Casting epoxy resin in a nylon mould

Matty F · 2009-11-27T10:52:53+00:00

I have discovered that epoxy resin doesn't stick to nylon. Thatdoesn't seem to be a property of nylon that is well advertised, butGoogle found a number of people complaining that they were unable toglue nylon.For my purposes this is ideal, since I want to cast some insulatorsfrom epoxy resin, and I am able to make a mould out of solid nylon. Iused to tape up bits of plastic drainpipe for a mould but the epoxytended to leak through the joints, and the plastic would break whentaking the mould apart.Here's an old insulator and the finished new insulator: old insulation is some horrible mixture of asbestos and somethingelse. I carefully cut it all off and cleaned up the brass insert thatI will reuse.Here's the nylon mould which I turned up in a lathe. cut the mould in half because I wasn't confident that the castingwould push out later. How right I was. I didn't make a very smooth jobin turning the mould and there are small grooves that the epoxy clingsto.The white powder is filler that I used to add a bit of strength.Here's the brass insert in one half of the mould: white washers I made out of nylon and tapped them to suit thebrass thread. The epoxy will run through any little hole and I didn'twant it on the brass thread.I put a couple of Jubilee clips around the mould and poured in theresin. If you pour slowly on one side it pushes all the air out anddoesn't leave bubbles: a few hours the resin is set and I can open up the mould: careful not to touch the sharp edge around the top. It's so sharpthat you can't feel it cutting your finger!I put the casting in the lathe to trim off the end: also skimmed along the sides since the mould was not perfectly roundafter I had cut it in half.I imagine that I can make a nylon mould for almost anything small. Itcuts and drills quite well.

Nov 27, 2009 24 Replies

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geoff 16 years ago

I doubt you'd get the chance

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Clint Sharp 16 years ago

In message , Matty F writes

Try finding your local Dow Corning rep, they own the name.

I got plenty of free samples of two part rubbers for a project I was involved with and they indicated that they would be happy to supply almost whatever quantity I wanted.

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Clint Sharp 16 years ago

In message , geoff writes

I doubt I'd want to, nasty piece of manipulative media whoring personality free plastic that she is.

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Adam Aglionby 16 years ago

Colour me whooshed! :-)

Doh!

Cheers Adam

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Jules 16 years ago

Could maybe melt 'er down to make tram parts, though... :-)

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