Mold progress

[proxieken]

Getting a little further down the road of making a home made injection mold for a car. It actually is starting to take shape.

It is going to be a challenge, but I figured the only way to get any model kit possible was to make them myself. Not sure how this is going to turn out but so far so good.

Mold parts need to be very closely matched or flash will appear. Not something that bothers me, as I would rather have a flashy version of an oddball car rather than none at all.

There is actually a chassis lined up for this. I have 3D printed 3 copies with posts moved and shortened to get the best stance. This will be offered with or without chassis.

This is a first attempt, hopefully in the future it will not take 2 years to make a model kit. :oops:

[Lou E]

I don’t even know what to say, that is amazing!!

[Jerzeyguy]

Looking good !!! ....What body is it ? :clap: :clap:

[proxieken]

This picture got me inspired to work on this car.

Here is a street version-

[Broman62]

Wow...very intriguing...good luck on the progress!!

[HomeRacingWorld]

Now there is a car.

[RBPhillips]

The front fenders and grille parts were hard enough to line up all at once on the real car - one was my first new car - so best of success at capturing that signature Hawaiian War Canoe front end.

Clearly I would love to get one or two of these bodies in 1/32 someday!

[jlmold]

Very Nice looking, I am a mold designer/Mold Maker, A LOT of work you have there. What material you plan yo mold this out of?? What state are you living in?

JS

[proxieken]

The work flow is to get a basic shape from a 3D model. I got this car from Humster 3D. You can also get the geometry from a video game model if needed. This only gives you the basic shape elements but it beats drawing from scratch.

Using this as a template, the file is imported in to a CAD program and the shape is traced over and turned in to a hollow part and then the real work begins as parts are broken down and tabs added.

Then parts are milled out of aluminum for the mold. Aluminum allows me to cut faster and has the extra bonus of not rusting. Steel lasts longer but will never be enough to wear out an aluminum mold.

This is the first sliding action mold I have ever attempted. The slides are hardened steel bushings and rods, and the wedges are also steel.

I am in York, PA. My workshop is filled with junk equipment cast of by companies going off shore. They literally sell equipment for scrap prices in their eagerness to leave. You can also get good deals on obsolete equipment if a company upgrades. My EDM is an old Handsvett someone got rid of just to upgrade. Works OK for my purposes.

A little mold making expertise would certainly have been better than my trial and error method. :lol:

I am not really expecting this to work first time. Maybe second or third...........................

There are 4 cars I would like to eventually make. I have all the 3D models and the die and ejectors are re-usable so future projects should go a bit easier.

The plastic press is only a 28 ton Arburg. Large for someone to have in a garage but really at its limits pushing enough plastic for a car body in 1/32 scale. That is why I left the hood off. Save a little volume and allow a place to inject plastic.

Just wanted to share the pics. I have been talking about this for years but real life keeps getting in the way and this project is long overdue.

[alexis in greece]

I wish i had you guts,patience,skill ,space and equipment,having been a plastics mechanic in my twenties i know very well what it takes,great work

[TuscoTodd]

WOW! That is too cool!!!

[JULES]

Go Ken, Go!

Mighty impressive.

Jules

[dreinecke]

Nice work and impressive skill!

[32lbking]

[proxieken]

Getting a little further along. Not sure what happened to the earlier photos.........................



Core cutting on the CNC.

Each side had to be done.



In to the tank for some matching up work.



The extremely primitive design on the bench.



And then in the injection machine for its first test.



The results of the first shots were not good. The sides and top were not coming together at the same time. First there was flash on the top, I shimmed it up, and then there was flash on the sides. It is going to require some very tricky shims to get things right but the bits that did come out looked promising.



Not sure if it will work or not in the end, but it is kind of fun getting this close. :?

I am going to send it back to the tank to mate the sides together again and then find some shims of various thicknesses. It may work........................