Husky

Do you only use it for pouring or do you use the "House" microwave?

Dimension Correction, The mold is 6.75" x .75" x .75" and completed, weighed 54 gms. That should help you calculate the amount of Silicone needed to fill a cavity.

1/2 round generally means 1 part. BUT you can make a 2 pt mold using this technique. I'll need a day to explain it! Truth be told I believe I know how to do it, Get some half round beads and I'll spill what I know!

That mold was 3/4 X 3/4. Fully cured in 5 min. The water is the curing factor so it's not like waiting for it to air cure. FWIW, I've had 2" pieces fully cure in under 10 min. So What are you building?

Warp? Just silicone it to a rigid surface for stability. I've only had it for 6 hrs so I can't speak to storage! It should hang in there. AND, yes, it's from the Wally World paint section!

Sturdy enough to withstand the elements for 35 years, according to the packaging.

Actually this 5.75" mold cost $.60 Time to build was under 15 minutes, ready for pouring. Ingredients; 100% Silicone and water. Cost Silicone, $2.97 for a tube, 280 gms. Water, nearly free. Interested? Read on... 1. I started out with a wood model and crazy glued it onto a piece a wool 1/2" longer than the Model. I'm sure you could do the same with a well affixed soft bait. 2. Box in an area slightly wider than the model and as long as the wood it's affixed to; Usually I screw the wood together to make a box but I used a clamp instead, for this project. Place it on a flat surface, preferably not your dinning room table. 3. Squeeze out enough 100% Silicone to fill the cavity, onto a flat non porous surface. Here I used some insulation board. 4. Add in a few drops of water and mix thoroughly. (I got this technique from the Clam Shell tutorial posted by RedG8r) 5. Fill the cavity with the mixed silicone. 6. Position the model so it enters the silicone, face down, centered, and press it in until it is flush with the side runners 7. When the silicone is cured (appx. 5 to 10 minutes. The silicone displaced by the model will be your guide)the model is ready to be removed. Trim any flash and pour. And that's what I learned at Hammer Mechanic School, today. Husky

Sonny, I can only speak to what I have here. The Sluggos and the proto I made have a pronounced wiggle to them, BUT not as pliable as the original Sluggos. IMHO, they will swim well. If you have a hard mold, a local WM and $3 you can run the test. I believe you'll be pleasantly surprised at the results. With that said, I'd still prefer to use plastic as my silicone castings aren't as crisp as if they were made from poured plastic and my larger ones are coming in at 20 gms (14 for $3) which means that plastic would be more economical. IOW, it works great for quick, short runs where durability is an issue. Check out my latest, a Urethane Resin mold. It set up, ready for pouring in 3 minutes! It picked up every detail, even some I didn't want picked up. (See the right of the top cavity)

I've been casting some Sluggos out of Silicone sealant and to avoid waste I weighed the finished lures on a digital scale and use that as a base for how much I need to squeaze out. I believe you could do the same with hardened plastic. It's all about the math!

I'm no expert, but In the 70's plastic used to be sold in liquid or in solid pieces. I Imagine it would be possible to cast the excess into plastic Ingots which would take care of settling out and hardening issues. Just store them in plastic bags in the proper environment. Wouldn't that be a feasible remedy?

Sonny, Yes but only for a short time. Use a wet putty knife to pack it into the cavity. When the cavity is slightly over full, press it onto a flat surface to finish the cure. That'll push everything in and will make for a perfectly clean "bottom of the bait. I then trim with a roller cutter on a plastic cutting board to remove any "flash."

Hey Gene, I used it on my Urethane Resin lures and it popped like a peanut shell. JMHO, but it work well as a sealer of wool, but that's it. Anything else is a tempter of faith..

I picked up some colored glitter and mixed that into some clear silicone. Here's how it came out.

It should do fine at room temp. Is the silicone you have 100% silicone? To test it, Squeeze out some in a circle, add a few drops of water and mix it in well. !00% silicone should set up quickly. If that works, make up a box squeeze out enough to fill it and mix it with water. Fill the box with it, using a putty knife, and put your models into it and use something flat to get the surface smooth and flat while pushing the models well into the mixture. It will (100% silicone) be set and ready to pour into in under 10 Minutes. You have to work quickly so practice on something small for a start. How much silicone do you have?

Did you mix the silicone with a few drops of water? That would cause it to cure in under 10 minutes. The reason I ask is because silicone cannot be too thick (Not much more than 1/4") or it won't air cure. If you didn't mix water into it, Put it in a humid area (A sealed plastic storage box with some water in it, would work well) and spray water over it.

Walmart Silicone Sealant. $2.97 a tube. They have it in clear and White. I get about 40 4.5" Sluggo Types per tube. I fish SW for toothy critters and I had this on hand so I gave it a shot. The water curing takes about 5 to 10 minutes, but must be done in a hard mold. It'll stick to Silicone.

The silicone doesn't get heated, so I can't help you there. Just add a few drops of water and mix. For the Hot plastics, you'll have to play with it. Here's how they came out.

While casting my "Silicone Sluggo's" I added some artist sand to the clear silicone to see how it would work. Both the orange and black performed quite nicely. A lb cost $2.49 at AC Moore but I had a 50% off coupon! It comes in Black, wh, pink, red, orange, yellow and green. It might be worth a try for anyone willing to make the investment.

The D2T at Wally World was a good deal, but if you do the math, the 9 oz deals you can find are better than even the $1.97 price per oz. Instead of experimenting, wasting time and money, just order the least expensive 9 oz kit of D2T you can find.

I know this is an old thread but I've been using a Roller Cutter (like the ones they use for cutting material. It looks like a mini pizza cutter only it has a round razor blade). It is fast and flawless.

Try Urethane Resin. Many of the guys here use Alumilite with Micro Balloons. I've had good results with the Dascar product. Search the Forum for tons of onfo. You'll need to have RTV silicone molds. PM anyt questions you may have after you read the stuff here already.

Hmmmm, I'm not sure. One way to try it would be to fill each half individually, then slap them together. The stuff is thick so it won't spill out. Use a plastic putty knife to pack it in. It will cure without air in about 5 to 10 minutes as the cure is caused by the water. So, I'd say, if you have a hard, 2 piece mold, make a mixture, fill both sides up and press them together, then wait until the residue has hardened. Trim any "flash" with a razor. I weighed the finished products on my scale so when I make the next batch, I weigh out that much plus a gram or two to avoid waste. The finished product is the consistency of the silicone sealant, so your baits will be on the hard side. If you try it, tell us worked out for you.

This is how it worked out.

Well, that would put me in my mid 90's so I do feel a sense of urgency! Hey Bunkies, guess what? I found a neat alternative to pouring plastic for softies. As I don't have any readily available at the the moment, I whipped some 100% silicone in water and packed it into the mold. The result was a rigid casting ( a bit softer than a pencil eraser) which suits my purposes quite well, for now. Three bodies weigh 20 gms. I can get a tube of the stuff at Wally World for $3 and that will make 40, very strong, baits. Mixing it with water paints allows me to change it's color. It comes in white and clear. It sets in about 5 minutes. It doesn't have quite the detail capturing ability of Plastics, but I've just begun to experiment. I didn't earn my degree in Hammer Mechanics for nothing! It can only be used in Hard molds as it would stick to RTV. It's the only thing on Earth that would! Different, eh?