-one
and one-to-one measuring comes into play.
For a lot of the high strengths
and other tin cure silicones,
they're measured out in a 10-to-one formulation.
I mean one part of catalyst for every 10 parts
of the base rubber.
With platinum cure silicones
it's usually a two rubber kind of side.
So you can do one part A and one part B combine them
and you're good to go.
Here's the thing, this is like pure preference.
I mean like preference of preference's sake.
I prefer one to one.
Seriously, like don't overthink this one.
If you want the 10-to-one mix ratio,
well, then you got to go back
over to the tin cure silicones.
But if you're cool with the one-to-one, let's keep going
down towards the different platinum options.
The first one we got to know is will your mold
be a multi-part mold two, three, four part mold.
Now for some of you, this is like brand new territory
and you have no idea why we would even do a two-part mold.
Well, let me grab two objects here.
This glass tray has a flat bottom.
Not a lot of undercuts and is really easy.
So when we make a mold box around it
we can literally just glue it to the bottom,
pour the silicone on top and come up with a simple mold.
This has a flat bottom too.
So when we pop this out of the mold
it looks exactly like that.
And we're good to go.
The thing is with a different object, let's say this wrench.
Well, it looks like it has a flat bottom.
It actually doesn't this curves back up.
Now this is actually curved here too.
There's complexity to this shape in order to accomplish
a beautiful casting of this and mold making,
we're gonna need a two-part mold.
One half to cover this detail on this side
and another half to pick up all the detail on the other.
On top of the two halves
there's also a circle in the middle of this.
If you have a one part mold, you're gonna lock this in.
You can't even get it out
because there's gonna be silicone in between.
You're gonna need a two-part mold
in complex projects like this.
All right, let's say you answered yes to that question.
And you're headed to two-part mode territory, great.
We just have one more question we've got to answer
before we lock in the silicone choice.
That is do you need maximum dimensional stability?
Look at this wrench.
It's 18 millimeters.
In order for this to be useful
we need a very accurate reproduction of this part.
That means maximum dimensional stability in the mold.
Another example that we see all the time is in automotive.
Things like headlights and things like that.
This choice here, Plat 55.
If you answer yes to this question
you're gonna use this silicone.
It's great for reproducing really complex parts
that have interlocking parts in different connection points
or you might have a half to a fix to a different object.
In automotive applications,
let's say we often recommend people use Plat 55
because of its dimensional stability.
Let's say a headlight
like this mold here has to lock into another existing part
on a car and it needs to be exact.
I mean like exact, exact, exact
almost OEM factory exact.
Plat 55, if you answer yes to that question
is definitely gonna be your choice.
Now Plat 55 is our choice because it's a 55.
I know a big leap but it's a 55A on the shore A scale.
And if you remember, that's further up
which means it's pretty stiff.
Other silicones, if you don't need
the maximums dimensional stability
would be our Plat 40
Our Plat 40 is still very stiff but it's not
as stiff as our 55.
As an example, here's me bending the 55
and here's me bending the 40.
They're kind of close but there's a definite difference.
And believe it or not in certain aspects,
in certain applications, that difference really matters.
We seriously, we're almost done.
I mean, you've hung with me this entire time.
Thank you by the way.
I'm glad you're going on this journey with me
but there's another route.
Let's say you don't need the maximum dimensional stability.
You're not doing car parts here, right.
You're not replicating wrenches
and doing rapid prototyping at some company.
You're just having a good time doing really cool crafts
like meow, meow, meow this kitty cat.
Oh, I shouldn't have meowed.
I shouldn't have meowed, I mean come on.
Hey, I know I'm not the only one that meows, okay.
- [Cameraman] The inner child can't resist
when you see a cat.
It's like meow.
- Oh, we're all dorks folks.
All right to get to our last options.
We got to go back to the question of
do you need a multi-part mold?
And a lot of you are not gonna need that which is awesome.
I love one piece molds.
There's so much faster, trust me.
So let's say you answered no to that question.
Well, where are we headed next?
What's our next question?
Does your part have a lot
of undercuts or difficult to reach areas?
Hey, that's almost the exact same question
from the high strengths that we talked about over there
because it's another factor to consider.
Just like before, a hook like that
is gonna need a lot more flexibility
than something simple like that glass tray I had before.
If you have a lot of undercuts and you need
that maximum flexibility,
we're gonna recommend Plat 10.
It's a 10 on the shore A scale which if you think
about 55, ten's pretty much all the way over here.
I've got Plat 10 right here.
If you remember that 55,
it's barely holding on as I'm holding it right now.
I can bend this thing all the way through.
It's pretty great.
Ball it up like this.
And it just goes right back to where it was before.
All right, we are at the end.
This is the last question
to make your final, final decision.
You did it, I'm so proud of you.
And if you're still with me
it means you're gonna use one
of these two silicones realistically.
So the question is, are you okay with a shorter open time
in order to have a faster demold time?
If you're okay with the shorter open time
then you get to use our new, amazing mold maker
which is a platinum cure silicone that's actually red
that cures in only 25 minutes.
You do only have an eight minute open time to work with.
So you have to be kind of comfortable
or at least prepared in order to use it.
If you really want the extra time
and you don't want that stress
then you're gonna use Plat 25,
a 25A on the shore scale,
almost exactly like this amazing mold maker
and get your project done
with a little bit longer of a time period.
But for me, I just love going fast.
I don't care if I'm in a car
or if I'm making molds, I'm hitting the gas.
That is it, you are done.
We are through the decision tree.
You know what you're doing.
And here's the thing.
If you ever get confused again
or if you have a different project,
if you're not doing meow, meow
and you're doing a skull instead,
well then go back through this decision tree, right.
And answer all the questions.
You'll get the right silicone every time.
And you'll have a successful project every time.
If you like this video, please like this video.
And if you wanna see more then subscribe.
We're gonna continue to put out videos
like this to always be as helpful to you as we possibly can.
Till next time.
(upbeat music)