tigerfire Posted November 4, 2009 Report Share Posted November 4, 2009 I cracked a POP mold. Luckily it was on the outside and not where I pour. Is there any way to strengthen the outside of the mold? Can I pour another layer of pop on top, will it adhere? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GB GONE Posted November 4, 2009 Report Share Posted November 4, 2009 I cracked a POP mold. Luckily it was on the outside and not where I pour. Is there any way to strengthen the outside of the mold? Can I pour another layer of pop on top, will it adhere? You can do exactly that. Put the mold in a slightly larger container and pour the pop around the outside. You can lift the mold slightly with small pieces of anything, as long as they are flat and strengthen the bottom as well. I have gotten into the habit now of brushing on a coat of teh elmers glue all to the outside of all my pop molds as well. Just gives a little more strength... Jim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nova Posted November 5, 2009 Report Share Posted November 5, 2009 Years ago I tried coating the outside of the mold with epoxy. It did help some. Then I went one step further and took a piece of cotton cloth (thin) and wrapped the outside with it before the epoxy set up. Then applied more epoxy over the cloth. It is a little time consuming to do it but once you have it done it will last a long time. The ones I did are still just fine even though I've bumped them around quite a bit over the years. www.novalures.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vodkaman Posted November 6, 2009 Report Share Posted November 6, 2009 The solutions above are good, but unless you just dropped the mold, a problem exists. We should also address that problem so that your future molds will survive longer. Would you care to elaborate on how the crack occured. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GB GONE Posted November 6, 2009 Report Share Posted November 6, 2009 The solutions above are good, but unless you just dropped the mold, a problem exists. We should also address that problem so that your future molds will survive longer. Would you care to elaborate on how the crack occured. Dave Good point Dave. I have comtemplated taking my pop molds I have not sealed on the outside and actually coating them with a layer of saltwater plastic. The plastic will stick to the outside of the non-coated mold real good and will give some cushion if dropped. That is a down side of pop molds. They can break! Jim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tigerfire Posted November 6, 2009 Author Report Share Posted November 6, 2009 Thanks for the suggestions. I was wondering if the expoy is ok in the oven? I like to warm-up my molds a little before I start pouring. The mold is a two part mold. The crack occured when I was clamping them together. I believe the problem is that the mold is to thin. I am using plastic corner protectors, (wall protectors), to build my mold. I think they are about 1 1/4" deep. I could not find any at Home Depot that were deeper. I am going to have to start looking for something else to build my frame. I was going to work on my mold this weekend, but have decided to go to Lake Amistad and have some fun with the few plastics that I poured before the mold cracked! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GB GONE Posted November 7, 2009 Report Share Posted November 7, 2009 It is OK in the oven but better to just nuke some scrap plastic and pour it in to heat the mold. That is one thing you definitely need to do when you make your pop molds is be sure they have at least 1" thickness in the cavity. Also, I never clamp mine. Just use rubber bands. The pressure from a clamp really is not needed. Hope you catch some! Jim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tigerfire Posted November 9, 2009 Author Report Share Posted November 9, 2009 I like the rubber band idea. I am going to try that. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vodkaman Posted November 9, 2009 Report Share Posted November 9, 2009 This is a link worth reading, on the subject of clamping molds: http://www.tackleunderground.com/community/topic/14922-clamping-2-piece-molds-together/page__fromsearch__1 Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tigerfire Posted November 9, 2009 Author Report Share Posted November 9, 2009 That was a good read and very helpful. Thanks for the link. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
